Nov. 25, 2008
CLEVELAND, Ohio - -
Contact: Julie Farr DeLima
There was no question that the Ohio State Buckeyes were the toughest team on the Cleveland State men's swimming schedule this season, but the Vikings weren't intimidated. During the meet, CSU swimmers won two events and placed second in seven others despite falling 169-86 to the No. 11 team in the country on Nov. 25 in the Robert F. Busbey Natatorium.
"It is good for our program to swim big-time college athletic programs like Ohio State," head coach Wally Morton said. "They are one of the highlights of our season and a chance for us to see if we can bring it up to their level. We had some solid swims tonight, but what this meet really did was give us a chance to see where our speed is at this point in the season. With some time off for Thanksgiving and a week to prepare for our next meets, I think we'll see our times go down."
The Vikings got several notable performances, but the highlight again was Mark deSwardt. The freshman continued his assault on the CSU record books with wins in the 1,000 freestyle and 200 IM and a second-place showing in the 500 freestyle. In the 1,000 free, he recorded a decisive 11-second victory (9:18.19) to improve on his third-fastest time in school history. He nearly equaled his best time of the season with the win in the 200 IM (1:55.66). In his 500 free race, deSwardt took second, but did it in the seventh-fastest time in CSU history (4:32.08) and the fastest time of the season for the Vikings.
Jakub Dobies, Stephen Grove, Nedim Nisic and Mike Marsico recorded the team's best time of the season 200 free relay (1:24.08), finishing second. Todd Winchell, Dobies, Grove and Nisic also paired for the 200 medley relay, finishing second in season-best time (1:32.30). In the leadoff leg of the 200 medley relay, Winchell posted the team's best time of the season in the 50 backstroke (24.32).
CSU took the top three spots in the 200 IM as deSwardt was followed by Marko Milenkovic (1:56.02) and Zvonimir Androic (2:01.39).
Other notable performances by the Vikings included a 2-3-4 finish in the 50 breaststroke by Dobies (25.78), Deni Gasparin (26.52) and Milenkovic (26.57). CSU also got a 2-3 finish from Grove (21.36) and Keith Everhart (21.60) in the 50 freestyle. With Pieter Ritz' 5:03.55 third-place finish in the 500 freestyle, he and deSwardt also finished 2-3. Late in the meet, CSU pulled a 2-3-4 finish in the 50 butterfly with Grove (22.95), Winchell (23.52) and Nisic (23.55).
The team has an off week before splitting the squad for the Akron University Invitational and the Ohio State University Invitational. Both meets take place Dec. 5-7.
