Women's Swimming and Diving 10/14/2008 12:00:00 AM

Viking Women Host St. Francis

Oct. 14, 2008

SETTING THE SCENE: The Cleveland State women's swimming and diving team opens its home season at the Robert F. Busbey Natatorium on Saturday, Oct. 18 when it hosts St. Francis University. The meet will begin at 1:00 p.m. on a rolling time schedule.

REVIEWING LAST WEEK: The swim teams were off last week after opening the season at the Dennis Stark Relays on the Notre Dame campus on Oct. 3. Here is a brief recap of how the Vikings fared at Notre Dame.

Men (0-0) - 4th at Stark Relays (Oct. 3 in Notre Dame, Ind.): Five swimmers represented the Vikings in the relays, win- ning two events. Todd Winchell, Marko Milenkovic, Mark deSwart and Nedim Nisic won the 400 IM relay (3:37.17). CSU's other win came in the 400 butterfly relay by the team of Stephen Grove, Nisic, Winchell and deSwardt (3:30.06).

Women (0-0) - 5th at Stark Relays (Oct. 3 in Notre Dame, Ind.): Kristina Nagy and Carys Behn paced the five women's swimmers that competed at the event. Behn turned in the fifth-fastest time in school history during her 500 freestyle leg in the 1,000 freestyle relay (5:08.71). Nagy swam a career- best time in the 100 freestyle (55.94) as the anchor of the 400 freestyle relay.

PREVIEWING THE WOMEN: Head coach Wally Morton and his staff worked hard in the off-season to bring in additional talent to compete alongside CSU's capable returning athletes. Joining the team this year will be seven freshmen that Morton expects to make an immediate impact. They'll be joining a group of seasoned veterans that includes four seniors, one junior and three sophomores. The women finished 4-10 overall with a seventh-place finish at the Horizon League Championships in 2007-08.

Several newcomers are expected to carry the load in the freestyle events with freshman Maria Culjak brought in to be one of the league's top sprinters. Carys Behn is a seasoned competitor and has the ability to be a conference standout in any of the freestyle events. Sophomore Diana Mruk had an outstanding Horizon League Championship as a freshman and will be counted on again in the freestyle sprint events while senior Kristina Nagy is determined to have the best season of her career. In the mid-distance freestyle events, freshmen Emily Splain and Whitney Hickey are expected to make a splash. Splain earned All-America honors as a high school senior when she notched a Top-10 state finish while Hickey is a four-year high school state qualifier. Sophomores Erin Green and Frances Carrion return to lead the freestyle distance events. Green aims to improve on her freshman campaign that included CSU's top times in both the 1,000 (10:49.81) and 1,650 (18:03.89) freestyle events. Carrion showed steady improvement as a freshman, leading CSU in the 500 freestyle (5:18.24) and finishing second to Green in both of the longer races.

In the specialty strokes, senior Sandra Bunker returns as a key contributor in the backstroke events while senior Katie Bellew returns to better her school record in the 100 butterfly (57.50). Freshman Rachel Arzadon, Bellew and junior Brittany McCann should lead the way in the breaststroke events while senior Kristine Bunker is the team's top prospect in the IM events.

In the dives, freshman Kacey Cummings joins the team with great expectations and has been called "one of the best freshmen divers at CSU."

MORTON ON THE CSU WOMEN: "We are very excited about this freshman class. These athletes are coming in ready to compete and we hope the versatility and experience they bring will help us improve on our dual meet record and move up in the Horizon League Championship standings. As a whole, our athletes are working extremely hard in practice. They are consistent and they are pushing themselves to their physiological limits."

PREVIEWING THE MEN: A conference contender for the last 35 seasons with 18 championships since 1974, the CSU men enter the 2008-09 season poised to make a run at their second Horizon League conference title in four seasons. All the pieces are there including Nedim Nisic, a 2008 Summer Olympian, and Jakub Dobies, a two-time NCAA Championships competitor. In addition to eight freshmen, the Vikings return three sophomores, three juniors and three seniors.

Several veterans return to lead the freestyle events including two of the best juniors in CSU history - Todd Winchell and Dobies. Dobies finished runner-up in the 100 free at the Horizon League Championships, just missing a third individual title. Junior Stephen Grove will aim to improve on his break-out sophomore season that included a conference title in the 50 free in new school record time (20.41) and a top-five finish in the 100 freestyle. Nisic and Marko Milenkovic will also give great performances in the sprint and middle distance events. Sophomore Michael Marsico used the off-season to develop into one of the top freestylers on the team while freshmen Keith Everhart, Travis Lombardozzi and Derek Butts all look to make their marks. Freshman Mark deSwardt brings a wealth of talent in the distance freestyle events while freshman Pieter Ritz will be counted on for additional depth.

