CLEVELAND, Ohio – The Cleveland State swimming and diving team competed for the first time all season at the Busbey Natatorium on Saturday against UIC. The Green and White celebrated their seniors in their lone home meet. Head Coach Hannah Burandt spoke before the meet about what this day means to the seniors.
Cleveland State fell to UIC 159-137 on the men's side and 196-91 on the women's side.
"What we do is so much more than swimming and diving – it's having a team and a family around you because this year has been hard," said head coach Hannah Burandt. "So, to be able to do the thing that we love, together, is something to cherish. It's that simple."
Spencer Tussing grabbed the top spot in the 1000-yard freestyle with an overall time of 9:28.48, finishing just ahead of freshman Jake Taulbee (9:30.07). Tussing, a sophomore from Grove City, Ohio, finished second place in the 500-yard freestyle (4:39.81) – less than a second behind first-place finisher, Jan Komorowski, from UIC (4:39.03).
Taulbee, who competed in the 100 backstroke (51.87), 200 backstroke (1:49.18) and 1000 freestyle (9:30.07), set lifetime bests in all three events. The freshman also snagged a first-place finish in the 200-yard backstroke.
Senior Kenny Thomas notched a first-place finish in the 100-yard backstroke (51.07), while Nikita Pisarenko secured the top spot in the 100-yard breaststroke (55.47) and Bob Fick took No. 1 in the 200-yard butterfly (1:49.84).
Pisarenko (2:01.95) and Griffin Manning (2:02.74) took first and second place, respectively, in the 200-yard breaststroke.
Thomas Lundin, Kenny Thomas, Aiden Morris and Colin Martin were on the 200-yard freestyle relay that finished first in Saturday's meet with an overall time of 1:25.85.
On the diving board, senior Matt Akers finished second in both the one-meter (277.65) diving and three-meter diving (276.15).
Trevor Mahoney secured a score of 257.26 in the three-meter diving, while Michael Slaughter nabbed a score of 210.07 in the one-meter.
"We had quite a few of our athletes do some amazing things," said Burandt. "Our freshman, Jake Taulbee, had all lifetime bests…Kenny Thomas popped a 20.9 on the relay which was phenomenal. Again, just seeing the progress from week, to week, to week, was phenomenal."
For the women, Lexie Kostelnik recorded a first-place finish in the 1000-yard freestyle with an overall time of 10:33.57. Kostelnik was part of the first-place Vikings in the 200-yard freestyle relay alongside Irena Weclawiak, Sophia Davis and Sule van der Merwe with a time of 1:41.24.
Cleveland State took the top two spots in the 200-freestyle relay with Rachel Contich, Katherine Jerry, Caroline Hughes and Jordan Stump finishing second with an overall time of 1:43.98.
The Vikings also secured the top four spots in the 200-yard IM, as Hughes (2:12.48, first place), Abigail Ramey (2:18.76, second place), Agnes Bahr (2:22.28, third place) and Kellsie Krisch (2:31.33) took one through fourth place.
In addition to finishing No. 1 in the 200-freestyle relay, Sule van der Merwe took first place in the 200-yard backstroke.
Contich notched a pair of second place finishes in Saturday's Horizon League meet, recording a second-place finish in the 200-yard butterfly (2:09.93) and 500-yard freestyle (5:05.47).
"Rachel's (Contich) 500-free…That was big time. That was absolutely a big-time swim for her. Our divers were spectacular today too. The divers have only practiced three times on our boards and for them to compete is huge."
Erica Henrichsen was Cleveland State's lone diver to compete in both the one-meter and three-meter competition, notching a score of 191.25 in the one-meter and 200.55 in the two-meter, while Maggie Micko took part in the one-meter diving, scoring 166.65.
Cleveland State will announce all scheduling updates as they become available.
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