Feb. 18, 2012
Day Four Results | Complete Results
Highlights | Photo Gallery 
ROCHESTER, Mich. - Amr el Sayed and Vanessza Baloghwere named Men's and Women's Swimming Championship MVPs as the Oakland men's and women's swimming and diving teams captured their 13th consecutive Summit League Championships Saturday night at the OU Aquatic.
"We are really excited for how the kids swam all weekend more so than the winning part and a lot of credit goes to them for doing a great job," said head coach Pete Hovland. "When you get to something like this and reach the pinnacle it takes a lot of hard work and we are really excited about it."
The Oakland women won with a final score of 1,041 points, followed by South Dakota State with 662 points and South Dakota with 544 points. The Oakland men won with a final score of 1,040 points, followed by South Dakota State with 640.5 points and South Dakota with 413.
Balogh won the Women's Swimming Championships MVP after posting new league records in the 400-yard individual medley with an NCAA `B' qualifying time and the 500-yard freestyle. She also successfully defended her 1,650-free title Saturday night. Balogh was also a part of the pool record setting 400-yard medley relay and league record setting 400-free relay team that earned NCAA `B' qualifying times.
El Sayed won the Men's Swimming Championships MVP after setting a league record in the 1,650 free, winning the 500-free, falling just 0.1 seconds short of a league record, and finishing runner-up in the 200-free. He was also a part of the winning 800-free relay team that earned an NCAA `B' qualifying time.
Mario Rusnakearned Men's Newcomer of the Championship after earning runner-up finishes in the 100- and 200-yard butterfly and fourth in the 200 IM. Hovland won Women's Coach of the Year and Co-Men's Coach of the Year, the first time he has won both awards in the same year.
For the women, Sandra Czerska defended her 100-yard butterfly crown by setting a new league record and earning an NCAA `B' cut with a time of 1:59.09 while Alyssa Vela became a four-time champion in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 50.50. Johanna Gustafsson swpet the breaststroke events as she won the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:20.14 and Alyssa Buschdefended her 200-yard backstroke crown with a time 2:00.44.
Tricia Grantcaptured her first career Summit League title in the 3-meter diving with a score of 292.35. The relay team of Vela, Czerska, Balogh and Gustafsson set a new league record and earned an NCAA `B' qualifying time of 3:23.89
El Sayed captured his second title of the championships as he won the 1,650-free with a league record time of 15:25.79, good for an NCAA `B' qualifying time. Anders Jensen swam the eighth fastest 200-yard backstroke in the country to win the third title of his career with a 1:43.16 while Scott Yarbroughfinished with a career sweep of the 200-breast winning his fourth title with a time of 1:59.77, good for an NCAA `B' cut.
Ben Vavra captured his first career individual title winning the 100-free with a time of 45.05. The relay team of Grant Harding, Zach Johnson, Matyas Keresztesand Vavra earned an NCAA `B' qualifying time of 2:58.02.
Meet Awards
Women's Swimmer of the Championship: Vanessza Balogh, Oakland
Women's Newcomer of the Championship: Morgan McLain, SDSU
Women's Diving Championship MVP: Chen Ni, IUPUI
Women's Coach of the Year: Pete Hovland Oakland
Men's Swimmer of the Championship: Amr el Sayed, Oakland
Men's Newcomer of the Championship: Mario Rusnak, Oakland
Men's Diving Championship MVP: Doug Ogilvie, WIU
Men's Co-Coach of the Year: Pete Hovland, Oakland and Brad Erikson, SDSU
-OAKLAND-
