It’s been a year unlike any other! We’ve all faced challenges we could have never conceived. We came out closer, stronger, and better despite (or in spite) of it all. One of my favorite Wally-isms is “excellence in all we do.” I am so incredibly proud of our #OneTeamOneFamily in their achievements as people, students, and athletes this year. We got through this pandemic excellently BECAUSE of one another. Through it all our family and our culture grew to be stronger than ever. Our men closed the gap on Oakland – we truly believe that winning the Horizon League Championship is within our grasp in the immediate future. Our women, a small but mighty squad, were resilient, relentless, and remarkable. And with our incoming class, the Horizon League has no clue what the Vikes and Lady Vikes are truly capable of! |
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Women’s Academic Excellence: As a team, our women achieved a collective 3.79 GPA for the spring semester bringing our cumulative GPA to a 3.76! We had 12 women make Dean’s List and 4 the President’s list. We had 8 women achieve a perfect 4.0!!!! |
Men’s Academic Excellence: As a team, our men achieved a collective 3.421 GPA for the spring bringing our cumulative GPA to a 3.429! We had 14 men make Dean’s List and 4 the President’s list. We had 6 men achieve a perfect 4.0!!!
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If you follow our social media accounts you might have noticed our Virtual Awards aka #ShoutOutAwards. We named them in honor of our weekly Saturday tradition of taking time to shout out one another for accomplishments or points of pride throughout the week. Are you on Facebook?
Check out our OFFICIAL CSU Swim & Dive Page: https://www.facebook.com/Vikingswimdive
Are you an alumni or a really good friend of the program?
Join our PRIVATE Alumni & Friends GROUP: https://www.facebook.com/groups/327362160671963/
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The Academic Award & The Comeback Award |
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The Academic Award for having the highest GPA on the team. Erica Henrichsen is an amazing human, student and athlete. Shes the true triple-threat, graduating with a perfect 4.0 GPA! Progress is hardly ever linear. Being a collegiate student athlete can be a roller coaster of highs and lows, opportunities and challenges.
As The Comeback Award recipient Erica arguably had her BEST competitive season of her career.
Not only was she the most competitive & dove out of her mind at the Horizon League Conference championship but she earned this award for having a double comeback: breaking her collarbone- early in the fall AND a failed dive at conference!
Erica can do anything she sets her mind to! We are so proud of Erica!
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For the first time ever, we did NOT have captains this season. It was on each and every one of us to keep the team healthy, safe, and progressing towards “success”. Each person played a crucial role in their very own way, and by not electing captains, it provided leadership to naturally rise up and develop throughout the season. We gave each person in the program the opportunity to write in who they felt their leaders were this season – the outcome was unanimous. |
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The Compete for the Team Award
This award goes to the Vike & Lady Vike who put the TEAM first. Through their actions, behaviors, & choices do their best so the TEAM can be its best...
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Hayley didn’t make the conference team as a freshman. She focused her freshman year primarily on breaststroke and IM. She was diligent in her training and came back to Cleveland State in the fall ready to make an impact in every way she could. She decided to focus on butterfly due to some seniors that chose to opt out and not ride out the pandemic challenges. Hayley scored the only points for our program in the 100 and 200 butterfly. The first point is always the hardest and Hayley scored four points. We can’t wait to see how she returns for her junior year now that she has a taste of competitive success at the HLC! Hayley hadn’t broken 1:00 in the 100 butterfly since 2018 and had never swum the 200 butterfly! She swam lifetime bests 58.61 and
2:09.81.
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Jake is truly the most competitive person on our team, and possibly the most competitive person I have ever met in my life! He gives his best at everything he does. He competes, not only with himself, but with his teammates, in a way that lifts others up. If a practice (or race) doesn’t go his way he comes back ready to go at it again. Jake could have competed and scored very well in the 400 IM, but instead, chose his strongest meet lineup which also is possibly the most difficult meet lineup ever. On day one, Jake raced in the 500 freestyle. He sat day two (which trust me, was difficult for him watching his teammates competing and him “sitting the bench”), but on day three Jake raced the 200 backstroke. He swam the mile in finals and 15 minutes later raced again in finals in the 200 backstroke. Jake swam five lifetime bests across the course of two days of competing and dropped a grand total of 29.37 seconds!
