Minnesota vs South Dakota State vs St. Thomas
- October 27, 2023
- Minneapolis, Minn.
- SCY (25 yards)
- Results
Courtesy: Minnesota Athletics
MINNEAPOLIS – The Minnesota men’s and women’s swim and dive teams took care of business on Friday night, sweeping St. Thomas and South Dakota State at Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center.
Prior to the event, the Gophers honored their 16 seniors for their contributions to the program.
The #21 women’s team took down St. Thomas 246-53 and SDSU 243-57, while the men’s team beat the Tommies 245-55 and the Jackrabbits 230-68.
With many swimmers competing in events outside of their regular meet load, the Gophers were still able to come away victorious in all but one of the 32 events, including sweeping 16. The women had victories from nine different individuals, while 10 men contributed wins.
The women were once again paced by senior Megan Van Berkom, who finished first in the 200 free (1:49.71), 100 breast (1:02.39) and 100 fly (55.17). Grace Drabot added a pair of top-finishes of her own in the 1000 free (10:25.43) and 200 IM (2:05.71).
The other women’s victories came from Ava Yablonski (100 back, 56.43), Faith Johnson (200 fly, 2:04.06), Mina Kaljevic (50 free, 23.35), Hannah Cornish (100 free, 50.58), Katie McCarthy (200 back, 2:01.19), Ava Gustafson (200 breast, 2:20.82) and Jade Roghair (500 free, 5:01.01).
In the diving well, Megan Phillip took the top spot in the 1-meter with a score of 299.50, making it her highest-scoring dive of the season, while Vivi Del Angel won the 3-meter with a 353.25, which is good for the highest score of any Gopher so far this season in the event.
Freshman Ian Steffen led the Gopher men with two individual victories. He took the crown in the 100 back (50.00) and 100 fly (49.53).
Other Minnesota wins came from Kaiser Neverman (200 IM, 1:51.48), Jackson Brown (500 free, 4:37.39), William Christenson (1000 free, 9:20.39), Lovro Serdarevic (200 free, 1:40.28), Grant Wodny (200 fly, 1:51.29), Davide Harabagiu (50 free, 20.46), Omar Abdelwahab (100 free, 45.96), Ryan Slonac (200 back, 1:47.93) and Neil Simpson (200 breast, 2:03.63).
YuTong Wang secured wins in both the 1-meter and 3-meter dives for the second time this season with scores of 378.55 and 393.85, respectively. Drew Bennett had another solid performance, scoring 330.65 on the 1-meter and 368.60 in the 3-meter.
The Minnesota men and women placed first in all four of the relays, sweeping three categories. The women’s team of Yablonski, Goodno, Thomas and Jongman won the 200 medley relay (1:43.91), while the team of Mina Kaljevic, Roghair, Johnson and Fiona O’Connor won the 400 free relay (3:30.62). The men’s team of Casey Stowe, Joe Rudd, Neverman and Serdarevic grabbed the win in the 200 medley relay (1:29.65) with the team of Tyler Hansen, Serdarevic, Connor Groya and Abdelwahab took the 400 free relay (3:02.37).
The Gophers return home next week for Big Ten action against Wisconsin. Minnesota will host its annual “Pack the Pool” event for fans. The event will consist of free t-shirts for the first 100 fans, free Dominos pizza for current UMN students and other student giveaways throughout the meet. Action is set to begin at 5 p.m. Live results can be found on GopherSports.com and the Meet Mobile app with streaming available on Big Ten+.
Courtesy: South Dakota State Athletics
MINNEAPOLIS — South Dakota State swimmers established season-best times in nine events while earning a split in a tri-dual against Minnesota and St. Thomas Friday at the Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center.
The Jackrabbits, who moved to 3-2 in head-to-head competitions this season, topped St. Thomas, 202-97, while being downed by 24th-ranked Minnesota, 243-57.
Senior Emma Walz was the highest placer for the Jackrabbits, posting a runner-up finish in the 50-yard freestyle with a season-best time of 24.65 seconds.
Fellow senior and reigning Summit League Peak Swimmer of the Week Sianne Downes continued her strong start to the season with a pair of third-place showings in the backstroke events. She clocked a season-best time of 57.07 seconds in the 100 backstroke and led a trio of Jackrabbits in the top five of the 200 backstroke with a time of 2:06.51. Kelsey Kocon was fourth the 200 backstroke, 2:06.69, with Walz taking fifth in 2:06.81.
Kocon later placed fifth in the 200 individual medley with a season-best time of 2:12.52.
Also recording third-place times were Marissa Branham in the 200 breaststroke (2:26.52) and freshman Poppy Mead in the 200 butterfly (2:09.75). Maven Moore placed fourth in the 200 breaststroke (2:27.53), while Jenna Currier took fifth in the 200 butterfly (2:16.88) Currier added a fourth-place and season-best time of in the 100 butterfly, 59.24 seconds, with Sara Juez notching a fifth-place time of 1:00.32.
