Men's And Women's Swimming And Diving Starts 2009-10 Season

Dennis Stark Relays Up First For Swimmers And Divers

Head coach Wally Morton

Oct. 6, 2009

Contact: Renee Adam

Complete Release in PDF Format

SETTING THE SCENE: The Cleveland State men's and women's swimming and diving teams will begin the 2009-10 season when they travel to South Bend, Indiana for the Dennis Stark Relays on Friday (Oct. 9). The meet is hosted by the University of Notre Dame, and will begin at 5:00 p.m.

MEN'S & WOMEN'S HEAD COACH
Wally Morton (Miami, OH, '70)
AT CSU: as men's coach: 251-238-1 (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: Ten swimmers and divers return for the women this season, led by five-time individual school record holder Carys Behn. Eight newcomers will join Behn and the Vikings, including seven freshmen and one sophomore transfer. Last season six individual school records were set by two swimmers, including Behn in the 50, 100, 200, 500 and 1,000 free and Whitney Hickey in the 100 butterfly. The squad also set records in the 200 free relay, 400 free relay, 200 medley relay and the 400 medley relay.

The rest of the returners include senior Brittany McCann, juniors Frances Carrion, Erin Green and Diana Mruk and sophomores Rachel Arzadon, Kacey Cummings, Emily Splain and Liz Victor. Green and Carrion will return to lead the distance freestyle events, after both swimming at the 2008-09 league championships where Green swam the eighth fastest time in CSU history in the 1,000 free and Carrion made top 20 finishes in the mile and 1,000. Green will also add to the breaststroke events following a season in which she swam the second-fastest time in CSU history in the 100 breast. Arzadon will join Green in breast events, after recording top-10 times during her freshman campaign. Splain and Hickey will team up in the backstroke events after recording top-10 school times in backstroke events.

Victor and Cummings will team up to compete in the diving events for the Vikings. Victor returns after finishing 12th and 13th in the 3 and 1-meter dives, respecetively at the league meet.

Freshmen Joanna Olsson and Alice Sommerville will contribute immediatly to the freestyle events, along with classmate Jamie Puls and Courtney Maddock. Olsson and Sommerville will also be on the butterfly roster, while the breaststroke events will get help from newcomers Michelle Ferro, Emily Simard, Kelly Rath and Allison Pallija. Ferro will also join Splain and Hickey in the backstroke events.

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 will be joining 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.

ALL-AMERICAN HONORS: All-American Jakub Dobies returns for his final season with the Vikings, after becoming the first CSU and Horizon League All-American with a 13th place finish in the 100 breaststroke at the NCAA Championships. Last season, Dobies qualified for the NCAA Championships for the third straight year in the 100 breaststroke. He also won the stroke at the Horizon League Championships for the third consecutive year in record setting fashion, breaking both CSU and league records (52.94). With his victory, Dobies became just the sixth Viking in school history to win a league title in the same event three times.

SOPHOMORE SENSATION: After just one year with the CSU program, sophomore Mark deSwardt has become one of the best distance swimmers in the Horizon League. Last season, deSwardt won all three of his individual swims at the Horizon League Championships, and was unanimously selected as the league's Swimmer of the Meet, Swimmer of the Year and Newcomer of the Year after leading the meet in points scored with 60. His swims at the meet included the 500, 1,000 and 1,650 free, setting league and CSU records in the 1,000 (9:01.46) and 1,650 distances (15:02.06).

BEHN IS BACK: Sophomore Carys Behn returns after a freshman campaign in which she set five individual school records. Behn set records in the 50, 100, 200, 500 and 1,000 freestyle events during her debut season. She also had a strong showing at the Horizon League Championship Meet earning podium finishes in each of her three swims, taking second in the 100 and 200 free and third in the 500 free. Behn was also a contributor in the 200 and 400 free relay and the 400 medley relay, each of which set new school records.

RECORD SETTING YEAR: The men's and women's swimming and diving teams were responsible for setting a combined 20 CSU records last season. On the women's side Carys Behn set five records (50, 100, 200, 500 and 1,000 freestyle), Whitney Hickey set a record in the 100 butterfly, and the 200 free, 400 free, 200 medley and 400 medley relay teams all set new marks. Three swimmers set individual records on the men's side; Stephen Grove in the 50 free and 100 fly, Jakub Dobies in the 100 free and 100 breast and Mark deSwardt in the 1,000 and 1,650 free. Four men's relays also set school records including the 200 and 400 freestyle relays and the 200 and 400 medley relays.

NEXT UP: The women will travel to Loretto, Pa. and face Saint Francis in a dual meet on Saturday (Oct. 17) beginning at 1:00 p.m. while the men have two weeks off before facing Green Bay in the first home meet of the season at Busbey Natatorium on Saturday (Oct. 24) at 12:00 noon.