CLEVELAND, Ohio- The Cleveland State women's swimming and diving team defeated Wright State, 193-102 on Saturday afternoon at Robert F. Busbey Natatorium.
The Vikings (7-4-0, 2-1-0 HL) had first place finishes in the 1,000 freestyle by Jodi Turk who had a top time of 10:36.90. Rowan Elbadry continues to dominate in the pool, finishing atop the leader board in the 200 freestyle with a top time of 1:54.53. In the 100 backstroke Hayley Smith finished first with a wall touch time of 1:00.27. Meghan Miller began her swimming performance on a high note with a first place finish in the 200 butterfly with a top time of 2:08.51. Elbadry added a second first place win of the day in the 50 yard freestyle with a time of 24.16. In the 1-meter diving event Sammie Sposet finished first with a top score of 248.63.
Elbadry continued to dominate the field against Wright State with her third first place finish on the day in the 100 free with a time of 52.76. Turk added a second first place victory in the 500 freestyle with a wall touch time of 5:13.29. Miller tallied a second first place win of the day in the 100 butterfly with a top time of 59.54. Smith earned her second first place win in the 200 IM with a time of 2:15.85. The Vikings finished the day off winning the 400 free relay with a top time of 3:33.30. Elbadry, Johansson, Kopacko and Pallija led the way to victory.
Head Coach Wally Morton talked about the team's second straight win coming against Wright State. "The team had two convincing wins both on Friday and Saturday. I'm very excited about that. Our women almost all of the events for the second straight day in a row, almost convincingly on almost winning every event, and the men very similar to winning almost all of the events, winning close races," said Morton.
"Rowan Elbadry who was suffering with some injuries really stepped up and Hayley Smith has really swam well in the couple days, winning her events. Just to have the whole team back is the first weekend we have our swimmers able to participate in the meets. That in itself is very impressive. We are still really excited about this year and have a very tough test against Oakland at their place along with Xavier next weekend, but are happy with our progress."
Other key contributors that had solid swimming performances were Erin Jajtner who finished third with a time of 10:58.34. Amanda Pallija came in second in the 200 free with a time of 1:56.47. Jillian Rothgery finished third in the 100 back with a time of 1:02.80. Madisen Tretter in the 100 breastroke finished runner-up with a time of 1:08.76. Dayna Kiekebosch followed Tretter with a time of 1:08.94 in the 100 breast. Turk finished second in the 200 fly with a time of 2:14.31. Alex Johansson came in second in the 50 free with a time of 24.33 and Kopacko third with a time of 24.84.
The Vikings finished runner-up in the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:49.48. Smith, Kiekebosch, Johansson, and Kopacko led CSU in the race. Alex Dimasso finished runner-up in the 1-meter dive with a good score of 225.38. In the 200 backstroke Smith added a second place finish against the Raiders with a time of 2:10.06. Nikki Kolis came in third behind Smith with a time of 2:13.64. In the 200 breast Tretter tallied her second runner-up finish of the meet with a time of 2:30.65. Kiekebosch added a third place finish in the 200 breast. Alexandra McConnell took second and Bethany Robertson took third in the 500 freestyle.
The Vikings will be back in the pool on Saturday (Jan.25) as CSU will travel to Rochester, Michigan against conference opponent Oakland. The men only will swim against Xavier. Swimming events will begin at 1:00 p.m.
