ST. THOMAS VS GREEN BAY
- October 4, 2024
- St. Paul, Minn.
- SCY (25 yards)
- Results
Courtesy: Tommie Sports
ST. PAUL, MINN. – It was quite the season debut for the University of St. Thomas swim and dive team. The Tommies hosted Green Bay in their 2024-25 season opener, and both the men’s and women’s programs found plenty of success in the water. St. Thomas swept the Phoenix Friday afternoon in the AARC Pool, swimming away with 170-130 (men) and 173-127 (women) victories.
MEN’S RESULTS: ST. THOMAS (170) vs. GREEN BAY (130)
The Tommies saw individual wins in several events, including the 100 backstroke and 100 butterfly. Summit League Swimmer to Watch Philip Jensen (Hastings, Minn. / Hastings) opened his 2024-25 campaign with a dramatic win in both races race, just eking out Green Bay’s Jerett Maalis at the wall in the 100 back. The junior won his first race of the season with a time of 50.74, beating the Phoenix front runner by .01 of a second. He then went on to win the 100 butterfly with a time of 51.09.
Tommy Seiler (Menomonee Falls, Wis. / Menomonee Falls) kicked off the season with two individauls wins in the 100 butterfly and 500 freestyle. The sophomore earned a win in the 100 butterfly, clocking a time of 1:57.95 in the race, before claiming the top spot in the 500 free with a time of 4:47.12. Teammate Carter Fask (Elmhurst, Ill. / Fenwick) made a splash in the 50 free. The freshman won the fastest race in the pool Friday afternoon, defeating teammate Nicholas Salido with a time of 21.44. In fact, the Tommies went 1-2-3 in the 50 free, with Salido and Morgan Gillard (Woodbury, Minn. / East Ridge) finishing second and third with times of 21.63 and 21.77 respectively.
Gillard and Salido went 1-2 in the 100 freestyle, with Gillard claiming the top spot with a time of 47.34. Salido finished second with a time of 47.49.
In the 1000 freestyle, the first individual event of the afternoon, freshman Tucker Holmes (Rochester, Minn. / John Marshall) won in dominant fashion, claiming his first individual win as a Tommie. Holmes was the lone swimmer to clock a time under 10 minutes, finishing the race in 9:59.21. Holmes would also finish third in the 200 backstroke with a time of 1:55.78.
St. Thomas’ top team also claimed first place in the 400 freestyle relay. The team of Alex Foti (Waukesha, Wis. / West), Ian Leonard (Muskego, Wis. / Muskego), Willy Coborn (St. Paul, Minn. / North St. Paul) and Gillard clocked a time of 3:11.32, finishing first by over a full second. The St. Thomas “B” team of Lucas Becker (Carver, Minn. / Chanhassen), Holmes, John Wion (Ashley, Ohio / Big Walnut) and Cole Johnson (Fitchburg, Wis. / Madison West) finished second with a time of 3:12.96.
On the boards, the Tommies’ Austin Kantor (Elk River, Minn. / Elk River) earned a win in the 3-meter, six dive competition thanks to his score of 252.05. He finished third in 1-meter, while teammate Julius Krumenacher (Waukesha, Wis. / North) finished second on both boards with scores of 241.30 and 213.50 respectively.
WOMEN’S RESULTS: ST. THOMAS (173) vs. GREEN BAY (127)
St. Thomas was dominant in every sense of the word Friday afternoon, claiming wins in multiple events. Hattie Opdahl (Lindstrom, Minn. / Chisago Lakes) kicked things off with a sweep on the boards, winning both the 1-meter and 3-meter events in dominant fashion. The sophomore won the 1-meter competition with a six-dive score of 234.25 before winning the three-meter with an equally impressive score of 231.20. Teammate Zoey Johnson (Elk River, Minn. / Elk River) in both events as well, while Norah Tait (Wauwatosa, Wis. / East), Kiera Anderson (St. Michael, Minn. / Elk River) and Sophia Markfelder (Sauk Rapids, Minn. / Sauk Rapids-Rice) made their season debuts on both boards.
Tommie swimmers also found plenty of success in the pool, with Jordyn Davis (Cambridge, Wis. / Jefferson-Cambridge) claiming the first individual win of the night. The first year, along with teammate Willow Larsen (Fairfield, Iowa / Fairfield) went 1-2 in the 100 backstroke with times of 58.24 and 59.54 respectively. Amber Hess (Kohler, Wis. / Kohler) won three races Friday afternoon: the 100 and 200 breastroke and the 200 IM. She opened her collegiate career with a 1:06.97 time in the 100 before earning the breaststroke sweep with a time of 2:27.26 in the 200. Hess then won the 200 IM in dramatic finish thanks to a time of 2:14.03.
