2024 Northern Sun Swimming & Diving Championships
- February 14-17, 2024
- Sioux Falls, S.D.
- SCY (25 yards)
- Full Results
- Championship Website
- Photos
Courtesy: Augustana Athletics
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The Augustana women’s swimming and diving team went back-to-back as NSIC Champions Saturday. The Vikings won convincingly while being awarded the league’s swimmer and diver of the year.
Bryn Greenwaldt and Avery Lommel were deemed, both in the pool and voted on by the league’s coaches, as the best in the NSIC. Greenwaldt earned the Swimmer of the Year while Lommel became the Vikings’ first Diver of the Year.
“We had an epic week at the Midco Aquatic Center,” Augustana head coach Andrew Makepeace said. “Our women came in with a goal in mind of repeating as champions. We did just that and it took everybody, not just the student-athletes on the scoring roster but everybody to compete.
“Every day seemed to get better. Our prelim sessions would carry into the night sessions where it was just on fire. Our divers stepped up, our swimmers stepped up and their teammates stepped up.”
On Saturday, Augustana won the 100 IM, 100 free, 1M diving and 400 free relay to rack up 948.5 points, ahead of second place Minnesota State with 865.5 points.
“We owe a lot of thanks to the men’s team as they led things off last week at the GLIAC Championships,” Makepeace continued. “The women saw what was going on and had a lot of confidence going into this meet.
“You’ve got to tip your cap to all the other teams. They had a lot of great swims and a lot of great dives. We’re happy we had a chance to come out on top.”
The final event, the 400 free, put an exclamation point on Augustana’s win as the quartet for Meesha Montgomery, Greenwaldt, Makoa Montgomery and Amaya Street set an NSIC meet record while winning the event. The group clocked in at 3:24.02 to take nearly two seconds off the school record and a half second off the league record.
Lommel won the 1M dive with 424.75 points, a school record. Also garnering points for AU was Kate Robbins with an eighth-place finish while totaling 352.50 points.
Greenwaldt paced the 100 free with a time of 51.15, an NCAA ‘B’ cut time. Amaya Street earned all-conference honors with her third-place finish of 51.85 seconds. Makoa Montgomery placed fifth in a time of 51.92, to make it three Vikings with NCAA cut times.
Sofia Hein gave AU more points in the event with a time of 52.96 while placing 15th.
Meesha Montgomery set a school record in the 100 IM while claiming the NSIC Championship in a time of 56.93. The event was a strong one for Augustana with Angelina Chan placing third in 57.52, Nesrine Jelliti fourth in 58.38 and Anna Tindall fifth in 59.03.
In the B Final, Gracin Larson won the heat in 1:00.05.
While earning all-conference accolades in the 200 breaststroke, Jelliti set a school record in 2:20.85 to place third. She was joined in the A Final by Tindall who clocked in at 2:25.75 and in fifth place.
Lara Matuck won the B Final in a time of 2:25.40 with Ava Brogren 10th in 2:26.45.
In the 200 backstroke, Nathalia Silva placed just off all-conference placing with a time of 2:04.26. That gave her a fourth-place finish. Greenwaldt placed seventh in 2:06.78.
Leona Coha and Maija Kangas placed eighth and ninth, respectively, in the 1,650 free. Coha clocked in at 17:56. 06 while Kangas, the league’s Elite 18 Award Winner, timed in at 17:56.14.
The NSIC Champions will await NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships selections to see who will head to Geneva, Ohio, March 12-16.
