Men's & Women's Swimming And Diving To Host First Dual Meet

CSU Will Host Green Bay Saturday

Head coach Wally Morton

Oct. 22, 2009

Contact: Renee Adam

Complete Release in PDF Format

SETTING THE SCENE: The Cleveland State men's and women's swimming and diving team will host their first home dual meet of the season when the Vikings host Green Bay in Horizon League action on Saturday (Oct. 24) at 12:00 noon at Busbey Natatorium. This will be the first dual meet for the men's team, and will also be recognized as the Alumni meet.

REVIEWING LAST WEEK: The women traveled to Saint Francis for the first dual meet of the season on Saturday Oct. 17, falling 150-110. The men had the week off from competition. Below is a recap of the women's dual against Saint Francis.

WOMEN (0-1) - Saint Francis 150, CSU 110 (Oct. 17, Loretto, Pa.):
Joanna Olsson led the Vikings, winning all three of her individual events; the 200 IM (2:10.49), 1,000 free (10:35.21) and the 200 fly (2:09.05), and was part of the winning 800 free relay team. Alice Sommerville won back-to-back events for CSU in the 50 free (24.54) and the 100 free (53.21). The team won six individual events and one relay, setting four pool records and seven CSU all-time top-10 times.

MEN'S & WOMEN'S HEAD COACH
Wally Morton (Miami, OH, '70)
AT CSU: as men's coach: 251-138-1 (28 years), as women's coach: 12-19-0 (2 years)

THE MORTON FILE: Wally Morton enters his 29th season as the men's swimming and diving head coach and his third with the women's team. During his tenure with the Viking men, Morton's success has been backed up by a 251-138-1 dual meet record that includes nine Penn-Ohio Championships, a pair of MCC titles and one Horizon League Championship. In his second season at the helm of the women's program, the squad recorded the most dual wins since 2005-06, with swimmers earning podium finishes in three different events at the Horizon League Championships. Morton has led five swimmers to the NCAA Championships, including 2009 All-American Jakub Dobies. He has also coached swimmers that have reached the international stage, including Nedim Nisic, who competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. Two more of Morton's swimmers have also gone on to be Olympic Trials finalists.

PREVIEWING THE WOMEN: Head coach Wally Morton and his staff have brought in an outstanding group of talented newcomers to join the returners from last year's squad that finished sixth at the Horizon League Championships, one of the best finishes in school history. The returning squad is comprised of one senior, three juniors and six sophomores, including the holders of all six school records that were set during 2009. The freshmen are already making an impact on the CSU record books as three of the newcomers, Joanna Olsson, Alice Sommerville and Michelle Ferro, recorded six all-time top-10 times in the first dual meet of the season. Freshman Alice Sommerville has the team's top times in the 50 free (24.54), 100 free (53.21) and the 100 fly (58.80), while classmate Joanna Olsson holds the top time in the 1,000 free (10:35.21), 200 fly (2:09.05) and the 200 IM (2:10.49). Five-time individual school record holder, sophomore Carys Behn, has the team's best times in the 200 (1:55.70) and 500 free (5:13.14). Rachel Arzadon and Emily Simard have a grasp on the breaststroke events placing one and two in both the 100 and 200, Arzadon is tops in the 200 (2:36.73) and Simard tops in the 100 (1:10.28). Michelle Ferro leads the team in backstroke events, having top times in the 100 (1:01.85) and the 200 backstroke (2:11.92). Kacey Cummings and Liz Victor are still waiting for the diving events to get underway for the 2009-10 season, but are looking to build on the success that they had last year.

PREVIEWING THE MEN: The Vikings return 12 swimmers and divers from last year's squad including senior All-American Jakub Dobies and sophomore Mark deSwardt, who was the 2008-09 Athlete of the Year, Newcomer of the Year and Swimmer of the Horizon League Championship Meet. Eight freshmen and one transfer have joined the team this season. The squad will be working to improve on the six individual school records that were set last season in the 50, 100, 1,000 and 1,650 free, 100 butterfly and the 100 breaststroke, as well as the four relay records that were set during the 2008-09 season in the 200 and 400 free relay and the 200 and 400 medley relay.

