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Viking Women Rebound to Win Thriller at Green Bay

Viking Women Rebound to Win Thriller at Green Bay

Update: Four days after this meet, the meet referee changed the final score of the women's meet due to incorrect scoring. The new score from the referee gave Green Bay a 151.5-148.5 victory.

GREEN BAY, Wis. - The Cleveland State University men's and women's swimming & diving teams closed the weekend with with a dual meet at Green Bay Saturday afternoon inside the Peter F. Dorschel Natatorium.

The CSU women came from behind to win a thriller, taking home a 150.5-149.5 win that was clinched in the final event. The Viking men came up on the short end of a 163-137 decision.

"Today we demonstrated coachability, courage and resilience," head coach Hannah Burandt said. We were facedown at the first diving break—men down 37 and women down 15. Diving came in clutch on both sides and helped get our momentum going. Our men and women rose with great courage to outswim the competition in the second half. Our women came out on top by one point and our men fell short."

Six different Viking women won an individual event Saturday, led by junior Lexie Kostelnik posting two first-place finishes.

Kostelnik won the 1000 free in 10:34.40 and then took first in the 500 free in 5:11.49. Freshman Rachel Contich was the runner-up in both events, finishing the 1000 in 10:43.68 and stopping the clock in the 500 in 5:14.41.

Junior Erica Henrichsen and freshman Emma Kerro combined to sweep the diving events for CSU.

Kerro won her first collegiate event with a score of 259.80 points in the 1-meter. After finishing as the runner-up in the 1-meter (224.10), Henrichsen won the 3-meter with 235.12 points to claim her first victory of the season.

Junior Sule van der Merwe led CSU to sweep the top three spots in the 200 backstroke. She finished in 2:06.44 and was followed by fellow Vikings sophomore Agnes Bahr (2:09.11) and senior Chuchu Yang (2:12.88).

Bahr won the final individual event of the meet, the 200 IM. She placed first in 2:10.99 while junior Shaw Barney was third (2:14.18).

Senior Madi Jaszcz won the 100 backstroke in 59.24 seconds and was the runner-up in the 100 fly in 58.46 seconds.

Junior Irena Weclawiak and senior Gabriella Marinelli finished second and third in both the 100 and 200 free. The junior finished the 200 in 1:58.04 while the senior finished in 1:59.65. In the 100 free, Weclawiak stopped the clock in 54.44 while Marinelli touched the wall in 54.59.

Junior Alana Cartwright was the runner-up in the 100 breaststroke in 1:06.86 while classmates Libby Smith (1:07.85) and Gracyn McQueary (1:08.25) were third and fourth. Smith was the runner-up in the 200 breast in 2:26.54.

Jaszcz, Smith, Barney and Marinelli placed second in the 200 medley relay in 1:48.79 while Marinelli, Barney, freshman Abby Allison and Weclawiak were second in the 200 free relay in 1:40.32.

"We often highlight those who win or sneak in a close finish," Burandt said. However, today we needed every single person that snuck in fifth to score one point. Because when we get to Magnus and the Horizon League Championships, we will need to continue winning close races, but our depth people will be just as valuable as those who win."

A number of Viking women helped CSU over the edge by earning fifth-place points, including: freshman Karen Argie (1000 free - 11:30.13), freshman Katherine Jerry (200 free - 2:01.68, 100 free - 56.44), freshman Caroline Hughes (100 back - 1:01.99, 200 back - 2:14.26), Allison (50 free - 25.82), Cartwright (100 fly - 1:02.32) and freshman Abigail Ramey (200 IM - 2:16.56). McQueary also tied for fourth in the 200 breaststroke in 2:29.22.

The CSU men were led by a trio of Vikings who each won two individual events, including junior Matt Akers' impressive performance on the boards.

Akers won the 3-meter event with 318.07 points, just missing an NCAA qualifying score. However, he easily cleared that hurdle by winning the 1-meter event with a score of 330.60, more than 50 points ahead of the runner-up and 30 clear of the NCAA zones standard.

Junior Dominik Niedzialek swept the backstroke events. He won the 100 in 50.91 seconds and placed first in the 200 in 1:51.09.

Niedzialek also placed third in the 200 IM, an event won by sophomore Jack Krusinski. Krusinski won the 200 IM in 1:53.92 not long after winning the 200 breaststroke in 2:03.41. He also was the runner-up in the 100 breast in 56.77 seconds.

Junior Timothy Kubacki had a pair of runner-up finishes for CSU Saturday. He was second in the 200 free in 1:44.80 and was also second in the 500 free in 4:40.58.

Seniors Dominic Poletta (50 free - 21.67), Jack MacDonald (100 free - 47.41) and Matthew Martin (100 fly - 51.50) all notched runner-up finishes Saturday.

Niedzialek, Krusinski, Poletta and MacDonald were second in the 200 medley relay in 1:33.02 while Poletta, senior DJ Arslanian, senior Tyler Stevenson and MacDonald were runners-up in the 200 free relay in 1:24.61.

"As a combined program, our entire coaching staff is beyond proud of their grit and fight," Burandt said. "As Coach Ben said, 'What we did today is the most challenging thing to do in swimming and it's not about swimming fast, but the ability change our engagement, excitement and enthusiasm and fight back after being down'."

Cleveland State will take some time off from competition before hosting the Magnus Cup in late November.