CLEVELAND, Ohio - Sophomore Tommi Wolst broke the school record in the 200 backstroke to help the Cleveland State University men's swimming and diving team to a team victory on the third and final day of the Magnus Cup Sunday inside The Robert F. Busbey Natatorium.
The CSU men posted 1,608.5 points to win the event for the third consecutive year, and the fourth time in the five years of the meet.
The Viking women remained in fourth place of the 14 competing teams and finished with 800.5 points. It is the best finish for the CSU women in the meet since 2013.
Wolst finished the 200 backstroke in 1:46.07, and his record-breaking swim helped him win the event by over five seconds. He surpassed the NCAA 'B' standard in the event as well as netting the fastest time in the Horizon League this season entering the weekend. Freshman Ryan Johnston (1:51.23) and junior Jonathan LaValle (1:51.65) finished third and fourth, respectively, in the 200 back.
Wolst also helped the Vikings to a win in the final event of the meet, the 400 free relay. He swam the third leg as sophomore Sean Mulvin, senior Robert Tolson and senior Philipp Sikatzki combined to finish in 2:59.31, less than one second away from the school record. CSU's 'B' relay finished fourth in the event.
Sikatzki added another 'B' standard to his weekend by winning the 100 freestyle in 44.04 seconds. He led a Viking contingent that had seven in the top 19 of the event, including four in the top nine. Tolson was second (45.39), senior Phillip Brittain was sixth (46.59) and Mulvin was ninth (46.64).
Junior Jonathan LaValle won the 50 backstroke (23.54) while senior Declan McLaughlin and freshman DJ Arslanian both contributed runner-up finishes. McLaughlin was second in the 100 IM (52.80) while Arslanian took second in the 200 butterfly (1:51.03). Senior Patrick Walsh took seventh in the 200 fly in 1:54.35.
Junior Grant Wethington finished fourth in the 50 butterfly (23.04) while freshman Tyler Stevenson (2:05.04) and sophomore Jared Stergar (2:05.67) went fifth and sixth in the 200 breaststroke, respectively.
One day after breaking her own school record in the 100 butterfly, sophomore Molly McNamara just missed doing the same in the 200 fly. Nevertheless, she won the event pretty handily, as she finished in 1:59.93.
Freshman Gabriella Marinelli took third in the 100 freestyle in the field of over 100 swimmers, touching the wall in 51.06 seconds. Junior Jamie VanDewerker (52.34) and freshman Meghan Bobick (52.51) placed eighth and 13th, respectively, in the same event.
The aforementioned trio combined with senior Anna Evans in the 400 free relay to net a fourth-place finish in 3:28.09, as Evans anchored the race with a 51.74 split. Marinelli also took sixth place in the 100 IM in 1:00.14.
Sophomore Cassandra Oltman had two nice showings in backstroke events. She was fourth in the 50 back (26.55) and placed 11th in the 200 back in 2:04.40. Her finals time significantly improved from the prelims and was within one second of a school record.
Sophomore Michaela Bargardi and freshman Chuchu Yang took 10th and 13th, respectively, in the 200 back, in 2:05.73 and 2:05.38.
Junior Tobie Zeller placed seventh in the 200 breaststroke in 2:21.15.
Cleveland State will now take a few weeks off before returning to action Saturday, Dec. 10, as it hosts Canisius in a dual meet in its final event of the calendar year.