The remaining returners include seniors Stephen Grove and Todd Winchell, juniors Zvonimir Androic, Deni Gasparin and Michael Marsico and sophomores Matt DiMasso, Keith Everhart, Colin Haner, Travis Lombardozzi and Pieter Ritz. Grove, who is the school record holder in the 50 free, will team with Marsico and add to the freestyle sprint events, while Ritz will contribute to the mid-distance free events. Grove also holds the school record in the 100 butterfly, and will lead the fly events with help from Winchell, Lombardozzi, Everhart and Androic. Winchell and Grove traded school records all last season in the 100 fly and will once again be contenders at the league meet. Gasparin, who was the 65th fastest breaststroker in the nation last season, will return for the Vikings and help Dobies in breast events. Winchell, Androic and Hanner will join forces to lead backstroke events, after being three of the best backstrokers in the conference last season.

DiMasso returns in the diving events, after scoring in both the 1 and 3-meter dives at the conference championships. He will be joined by Josh Gonzalez, who transferred to CSU from East Carolina University.

Newcomers this season include freshmen Brad Bielak, Alex Cohara, Pierre De Waal, Justin Hill, James Hrivnak, Tony Pavlosky, Berry Thompson and Graham Thoresen. The freestyle events will get the most help from the newcomers with Hill, Thompson, De Waal, Thoresen, Cohara, Pavlosky and Hrivnak all adding to the roster. Thompson and Bielak will also swim butterfly events for the Vikings this season, while Thoresen and Hill will contribute to backstroke events.

OUTSTANDING OLSSON: Newcomer Joanna Olsson continued her freshman campaign in record setting fashion, winning all three of her individual events at Saint Francis; the 200 IM (2:10.49), 1,000 free (10:35.21) and the 200 fly (2:09.05). Olsson was the first of the Vikings to set a Stokes Pool record with her 200 fly time. She also led the team with three all-time CSU top-10 times, coming in the 1,000 free (4th), 200 fly (5th) and the 200 IM (6th).

SWIMMER OF THE WEEK: Freshman Alice Sommerville garnered her first weekly award when she was named the Horizon League Swimmer of the Week for the period of Oct. 12-18. Sommerville won back-to-back events at Saint Francis, setting pool records in both races. The victories came in the 50 free (24.54) and the 100 free (53.21). Her time in the 100 free ranks her eighth all-time in the CSU record books. She also took home a second place finish in the 100 fly, swimming a time of 58.80, the fifth fastest time in program history. The award also marked the first for the CSU programs of the 2009-10 season.

RECORD BREAKERS: The group of Joanna Olsson, Alice Sommerville, Carys Behn, Michelle Ferro and Jamie Puls were responsible for breaking four Stokes Pool records during the dual meet last Saturday (Oct. 17). Olsson (200 fly) and Sommerville (50 & 100 free) set three of the records in individual events, while the quartet of Olsson, Behn, Ferro and Puls shattered the old pool record in the 800 free relay by more than 30 seconds.

DOBIES STARTS STRONG: During the Dennis Stark Relays (Oct. 9), the first meet of the 2009-10 season, 2009 All-American Jakub Dobies swam the fastest split of the meet in the 200 medley relay, swimming the 50 breaststroke leg in 25.82. He held his own against the relay team from the University of Michigan, which is one of the top five teams in the country.

CSU TOP-10: Four swimmers set top-10 school times in seven different individual events, along with the 200 medley relay team. Joanna Olsson led the way with three; 1,000 free (4th), 200 fly (5th) and the 200 IM (6th). Alice Sommerville recorded a fifth place all-time finish in the 100 fly and an eighth place all-time finish in the 100 free. Carys Behn and Michelle Ferro each set a top-10 time in the 200 free (9th) and the 200 back (10th) respectively. The 200 medley relay team of Ferro, Sommerville, Behn and Emily Simard set a fifth place all-time finish.

SOPHOMORE SENSATION: Mark deSwardt was part of both second place finishes at the Dennis Stark Relays (Oct. 9). deSwardt swam the final leg in the 200 free relay, with teammates Jakub Dobies, Todd Winchell and Brad Bielak finishing in 1:29.05. deSwardt worked with Graham Thoresen in the 1,000 free relay (9:27.09), taking more than 10 seconds off the time set by deSwardt and Marko Milenkovic last season.

NEXT UP: The men's team will be in action next Saturday (Oct. 31) when they travel back to South Bend, Indiana to face Notre Dame and Miami (OH) at 2:00 p.m. The women will have two weeks of training until they travel to Youngstown State to face Canisius, Malone and Youngstown State on Saturday (Nov. 6) at 5:00 p.m.