Cleveland State Loses A Pair At Illinois-Chicago

DeSwardt Breaks UIC Pool Record 
The Cleveland State University men's swimming and diving teams (10-5) traveled to UIC for the final dual of the regular season on Feb. 7, falling to the Flames 132-102. Mark deSwardt and Jakub Dobies both had solid days. DeSwardt won three events and set a new UIC pool record and Dobies picked up two wins.

“Our men put together back-to-back days of excellent performances, which is a good sign that we’ll perform well at the upcoming Horizon League Championships,” head coach Wally Morton said. 

CSU started off the meet with a second-place finish in the 400 medley relay as Todd Winchell, Marko Milenkovic, Stephen Grove and Mike Marsico touched in 3:27.74. The Vikings also took third in the event with Zvonimir Androic, Deni Gasparin, Travis Lombardozzi and Keith Everhart (3:31.91).

Mark deSwardt shone in the 1,000 freestyle, winning the event and setting a new UIC Natatorium record. deSwardt’s time of 9:13.74 was shy of his CSU school record (9:05.64) but bettered the previous UIC pool record of 9:21.42.

In the 200 freestyle, Winchell captured CSU’s top finish with a third-place showing (1:44.43) and Grove logged the team’s best finish in the 50 freestyle (21.65, 4th). Dobies picked up his first win of the day in the 200 IM (1:54.55). 

deSwardt won his second event during the 200 butterfly in season-best time and the fourth-fastest time in school history (1:50.16). Dobies’ second victory came in the 100 freestyle (46.28). In the 200 backstroke, Zvonimir Androic picked up a win for the Vikings in 1:54.26, beating out teammate Colin Hanner (1:57.40). 

The final win for deSwardt came in the 500 freestyle (4:32.46) when he beat the second-place finisher by seven seconds. Two CSU swimmers earned podium finishes in the 200 breaststroke with Milenkovic (2:06.73) and Deni Gasparin (2:08.52) finishing second and third, respectively.

CSU’s 400 freestyle relay team took second in the final event of the day as Grove, Marsico, Winchell and Dobies finished in 3:06.99.

In the diving events, Matt DiMasso won the 1-meter event with 245.47 points and finished second in the 3-meter event with 228.90 points.

The day also included a season-best performance by Hanner in the 200 free (1:46.36).

The Vikings are off until the Horizon League Championships begin on Feb. 25. 

Behn Picks Up Two Wins As Vikings Fall At UIC
The Cleveland State University women’s swimming and diving teams (8-9) traveled to UIC to wrap up the dual portion of the 2008-09 schedule. The Vikings came out on the short end of a 152-81 loss but won three events on the day.

“We knew UIC was one of the top teams in the Horizon League and our goal today was to do our best after swimming back-to-back days,” head coach Wally Morton said.

The meet got underway with CUS taking second in the 400 medley relay behind the efforts of Maria Culjak, Rachel Arzadon, Whitney Hickey and Kristina Nagy (4:06.46). 

Behn picked up the first of her two wins in the 1,000 freestyle (10:29.32) while Kristine Bunker was CSU’s top finisher in the 200 freestyle (1:59.41, 2nd) in her best time of the season. In the 50 freestyle event, Vikings swimmers went 3-4-5 in Culjak (25.45), Emily Splain (25.62) and Nagy (25.64).

Hickey led the way for the Vikings in the 200 IM (2:16.41) for a fourth-place finish. Katie Bellew was the Vikings’ top placer in the 200 butterfly (2:14.22, 3rd) and Culjak wrapped up second in the 100 freestyle (54.92) in her best time of the season. 

Splain picked up third-place in the 200 backstroke (2:15.14) and Behn followed her with a win in the 500 freestyle (5:05.82). 

Rachel Arzadon led four Vikings with a second-place finish in the 200 breaststroke (2:33.17). Erin Green (2:34.89) and Bellew (2:38.10) finished in third and fourth, respectively while Brittany McCann’s exhibition time of 2:39.09 would have placed her fifth.

In the night’s final event, the 400 free relay, CSU picked up a victory behind the efforts of Behn, Splain, Kristine Bunker and Brittany Tweardy (3:39.86). All four swimmers had some of the best efforts of the year in their splits.

In diving, Heather Dietz finished second for CSU with 192.08 points in the 1-meter competition. Liz Victor finished third for the Vikings in the 3-meter event (157.88) with her best score of the season.

The day also included a season-best performance by Diana Mruk in the 200 free (2:08.26). 

The Vikings are off until the Horizon League Championships begin on Feb. 25.