Pre-CSU best times: CSU Best Times:
500 Free: 4:38.25 4:31.13
200 Backstroke: 1:48.31 1:45.87
Mile: 15:50.17 15:30.36
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Kellsie scored 13 points in the 200 Breaststroke by swimming sub 2:20 for the first time in three years! |
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Bob scored 48 points by finishing 7th in the 200 IM (1:50.32), 3rd in the 100 Fly (48.10), and winning the 200 fly (1:46.36).
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We love our newcomers (aka transfers). They bring in fresh perspectives, different experiences, insights, & wisdom that we value so much. They also happen to score major points for our #OneTeamOneFamily |
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Emily transferred in to us from Idaho. She came into our family with a huge smile on her face and a huge heart and work ethic. Emily swam her way into our top-10 list of historical swims in her 50 freestyle. In prelims Emily raced into 5th place with 23.58 and in finals moved up into 4th to score 15 individual points! She was also major contributor on the bronze medal winning 200 freestyle and 400 freestyle relay.
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Spencer transferred in to us from Tennessee. Immediately Spencer felt like family. He is one of the smartest swimmers I have coached with the goal to one day become a coach himself. Spencer scored 44 individual points by placing 5th in the 500 Free with 4:27.54, 6th in the 200 Free with 1:38.96, helped our 800 freestyle relay win silver, won silver in the Mile with 15:25.19!!!! and helped our 400 freestyle relay win silver by anchoring with 45.46.
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The Most Outstanding Award |
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This award is one of our longest traditions. Previous award winners date back to '63 and includes NCAA competitors, Olympians, and World Champs! |
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Lexie Kostelnik: for scoring 45 individual points at #HLSD by swimming into 4th place in the 500, 6th place in the 400 IM and was a crucial leg of the 800 freestyle relay that placed 2nd, swimming a lifetime best of 1:53.57 and racing into 2nd in the mile! She is our current record holder in the 1,000 and the mile. She is graduating as a nurse and already has a job lined up!
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Timmy Kubacki for scoring 52 individual points at #HLSD by swimming into 3rd in the 500 and breaking B. Schantzs record, winning the 400 IM and breaking his own record, and getting 3rd in the 200 back with a huge LTB. Timmy also helped the 800-freestyle record to second, by swimming a 1:37.61!!
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The Dennis Gates Bucket & The Viking Vigor Award |
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The Dennis Gates Bucket Award goes to Matt Akers! This award is as unique as the person its named after and the recipient! Dennis Gates took time to meet with our team before conference. We asked him about how to prepare best for the biggest event of the season without fans and opened it up to a Q&A. Matt Akers asked for some advice-----he really wanted to win conference on one-meter, but was concerned with the limited training we had. Dennis Gates said to just throw it in the bucket and do it. Shooting a basketball and getting a swoosh is just like ripping a dive, right??!! Absolutely. Its about mindset, confidence, and trust in the training. Sometimes its that simple. Matt did absolutely that and won one-meter!
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The Viking Vigor Award is given to recognize an athlete who had a significant injury & through hard work, dedication, and trust in the process, and seemingly endless hours in the athletic training room returned BETTER THAN EVER....The Viking Vigor Award goes to Griffin Manning! Not only did he swim major LTB individually and on relays, but continued on to reaching his dream of racing at Olympic Trials. Griffin truly is the embodiment of Viking Vigor.
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Sophia brings energy positivity kindness hard work and integrity to our family! |
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Jack brings energy weirdness and humor, hard work and Integrity to our family! |
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I hope you enjoyed reading about our #ShoutOutAwards. We came out of the darkness of the pandemic and our Vikes and Lady Vikes deserve all the sunshine, rainbows, and spotlight we can shine on them. I hope you take a moment to head over to
Instagram: @csu_swimdive
Twitter: @CSU_SwimDive to stay up to date and feel more connected to our team!
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Alumni Zoom Social & Busbey Bash |
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Keep an eye out for our June Alumni Zoom Happy Hour! If you have any dates/time requests please feel free to let me know! I have a challenge for you: can you connect me to 5 of your teammates/friends? Do they get our newsletters? Do they follow us on Facebook? We have lots of alumni out there that I would love to get connected back with one another and connected back to the program. Why? Because we will be throwing our first ever BUSBEY BASH in the spring of 2022....think huge alumni reunion with a celebration of the Busbey Natatorium turning 50 years old!
All the best,
Head Swimming & Diving Coach
Cell: 216.386.8067
Email: h.burandt@csuohio.edu
Social Media: @hburandt
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