Nisic will lead the butterfly events after a trip to the Summer Olympics in Beijing where he swam for Bosnia. He will aim to improve on a third-place Horizon League finish in the 100 (49.26) and a sixth-place finish in the 200 butterfly (1:52.07) events. Grove is also back after setting a new CSU record in the 100 butterfly (48.86) during a runner-up finish at the league championships. Sophomre Zvonimir Androic, senior Volkmar Baur and Winchell will provide depth. Dobies will be the face of the breaststroke events. A Mid-Major All-American after his Top-25 finish in the 100 breaststroke at last year's NCAA Championships (54.31) and the Horizon League's 2007-08 Co-Athlete of the Year, Dobies is determined to add to his six career individual Horizon League titles. Sophmore Deni Gasparin returns as the league's reigning Newcomer of the Year after winning the 200 breaststroke at last year's championships (2:01.02). Three Top-10 league placers return in the backstroke events, including champion Winchell, runner-up Nisic and Androic. Several athletes will contribute in the individual medley events.

Freshman Matt diMasso, a four-time district qualifier, will take over diving duties for the Vikings this season. He'll have the best of the Horizon League coaches in Rich Karban. Karban has earned Horizon League Diving Coach of the Year honors in each of his last five seasons with Cleveland State.

MORTON ON THE CSU MEN: "In addition to winning a conference championship, one of our primary goals each year is to send a representative to the NCAA Championships. Since the Horizon League was formed in 2000, only Cleveland State has been able to reach the NCAA Championships. We hope to add to that total this year."

NISIC MAKES SPLASH AT OLYMPICS: As a prelude to his senior season at CSU, Nedim Nisic represented Bosnia at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. He competed in the 100 butterfly, swimming in the second of nine heats in the event. He finished seventh in his heat with a time of 57.16, becoming the first active swimmer in CSU history to make an appearance in the Olympic Games.

SOUTH AFRICA'S BEHN A SUBSTATIAL ADDITION: When freshman Carys Behn signed with the Vikings this summer, they got a versatile weapon. A specialist in the freestyle and butterfly events, she was a semi-finalist at the Olympic Trials this summer and was a national medalist in her age group. During her first competition with the Vikings, she swam the fifth-fastest time in the 500 freestyle (5:08.71) and will only improve as the season goes along.

CULJAK'S SUCCESS WILL SPILL OVER: Freshman Maria Culjak of Croatia joins the Vikings with an impressive swimming resume. A member of the Croatia National team, a European junior championship semi-finalist and a multiple event junior national champion in both 2006 and 2007, she will be leaned on as a part of the Vikings' success this season.

ALL-AMERICAN HONORS FOR DOBIES: Jakub Dobies was one of just 13 swimmers to earn Mid-Major All-America honors in 2007-08 after making his second trip to the NCAA Championships in as many seasons. As one of the Vikings' top returning athletes, expectations will be high as he aims to improve on his 22nd place finish in the 100 breaststroke at the NCAA Championships. Dobies was the only swimmer to represent the Horizon League in NCAA Championship competition last year after he was named the Horizon League's Co-Athlete of the Year and set four school records.

GROVE'S GRADES GARNER ADDITIONAL RESPECT: Stephen Grove was named to the ESPN The Magazine all-district second team in the men's at-large category in voting conducted by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). The honor reflected Grove's outstanding achievements in both the classroom and the pool and was announced at the end of the 2007-08 season. A mechanical engineering major, Grove posted the best grade point average on the men's team (3.83) and ranked second among all male student-athletes at Cleveland State. In the pool, he was a part of five school records at the Horizon League Championships, setting a new mark in the 50 free (20.41) and 100 fly (48.86) and was a member of three school-record setting relays.

deSWARDT READY TO COMPETE: After earning spots in the finals of both the FINA World Cup and South Africa Olympic Trials, Mark deSwardt is ready to begin his quest for a Horizon League championship. A member of the South African open water teams, deSwardt specializes in the freestyle and butterfly events and was a member both of the Viking men's winning relay teams at Notre Dame on Oct. 3.

MEN'S & WOMEN'S HEAD COACH: Wally Morton (Miami, OH, '70) AT CSU: (as men's coach): 241-133-1 (27 years); AT CSU: (as women's coach): 4-10 (1 year)

Morton, who is in his second season as the head coach of the women's program and his 28th season as the head men's coach, has led the Vikings to 12 conference championships and 24 winning seasons in his 27 years at the helm of the men's program. Morton, who also serves as CSU's Director of Aquatics, has led the Vikings to seven straight seasons of 10 or more dual meet victories and one of his men's swimmers has earned the league's Male Swim Athlete of the Year award in five of the last six seasons.

NEXT UP: The men open their dual meet schedule when they travel to Green Bay with the women on Oct. 25. Both teams are back at home in the Robert F. Busbey Natatorim on Oct. 31 when the Vikings host Butler and Canisius at 5 p.m. EST.

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