The Cleveland State men's and women's swimming and diving teams competed at Busbey Natatorium on Saturday with Marshall University and St. Bonaventure University.
The men defeated St. Bonaventure 175-116 while the women beat St. Bonaventure 185.50-108.50 and fell to Marshall 186-113. The results improve the men to 3-1 on the year while the women move to 2-5.
It was an exciting day in the pool for the Vikings as both sides took home multiple top finishes. Of the performance, Cleveland State head coach Paul Graham said, "One of the things we've talked about since day one is building brick-by-brick each day. We've done a great job of that week-to-week and today is a real validation of that process. It was our best meet of the year by far."
For the men, the team started fast and never looked back. In the first pool event, the team's 200 Medley relay team of Philipp Sikatzki, Tommi Wolst, Szymon Golczyk and Adam Ingledew finished in first place with a time of 1:29.69. That time registered as the 19th best event time in the country as of November 7.
The team was not done, though, as they would take home eleven more first-place finishes along with three other top-30 nationally ranked times.
In order of events, Patrick Walsh won the 1000 Free (9:55.45) and Sikatzki earned the 27th best time in the country in the 100 Back, winning with a time of 48.52. Wolst then topped the field in the 100 Breast (55.73) before Golczyk grabbed the 21st best time in the 200 Fly with a 1:47.85. Indgledew followed with a victory of his own, swimming down-and-back and earning the 50 Free win in 21.40. Wolst was again a winner, this time in the 200 Back (1:49.32), right before Gage Alleman earned a hard-fought victory in the 200 Breast with a time of 2:06.63.
Nearing the end of the meet, Walsh was victorious again (500 Free - 4:48.14) along with the final race of the day, the 200 Free relay in which Sikatzki, Robert Tolson, Szymon Golczyk and Ingledew topped the competition at 1:23.99.
No race, though, was more impressive than Golczyk's 100 Fly. Beating the second-place finisher by more than five seconds, his final time of 47.43 earned him the eighth best time in the country in the event.
For the men's diving, Danny Roberts placed first in the 1M (350.90) and second in the 3M (302.70).
Mac Lewis, Phillip Brittain, Jon Lavalle, Jared Stergar and Grant Wethington all swam well, at least taking one second or third place finish apiece.
On the women's side, Molly McNamara and Anna Evans both took home first-place individual wins. McNamara was a winner in the 200 Fly (2:04.34) and 100 Fly (57.00) while Evans 100 Free time of 54.32 topped the field in a closely-contested race.
The 200 Free relay team of Ashleigh Bennett, Evans, Claudia Zido and Jamie Vandewerker finished the meet in style, earning a win for the Vikings with a time of 1:38.41.
Cassie Oltman, Tobie Zeller, Zido, Evans, Michaela Bargardi, Bethany Robertson and Emma Flynn all had an outstanding meet, taking part in at least one individual or relay top-three finish.
On the diving side for the women, Tori Taffner continued her consistencies, placing second in both the 1M (254.55) and 3M (272.75). Teammate Samantha Sposet finished third and fourth in the 3M and 1M, respectively.
The Vikings will have a few days off before they return to competition at Ohio State this Thursday (Nov. 12) at 6:00 p.m. The team will host the annual CSU Magnus Cup the following weekend (Nov. 20-22).
