Swim team opens with 3rd-place finish at Radford Invitational

RADFORD, Va. — The Youngstown State swimming and diving team had a strong showing at the Radford Invitational over the weekend. The Penguins placed third at the seven-team invitational, with sophomore Nishani Cicilson earning an impressive win in the 50-yard freestyle and freshman Casey Hill picking up wins in both diving events.

As a team, YSU scored 616 points finishing behind Saint Francis (Pa.) (1,164) and Campbell (732). The Penguins had 12 individuals place in the top fives of various events.

Cicilson had strong all-around meet. She won the 50-yard freestyle with a career-best time of 24.37 seconds while placing third in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 1:00.38. Cicilson also placed sixth in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 54.20 seconds and was sixth in the 100 backstroke at 1:02.01.

Hill has won eight diving events so far in her brief YSU diving career after sweeping both the one and three-meter competitions. In the one-meter, she tied her career best with a 250.90 and in the three-meter, she won with a score of 244.45. She set meet records with both of her performances.

Sophomore Kirstin Walker continued her strong performances in the freestyle finishing third in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:56.99, placing fourth in the 500 freestyle with a time of 5:18.30 and coming in fifth place in the 100 free with a time of 54.15 seconds. Walker placed 11th in the 50 freestyle with a time of 25.65 seconds.

Freshman Sam Roberts was second in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:08.90, third in the 200-yard breast with a time of 2:27.59, she was fifth in the 200-yard IM with a time of 2:16.25, eighth in the 400-yard IM with a time of 4:50.44. Roberts’ time in the 200 breast eclipsed the school mark in the event previously held by Julia Darling in 2005 (2:28.27).

Freshman Rachel Tano was seventh in the 200-yard IM with a time of 2:17.26, ninth in the 100-yard breast with a time of 1:11.65 and 10th in the 400-yard IM with a time of 4:51.97.

Junior Caitlin Cook placed second in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 2:14.13, she was ninth in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 1:02.26 and 11th in the 200-yard backstroke.

Senior Hilary Barrett was fourth in the 1,650-yard freestyle with a time of 18:44.51.

YSU was strong in the relays finishing third in the 800-yard freestyle (8:04.53), third in the 400-yard freestyle (3:39.53), fourth in the 200-yard freestyle (1:41.27); fifth in the 400 medley relay (4:07.10) and fifth in the 200 medley relay (1:53.45).