Maddie Francois (Sartell, Minn. / Sartell) continued the trend of first years finding success in their St. Thomas debuts, winning the 50 free with a time of 24.12. Ellie Undem (Chisago City, Minn. / Chisago Lakes) clocked a time of 24.48 to finish third, while Libby Fischer (Eagan, Minn. / Visitation) and Grace Forsberg (Rice Lake, Wis. / Rice Lake) both earned top-5 finishes in the race. It was reversed in the 100 free. Undem winning the race with a time of 52.66. Francois finished third with a time of 54.29 while Fischer and Forsberg again rounded out the top-5.
Kathryn Bonneville (Lakeville, Minn. / Visitation) and Jin-Jae Robinson (Galena, Ohio / Olentangy Berlin) went 1-2 in the 200 backstroke, with times of 2:09.49 and 2:10.62 respectively.
Both St. Thomas relay teams won their respective races on Friday. The “A” 200 medley relay team of Undem, Hess, Davis and Francois won the race with a time of 1:46.50, while the “A” freestyle relay team of Francois, Undem, Forsberg and Mary Selden claimed the top spot with a time of 3:35.33.
QUOTEABLES
Thoughts from head coach Matt Bos after wins over Green Bay:
“This was a great meet to start our season. We look a little fatigued but overall, we were happy with the results. Our group came out with a lot of energy, and we stayed engaged in the meet all the way to the end. We are heading into what will be a tough October stretch of training and I am really looking forward to seeing our group progress.”
UP NEXT
The Tommies tough October stretch will continue on Friday, October 18 when the team travels to Minneapolis to participate in the Minnesota-SDSU Triangular. The meet will start at 5:00 p.m. at the Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center on the University of Minnesota campus.
Courtesy: Green Bay Athletics
ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Green Bay swimming and diving program opened up its 2024-25 campaign in north-central Minnesota on Friday evening, taking on the St. Thomas Tommies. GB was defeated 130-170 on the men’s side and 127-173 on the women’s side, but saw numerous dominant performances, most notably from it’s freshman class.
“I thought the team as a whole swam really well today,” said Head Coach Alex Lewis. “A lot of great performances from not only our returning swimmers but our newcomers as well. The first meet always answers a lot of questions about where we are training-wise, and just coming out of our first big training phase, I thought we finished our races well.”
MEN’S RECAP
John Burnard began his senior season with a second-place completion of the 1,000-yard freestyle. Sebby Smolecki was first in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:43.66. Freshman Jerett Maalis completed the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 50.75, good for second place. Kaleb Lombard and Burnard combined for second and third place in the 200-yard butterfly, while Green Bay saw freshman Quinlan Schroeder and junior Alex Smolecki take the top two spots in the 100-yard breaststroke. Schroeder won the 200-yard breaststroke as well, notching two victories in his first collegiate meet.
In the men’s diving competitions, Andy Groebner claimed first overall in the 1 meter and third place in the 3 meter.
WOMEN’S RECAP
Savannah Orzech, another freshman, took the top spot in the 1,000 yard freestyle. with a time of 11:02.32. Hannah Mellock and Rialey Anderson placed third and fourth, respectively, in the same category. Freshman Cora Singleton claimed second in the 100 yard backstroke, just a few seconds within first place. Faith Eilertson and Ella Anderson both finished within a second of Singleton to grab third and fourth place, respectively. Elise Pasholk (200-yard freestyle) and Paige DeKiep (200-yard butterfly) also won their first collegiate races. “Both are incredible workers in practice and it’s showing up at the first meet already!,” commented Alex Lewis.
For women’s diving, Annie Frederickson took second on the 3 meter and fourth on the 1 meter, while freshman Rachel Everson finished second in the 1 meter and fourth on the 3 meter. “Each diver competed well and showed great promise for the upcoming season. Great job to all Phoenix divers!,” said diving coach Maureen Lewis.
COMING UP
The Green and White will welcome alumni to Peter F. Dorschel Natatorium tomorrow, October 5, for the 2nd Annual Roger Harriman Alumni Meet, named after one of the most iconic figures in Green Bay Phoenix history. Harriman led the Phoenix swim & dive program to an NAIA National Championship in 1984 and was tabbed NAIA Coach of the Year that same season. Following the alumni meet, Green Bay will look ahead to its next competition against the Wisconsin Badgers on Friday, October 11, in Madison.