Freshman Gigi Hioki lowered the squads’ season-best times in both the 200 (1:55.32) and 500 freestyle (5:12.19) en route to fifth-place finishes.
Other season-best times were turned in by Annemarie Rehbein in the 100 breaststroke (1:06.61) and Zoey Ahrens in the 1,000 freestyle (10:48.55).
UP NEXT
The Jackrabbits have a quick turnaround as they return home Saturday for a Senior Day dual against Iowa State. Start time is 1 p.m. at the Marshall Center Pool.
Courtesy: St. Thomas Athletics
MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. – The month has flown by for the University of St. Thomas swimming and diving teams. Since opening the season in early October, the Tommies have found themselves plenty busy, competing in four meets over the course of three weeks. On Friday, St. Thomas took on both the University of Minnesota and South Dakota State University in a triangular competition at the Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Though the Tommies didn’t leave the Gophers pool with any individua wins, they saw plenty of improvements from swimmers and divers alike, with multiple top-6 finishes Friday evening.
MEN’S RESULTS:
In its first multi-team meet of the 2023 season, St. Thomas impressed in multiple races, with top-6 finishes from 13 individuals and two relay teams. The men’s 200 medley relay team of AJ Carollo (Long Grove Ill. / Stevenson), Sean Bannon (Rochester, Minn.), Phillip Jensen (Hastings, Minn. / Hastings) and Alex Foti (Waukesha, Wis. / West) kicked things off with a sixth place finish in the event, closing with a time of 1:33.91. Several members of that team would go on to put up fast times for the Tommies, including Bannon. The freshman put together a banner night for St. Thomas, including top-10 finishes in the 100 and 200 breaststroke races. Bannon finished sixth in both races thanks to season best times of 50.17 (100) and 2:14.37 (200) respectively.
Jensen continued to dominate both the backstroke and butterfly, earning top-10 races in both events Friday evening. The sophomore earned a fourth place finish in the 100 backstroke thanks to a time of 50.85. He then followed up his fourth place performance with a sixth place finish in the 100 butterfly, closing the race with a time of 51.50. Jensen, along with Foti, Morgan Gillard (Woodbury, Minn. / East Ridge) and Willy Coborn (St. Paul, Minn. / North St. Paul), also earned a sixth place finish in the 400 freestyle relay with a time of 3:12.80.
Like Jensen, Foti continued his strong start to 2023 with top-6 finishes in the 200 and 500 freestyle. In addition to his two relay performances, Foti finished sixth in the 200 free with a time of 1:44.21 before clocking a time of 4:45.57 in the 500 to finish fifth. Teammate Tommy Seiler (Menomonee Falls, Wis. / Menomonee Falls) also put together some strong performances in the pool, earning a sixth place finish in the 500 free with a time of 4:47.77. The first year also finished fourth in the 1000 free with a time of 9:56.79.
Austin Kantor (Elk River, Minn. / Elk River) led the way on the boards for the Tommies with third place finishes in both the 1-meter and 3-meter competition. The freshman finished third in 1-meter with a score of 214.40 before earning the same place in the 3-meter competition with a time of 221.95.
WOMEN’S RESULTS:
The women earned multiple top-10 finishes in the pool Friday evening, including the 200 medley relay team of Sophie Curran (Minneapolis, Minn. / Edina), Annika Olson (Shakopee, Minn. / Shakopee), Hanna Ryan (Blaine, Minn. / Blaine) and Ella Palmquist (Dundas, Minn. / Northfield). The quad earned a sixth place finish in the relay thanks to their time of 1:51.42. That time set the tone for the remainder of the event, especially for Ryan. The junior earned three top-10 finishes as an individual, capped by a sixth place finish in the 200 IM and a time of 2:14.99.
Elizabeth Bonneville (Lakeville, Minn. / South) continued to excel in the freestyle races, She finished sixth in the 200 freestyle as an individual with a time of 1:57.80 before leading the 400 freestyle relay team to a sixth place finish and a time of 3:38.09. Two other members of that team, Grace Forsberg (Rice Lake, Wis. / Rice Lake) and Grace Urkiel (Rosemount, Minn. / Rosemount) found success in their individual races. Forsberg provided, perhaps, the highlight of the night. The junior proved to be one of the fastest swimmers in the pool on Friday, finishing third in the 50 freestyle with a time of 24.79. Urkiel earned two top-5 finishes Friday night, including a third place finish in the 100 breastoke with a time of 1:05.12.
UP NEXT
St. Thomas will return to the comforts of its own pool for its next meet. The Tommies are set to host St. Cloud State University in a dual on Saturday, November 11. The dual is scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m. in St. Paul, Minnesota.
