Vikings Back In Water At University of Tampa

The Cleveland State University swimming teams returned to the water after nearly a month break, competing on Jan. 3 at the Tampa Relays on the campus of the University of Tampa.

Visiting Florida for a training trip, the Vikings matched up in the relays against Tampa, South Dakota State and Illinois Tech. Both CSU teams finished third. On the women’s side, the Vikings compiled 92 points while the men finished with 84 points.

“The purpose of this meet was to get in competition, but primarily it was a training trip to focus on getting as much good work in as possible,” head coach Wally Morton said. “We wanted our swimmers to have a little bit of fun and give them a chance to swim a lot of different events. On the women’s side, Maria Culjak and Rachel Arzadon really stood out while Keith Everhart swam three relays in a row and performed at a high level for the men.”

On the women’s side, the Vikings picked up a win in the 300-yard backstroke relay with Whitney Hickey, Culjak and Sandra Bunker. CSU also finished second in three different events including the 200 free relay (Brittany Tweardy, Kristina Nagy, Diana Mruk, Emily Splain, 300 fly relay (Carys Behn, Splain, Kristine Bunker) and the crescendo relay that included Tweardy in the 50 free, Nagy in the 100 free, Erin Green in the 150 free and Frances Carrion in the 200 free.

For the men, CSU picked up a win in the 300 back relay with Todd Winchell, Colin Hanner and Zvonimir Androic. The Vikings also finished second in the 300 breast relay (Jakub Dobies, Deni Gasparin, Marko Milenkovic), the 200 free relay (Dobies, Mike Marsico, Stephen Grove, Everhart) and the 4x100 IM relay (Volkmar Baur, Mark deSwardt, Winchell, Grove).

The teams return home from Florida on Friday before hosting a dual with Duquesne and Xavier on Saturday, Jan. 10 in the R. F. Busbey Natatorium at 1:00 p.m.