SPORTS STORIES:
SPORTS INFORMATION—2009
Swimming and Diving team starts season friday in new york...
CLEVELAND, OH (October 27, 2009) - The Case Western Reserve University men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams will begin their 2009-2010 season this weekend when they travel to the University of Rochester. Both teams have balanced lineups as Head Coach Chris Conlon expects seniors all the way down to freshmen to contribute to the teams’ success.
“We are looking for strong performances from our junior class this season on the women’s side,” said Conlon. “They have been working really hard since the end of last season.”
Junior’s Kelsey Zeller (distance - Cincinnati, OH), Amanda Timson (distance- Livonia, MI), Ellen Crummy (backstroke - Butler, PA), Emma Call (IM - Baltimore, MD) and returning school record holder, Roxanne Leyshon (breaststroke - Cambridge, OH), will lead the young women’s squad.
Sophomore’s Stephanie Campbell (fly - Highland Heights, OH) and Jessica Nuhfer (sprints - Warren, PA) have also made huge strides in just one year.
“It is a neat time for Case Western Reserve swimming in that I look down my roster and see all underclassmen,” Conlon said. “That can only mean good things to come.”
Speaking of youth, Coach Conlon is excited about his freshman class. Brittany Sussman (middle distance - Englewood, OH) will help the Spartans immediately and the team also has a great freshmen diver in Amanda Caddell (Carlisle, MA).
“The fact that we have incoming freshmen (both women and men) that not only have diving experience, but have full eleven dive lists, is really exciting to me because that means they will be consistently scoring for us in dual meets and at our conference meet,” Conlon explained.
On the men’s side, the Spartans have three divers, which include two newcomers who have full lists, including returning sophomore Steve Leusch (Carmel, IN). They will all score in the Top 8 at conference meet, which will be a big advantage for the team.
“The men’s team is very balanced as well,” Conlon said. “We have both strength and depth in sprints and distances. We have predominately been strong in the strokes and we have become stronger in the freestyle events.”
Case Western Reserve returns a strong senior class on the men’s side. The Spartans return three senior All-UAA selections from a year ago in Drew Swartz (BK/IM - San Diego, CA), Dan Wolak (sprint FR - La Grange Park, IL) and Kevin Alland (FR - Buffalo Grove, IL).
Junior Robby Browning (FL/BK - Grosse Pointe, MI) is also a returning all-conference performer. Coach Conlon has high expectations for juniors Peter Fino (BR - Sterling Heights, MI) and Steven Jacobs (BR/IM - Tallmadge, OH) as well.
Michael Lin (FR - Buffalo, NY) will lead the sophomore class. Lin swam the second fastest 200-freestyle in school history last season and will be joined by classmates Sam Geiger (distance - Westlake, OH) and Patrick Flanagan (sprints - Strongsville, OH).
The Spartans will also look to two freshman distance swimmers for help this season – Chris Emr (Rockville, MD) and Erik Larsen (Roseville, CA).
“They can both do a variety of events and I expect to make an immediate impact in both the conference and at the national level,” Conlon said.
Conlon also expects big things out of rookies Adam Kozak (sprints - Aurora, IL), Ryan Kowalski (diver - Wind Lake, WI) and Syed Zulqadar (diver - Mount Prospect, IL).
The 2010 men’s and women’s University Athletic Association championships will be held February 17-20 at Emory University in Atlanta.
“(The UAA) is the fastest conference in the nation from top to bottom on both the men’s and women’s side,” Conlon said. “Our approach is a little different this year. We are not going to look ahead. We are going to just put our heads down and go to work. We are going to get better week in and week out and be competitive.”
Case Western Reserve only has three home meets this season; the Veale Classic November 13-14 and dual meets against Carnegie Mellon on January 9 and Baldwin Wallace College January 15. The meet against Baldwin Wallace will be senior night.
“(The B-W meet) will be a great time for us to honor our seniors and all the great things they have done during their careers here,” Conlon said. “We have three (seniors) on women’s side and seven on the men’s side.”
ABOUT CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY … Case is among the nation's leading research institutions. Founded in 1826 and shaped by the unique merger of the Case Institute of Technology and Western Reserve University, Case is distinguished by its strengths in education, research, service, and experiential learning. Located in Cleveland, Case offers nationally recognized programs in the Arts and Sciences, Dental Medicine, Engineering, Law, Management, Medicine, Nursing, and Social Work. http://www.case.edu