Results
Nov. 11, 2011
Contact: Tim Ertle
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YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio - The Cleveland State women's swimming and diving lost the first event and the last event - but won every other event to defeat Duquesne and league foe Youngstown State on Friday (Nov. 11) evening in Youngstown.
CSU beat Youngstown State 140-97 to pick up its second league victory of the season. The Vikings topped Duquesne 133.5-91.5.
"Our top swimmers performed like they usually do, but it was just as encouraging seeing our depth student-athletes perform at such a high level," head coach Wally Morton said.
YSU's Casey Hill, already a two-time Horizon League `Diver of the Week' this season, won the 1-meter diving event with a score of 264.29 ahead of CSU's Kacey Cummings who earned a 229.34. Later on in the meet, Cummings avenged that loss by taking the 3-meter with a score of 259.80, narrowly edging out Hill's 257.33. Back in February at the 2011 Horizon League Championships, it was Cummings who took the 1-meter crown while Hill was victorious on the 3-meter board.
The quartet of Alexandra Johansson, Emily Simard, Alice Sommerville and Christine Kopacko recorded the first Viking victory of the evening when they touched first in the 200 medley relay (1:50.29).
Sommerville added to her team title in the 200 medley relay with two personal titles, one of which was a pool record. She won the 100 free (53.07) and then the 100 breast with a time of 1:05.76, shattering the Beeghly Natatorium record of 1:06.93 set by Marshall's Maddie Lawhorn last Saturday (Nov. 5).
"Given the fact we have been training so hard with the weights and putting our kids through such tough workouts, that was a really strong performance from Alice," Morton said.
Sophomore Nikki Kolis earned a victory in the 1,000 free with a 10:43.58 - a time four seconds better than the next closest competitor.
"We are really pleased with the way Nikki Kolis is training and with the consistency she is showing," Morton said. "She is very versatile and she can do all of the events. We have had her in the backstroke events and we include her in the 500 free, but we added her in the 1,000 free this evening for one of the first times and she went out and swam one of the best times in program history. She has us really excited and we're looking for a terrific season from Nikki."
Carys Behn got her meet started with a victory in the 200 free, touching the wall in 1:55.43. Her 59.36 in the 100 fly was the third quickest time in the meet.
Johannson, who swam first on the victorious 200 medley relay team, picked up two individual wins. Her 24.94 in the 50 free narrowly edged Kopacko's 25.05 to give Cleveland State a one-two finish. Johannson concluded the meet with a victory in the 100 back (59.20) to finish a perfect three-for-three.
Joanna Olsson won the 400 IM (4:35.84) and 100 fly (58.41) with Duquesne's Meghan Smith finishing second in both events.
Kopacko recorded the other Viking victory, touching first in the 500 free with a time of 5:18.75.
Cleveland State dropped the final event as they came in at 1:40.45 in the 200 free relay, just behind Duquesne's 1:39.90 despite a very strong performance from Jamie Puls who swam the best split (24.57) on the team.
The Viking women will be back in action tomorrow against St. Bonaventure and Valparaiso, another league competitor.
"We'll have a shakeout swim at 9:30 a.m. tomorrow morning and get right back at it. Those are two good teams we're facing tomorrow and we are very aware of what we will be up against," Morton said of Saturday's opponents.
