Youngstown State University
Horizon League Championship
Eight Top-10 Finishes Spur Penguins to Record Score on Final Day
2/25/2012 12:00:00 AM | Swimming and Diving
Brown Deer, Wis. -- The Youngstown State swimming and diving team produced seven top-10 finishes on the final day of action at the Horizon League Swimming and Diving Championships at the Schroeder Aquatic Center.
YSU scored 364 points in the event, the most by the school in any of its 11 Horizon League Championship appearances.
On Saturday night, junior diver Casey Hill was second in the three-meter dive while freshman Ashley Dow placed second in the 200-yard backstroke.
On Saturday, Dow placed second in the 200-yard backstroke with a school-record time of 1:59.54 just behind Milwaukee's Becky Yokosh who set a meet record at 1:58.85. Dow had broke the school mark earlier on Saturday in the preliminaries before breaking it again in the finals.
For her efforts at her first Horizon League Championships, Dow was named the co-Newcomer of the Year with Green Bay's Amanda Walker. Dow became YSU's first swimming league champion since 2004 on Friday.
Hill, who placed second in the one-meter dive on Thursday, had a finals total of 272.20 finishing behind Cleveland State's Kacey Cummings. Sophomore Tricia Vallinger was fifth with a 244.90 while Breanne Horrigan placed ninth with a 261.10 with the highest score in the B-Final.
Junior Samantha Roberts finished seventh with a time of 2:20.32 in the 200 Breaststroke.
Senior Nishani Cicilson and senior Kirstin Walker both finished with a time of 52.35 in the 100-yard freestyle. However Cicilson takes 11th and Walker finishes in the eighth place. Walker qualified for the A final, while Cicilson competed in the B final.
Sophomore Megan Ciampa finished ninth overall in the 1,650-yard freestyle with a time of 17:44.25.
In the 100-yard butterfly, Laura Paz placed 10th with a time of 2:08.16.
To conclude the championships, YSU's 400-yard freestyle relay team finished sixth with a time of 3:30.54.
Last year YSU scored 305.8 points and smashed that mark this year finishing with 364. Milwaukee had a spectacular final night to win the team crown with a score of 759.5 while Cleveland State was second at 675.5. The Panthers led by five points entering Saturday's action.
