March 8, 2008

Prelims | Finals

Contact: Gene Natale, Jr.

COLUMBUS, Ohio - With his record-setting performance, Jakub Dobies led a group of three Cleveland State swimmers at the Ohio State Last Ditch NCAA Qualifying meet, held Saturday, March 8 at McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion in Columbus Ohio.

The sophomore won the 100 breaststroke in a school and Horizon League record time of 53.64, only four-tenths of a second from setting an NCAA "A" qualifying time in the event. His time also broke the previous Ohio State pool record (Miranda, PSU, 54.46, 2006) by nearly a full second.

"It's pretty exciting," assistant coach Andrew Hancock said, "His time puts him somewhere between 13th-16th in the nation. It's 85 percent certain he will go to NCAA with his time. Obviously we wont know for sure 'till the psyche sheets are released, but it's faster than the time that he went with last year."

His time in the 100 breast represents a marked improvement over his previous season best of 54.03, which he set on Dec. 1 at the Miami (OH) Invitational. Last season he qualified for the NCAA Championship with a time of 53.77 in the 100 breast, which was also a school and Horizon League record at the time.

"We look forward to seeing him compete against the top swimmers in the country," Hancock added.

Deni Gasparin and Stephen Grove also competed in the meet in the 100 breast and 50 free, respectively. Gasparin placed second in the 100 breast (57.12). Meanwhile, Grove was third in the preliminary heat of the 50 free (20.76) but did not swim in the finals.

Stephen swam pretty good, right on the time he won the conference meet with," Hancock said, "Deni was a little off from where he has been, but he has been sick recently, which is what kept him from swimming his best time."

Dan Baiko will be the next Viking to attempt to qualify for the NCAA CHampionships at the NCAA Zone C Diving competition, which will be held at the Davey O'Brien Diving Well at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio from March 14-16.