The Cleveland State men topped St. Bonaventure on Saturday, 175-116. The Cleveland State women competed in a tri-meet against St. Bonaventure and Marshall, grabbing one win while taking a loss. They topped St. Bonaventure 185.5-108.5, but fell to Marshall, 186-113. Marshall also took a 203-93 win over the St. Bonaventure women.
Cleveland State:
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).
Marshall:
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – Marshall swimming and diving improved to a best-ever 7-0 with a 203-93 win over St. Bonaventure and 186-113 win against Cleveland State Saturday in Cleveland.
MEET HIGHLIGHTS
Sophomore Madi Pulfer led the herd with two wins, including a lifetime best 10:18.98 in the 1,000 freestyle, the seventh fastest time in school history. She also won the 200 backstroke with a time of 2:08.09.
Sophomore Nele Albers added two wins as well, in the 200 freestyle (1:55.43) and 500 yard freestyle (5:08.25).
Junior diver Megan Wolons had two wins as well, including a season-best 305.60 in the 3-meter contest.
TRAMEL TALK
Coach Bill Tramel on the meet:
“We had some very solid performances today to add to last night. Another 20 season bests.”
“The thing I am really pleased with were some of the performances when we were already ahead. We had some top performances today, personally and as a team. We want to be a team that always performs at a high level.”
“We are 7-0, which certainly is something we should be proud of, but winning is fragile. We have one more match this semester and it’s right before our mid-season meet in Chapel Hill. It will be our most challenging yet.”
However, our preparation will be the same. Focus on what we can control, be confident and be disciplined with our technique and race strategy.”
#BEHERD
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NEXT UP
The Herd will take on the Ohio Bobcats on Friday, Nov. 13.
St. Bonaventure:
The St. Bonaventure women’s swimming and diving team fell to both Cleveland State and Marshall at the The Robert F. Busbey Natatorium on the campus of Cleveland State.
The Bonnies were led by Maria Rocchi who had the lone St. Bonaventure win on the afternoon. Rocchi took home the title in the 200-yd breaststroke swimming a time of 2:26.80.
Rocchi was followed closely by teammate Alyssa Levac who placed second with a final time of 2:28.33.
Other highlights for St. Bonaventure were Liz Malone in the 100 and 200-yd butterfly events. Malone swam a 59.67 in the 100-yd fly and a 2:09.27 on the 200-yd fly, both swims were season bests for the senior.
Fellow senior Adelyn Graf had an impressive swim in the 200-yd backstroke finishing in third place with a season best time of 2:09.34.
Despite the loss, head coach Krista Carlson was pleased with her team’s effort on Saturday.
“We had a lot of in season bests at this meet and saw a really strong showing from our sophomore class as a whole” Coach Carlson said.
Next Up:
The Bonnies will be back in the water Saturday Nov. 14th at the Reilly Center Pool. The team will honor it’s senior class prior to start of the meet. The first event is scheduled to begin at 11 am.
Swimming news courtesy of Cleveland State, Marshall, and St. Bonaventure Swimming & Diving.
