Dec. 5, 2008
Final Stats
Contact: Julie Farr DeLima
The men's swimming team split its squad this weekend for three-day invitationals at Ohio State and Akron. After the first day of competition at Ohio State on Friday, Dec. 5, the Vikings sit in fifth place of 10 competing teams with 87 points. At the end of Day One at Akron, CSU is 10th with 119 points.
Men Fifth At Ohio State After First Day
COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Cleveland State men swam five events on the opening night of the Ohio State Invitational with three Top-10 finishes and three all-time CSU Top-10 times.
"We had some good swims today and with just eight swimmers here we're holding our own," head coach Wally Morton said. "We're very encouraged by Mark deSwardt's progress in the 500 free. He's only the third swimmer to go under 4:30 in CSU history and every race he gets better. We also had some excellent relay times for this early in the season, especially in the 200 free relay, and we got the two best 100 back times of the year off the 400 medley relays. We're looking forward to some fast swimming tomorrow."
The Vikings had breakout swims in the 50 freestyle event with four athletes recording their season-best times in the event and three earning a spot in the finals. Jakub Dobies tied his own mark of 20.70, the second-fastest time in CSU history, during his 10th-place finish. Stephen Grove won his bonus finals heat and finished 17th overall (20.80) while Mike Marsico recorded a 21st-place finish (21.17). All three were season-best times.
Mark deSwardt entered the weekend with the seventh-fastest time in school history in the 500 freestyle and improved on that time in both the preliminary and the final heats. deSwardt swam a 4:29.66 in the preliminaries to move up to No. 3 all-time and bettered that again in the finals with a time of 4:27.12 and a 10th-place finish.
The Vikings' other Top-10 finish came in the 200 freestyle relay of Dobies, Grove, Nedim Nisic and Marsico. The team swam the second-fastest time in CSU history (1:25.56) to finish fifth overall.
Two teams represented CSU in the day's final event, finishing 12th and 13th in the 400 medley relay. The team of Winchell, Dobies, Grove and Marsico finished nearly a full second faster at 3:24.47, but Nisic, Deni Gasparin, deSwardt and Marko Milenkovic stayed close (3:25.51). During the relay, both Winchell and Nisic swam season-best times and CSU's two fastest times of the season in the 100 backstroke. As the relay leadoff legs, Winchell swam a 51.33 while Nisic swam a 51.86.
Nisic and Milenkovic also recorded new individual season-best times during the preliminary rounds. Nisic swam a 21.24 in the 50 free while Milenkovic swam a 1:55.96 in the 200 IM.
Competition at the Ohio State Invitational resumes on Saturday.
Ritz Leads Men On Day One Of Zippy Invitational
AKRON, Ohio - The other half of the men's squad competed at the Akron Zippy Invitational on Friday, finishing 10th with 119 points after one day of competition.
"We came here with a young team [because of the split squads] and this meet will be a great opportunity for these guys to step in and be major contributors in both the relays and individual events," assistant coach Andrew Hancock said. "We're swimming fast but we know we can swim faster. At this meet we're looking to perfect our races and concentrate on doing things the way we've practiced them. Right now they're learning how to swim these long marathon meets and that will really help them get ready for the end of the year."
The Viking's top finish came during the 500 freestyle event when Pieter Ritz dropped 18 seconds off his season best time to finish fifth in the event with a lifetime best swim of 4:40.00.
Three athletes represented CSU in the 50 freestyle. Keith Everhart dropped his season-best times in both the preliminaries and the finals, finishing ninth overall and winning a consolation heat (21.35) while the Travis Lombardozzi (22.49) and Derek Butts (22.83) both recorded season-best swims during the preliminaries.
Colin Hanner bettered his own season-best swim in the 100 back, leading off the 400 medley relay in 52.47. The team, made up of Hanner, Volkmar Baur, Lombardozzi and Everhart finished 12th overall (3:35.50). In the 200 free relay, Everhart, Hanner, Butts and Lombardozzi paired up to finish 13th overall in 1:27.73.
Competition at the Zippy Invitational resumes on Saturday.
