Preview: Cleveland State Women

A year after finishing with an 8-9 record and a sixth place Horizon League finish, the Cleveland State women’s swimming and diving team has high expectations for the upcoming year. Third year head coach Wally Morton has seen what this program has been able to accomplish and believes this is the year to improve in the Horizon League.

“I have been very impressed with what I have seen so far in the early workouts,” Morton said. “I think with hard work and dedication this year’s team can be among the best, if not the best team in school history.”

With only one senior returning this season, the Vikings will rely heavily on underclassmen and seven incoming freshmen, which compile one of the best recruiting classes in CSU history.

“We have an outstanding recruiting class this year including three local swimmers,” Morton said. “This will allow us to improve on our dual meet record as well as move up in the conference standings.”

The 2009-10 roster is compiled of one senior, three juniors, seven sophomores and seven freshmen.

Freestyle
Five-time individual school record holder, Carys Behn, returns for her sophomore year to lead the freestyle events. Behn holds the CSU record in the 50, 100, 200, 500 and 1,000 free, and based on her previous experience, she will provide the foundation for the success of this season’s team.

Alice Sommerville joins the squad from New Zealand, where she was an outstanding swimmer at Mount Hutt College. Sommerville recorded first place finishes in the 50 free, 100 free and 100 fly events at the 2009 New Zealand Age Group Championships. Morton expects her to be one of the best swimmers in the conference in freestyle and butterfly events, and one of the strongest swimmers in the CSU program.

All freestyle events will receive an immediate impact from incoming freshman Joanna Olsson. Olsson has national and international swimming experience and will be in contention to win the 200, 500, 1,000 and 1,650 free events.

Junior Diana Mruk will offer terrific leadership and depth for the freestyle mid-distance events as she returns from an outstanding 2008-09 season in which she set career best times in the 50 and 200 free.

Whitney Hickey and Emily Splain return after their freshmen campaigns with added experience in the sprint and mid-distance events. Hickey recorded a victory in the 100 free last season against St. Francis, and was part of the 200 and 400 freestyle relay teams that set school records at the league championships. Splain made a run at the league meet last year, ending with a top-16 finish in the 200 free.

Adding to the freestyle roster will be freshman Jamie Puls, who was one of the top swimmers at Normandy High where she set school records in the 50, 100 and 200 free events.

The freestyle distance events will be led by juniors Erin Green and Frances Carrion, who were both active swimmers at the league chamipionships last season. Green swam the eighth fastest time in CSU history in the 1,000 free at the meet, while Carrion made top-20 finishes in the mile and 1,000.

Green and Carrion will be joined by incoming freshman Courtney Maddock, who will add strength to the distance events right from the start of the 2009-10 season.

Butterfly

Hickey returns with hopes of bettering the school record she set last year in the 100 butterfly during her seventh place Horizon League finish. She will be a large part of the butterfly roster as she also had a top eight finish in the 200 at the conference meet last year.

Behn will continue to contribute in the butterfly events as well this year, after swimming the fifth-fastest time in CSU history in the 100 during regular season competition last year.

The versatility of Olsson and Sommerville will be noticable in the butterfly events, as they will both be added factors in meets this season.

Breaststroke

The deepest stroke for the Vikings will be the breaststroke, which will be led by Green and sophomore Rachel Arzadon, who both earned spots in the all-time CSU top-10 last year. Green swam the second-fastest time in school history in the 100 breast during league preliminaries, while Arzadon recorded top-10 times in the 100 and 200.

Senior Brittany McCann is also capable of recording top-10 times based on her previous swimming results. Last season she set personal bests in the 50, 100 and 200 events.

During preseason training, newcomers Michelle Ferro, Emily Simard, Kelly Rath and Allison Pallija have all shown the potential to be able to score in breaststroke events this year.

Backstroke

Together, Hickey and Splain will provide the leadership for the backstroke events, as they continue to improve on exceptional freshmen campaigns when they both recorded all-time top-10 times. Hickey had an eighth place finish in the 100 at the league meet recording the top time on the team, and Splain had top-10 times in the 100 and 200 during the meet.

Ferro comes to the program with times that suggest she could be one of the best backstrokers in the conference, and will fill a large role for the Vikings this season.

Individual Medley

Behn is currently ranked eighth on the CSU all-time list in the 200 IM, and is the lone returner in the event. She will depend on incoming freshmen, Olsson, Sommerville, Ferro, Rath, Simard and Pallija to add depth to the IM roster.

Diving

Sophomore Liz Victor returns after putting up her best scores of the season at the Horizon League Championship, finishing 12th and 13th in the 3 and 1-meter dives respectively.

Victor’s classmate Kacey Cummings returns after a freshman season where she was a top recruit in the program. The expectations for Cummings are the same as they were last season, which is to be a contributor at the league championships.