Christmas came early for men's swimming and diving coach BobThomas as this weekend the Cardinals easily defended their ZippyInvitational title at Akron, Ohio.
Before the meet, Thomas had said he expected to finish third outof eight schools in the three-day meet behind St. Bonaventure andCleveland State. Instead, the Cardinals not only won theinvitational but led from day one.
The team finished with 1,673 points, 130 points ahead of secondplace St. Bonaventure and 386 ahead of third place ClevelandState.
"I was very pleased to win. Our guys were able to pull out thevictory," Thomas said.
Twelve meet records were broken throughout the weekend,including five on the final day. Of the twelve new records, sevennow belong to Cleveland State and two to the Bonnies.
The Cardinals led Clarion by 108 points after the first day andby 115, ahead of St. Bonaventure, after day two.
Depth proved the deciding factor in the meet. Despite finishingwith only one first place finish the entire weekend -- Kurtis Leerwon the 200 free on the second day -- the Cardinals were still ableto come out on top. Leer added a third place in the 100 free in thefinals. Ryan Bounds placed third in the 1650 free and eighth in the200 fly. In the finals, the Cardinals were able to place nine otherswimmers in the top ten.
Unlike in past meets, where underclassmen were heavily reliedon, swimmers both new and experienced contributed. Freshman AdamKonopka finished fifth in the 200 back, and senior Rod Smithfinished eighth in the same event. Zach Hall also finished seventhin that event.
The win was a team effort, said Thomas.
"We had all but two swimmers score points at the meet," he said."It was really a team effort. It wasn't any one individualstandout."
Ritchie Caudill finished third, Clint Cadden sixth, and RobertFunk eighth, in the 200 breast. Kurtis Leer and Josh Schum finishedthird and fifth, respectively, in the 100 free, and Jim Lullofinished second in the 1650 free.
"Heading into the second half of the season, it will motivatepeople to get their work done," Thomas said.
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