Arizona Picks Up Sweep of Minnesota On Senior Day

Arizona vs Minnesota

  • January 18, 2025
  • Tucson, Ariz.
  • SCY (25 yards)
  • Results

Courtesy: Arizona Athletics

TUCSON, ARIZ.— The Wildcats defeated Minnesota in Arizona’s final home meet of the season Jan. 18.

Arizona’s women defeated the Golden Gophers 156-144, while the Wildcat men came out on top 162-147.

Arizona also celebrated Senior Day on Saturday, honoring 12 seniors and their contributions as  Wildcats: Maddy AhluwaliaTate BahtiSteffi BeiselNadia BouraouiJack DonovanLexi DuchshererBrooke EarleyLizzie MackowiakMason NyboerBeck ParnhamAlyssa Schwengel and Daniel Young.

The Cats saw standout performances from athletes across the swimming and diving squads.

Arizona’s relay teams came out on top in every relay event. Notably, in both the 400 Medley relay and 200 Free relay, the Wildcat men went 1-2.

Ralph Daleiden helped add 33 points to Arizona’s final score, 18 of which came from his first-place wins in the 100 and 200 Free races. The remaining 15 points Daleiden contributed came from his role in the winning men’s 200 Free relay and the second-place men’s 400 Medley relay teams. Like Daleiden, junior Haakon Naughton secured two first place finishes (in the 100 and 200 Fly events) in addition to his relay contributions.

Junior Eleni Gewalt tallied 31 points for the Cats, 18 of which came from her two first-place finishes in individual events. Gewalt earned the top spot in the Women’s 100 BR with a 1:00.71 that is just .58 seconds off her personal best (1:00.13).

Brooke Earley and Gage DuBois both earned podium finishes in both of the diving competitions. Both divers took home first in the 1m event; Earley secured second place in the 3m, while Gage DuBois earned third. Arizona’s divers closed out the meet, with the final score hanging on their performances.

Multiple Arizona athletes earned season-best times for the Wildcat roster. MJ Neilson put up Arizona’s best time in the 200 Fly this season (2:01.35). Kayman Neal earned Arizona’s best time of the season for the 200 Back (1:56.58), also securing an NCAA “B” Cut in the event. In her first place 100 Fly swim, Maryam Sheikhalizadehkhangh earned a personal best (53.37), doubling as Arizona’s best time of the season, and was just .03 seconds shy of an NCAA “B” Cut time.

The Cats wrapped the meet with 17 first place finishes and 49 top-three finishes across the men’s and women’s squads.

Head coach Ben Loorz commended the team on their showing this weekend.

“This was a true team effort today, and to send our Seniors off with a big win was a great feeling.  Minnesota is a very good squad, but we had so many people step up today, in both small and big ways,” Loorz said. “A good example is the fact that our men’s relays went 1-2 in both the Medley and the Freestyle relay events…we wouldn’t have won without that depth, it was that close.  And it’s not often that divers get the chance to have a ‘bottom of the 9th, bases loaded’ moment…they had that today, and definitely delivered.”

Top-three finishes: 

First place:

Second place:

Third place:

*personal best

**NCAA “B” Cut

Courtesy: Minnesota Athletics

TUCSON, ARIZ.- The Gopher swim and dive programs fall in a close battle with the Arizona Wildcats. The Gopher women fell 156-144 and the men fell 162-147.

Despite the loss the Gophers picked up 15 first place finishes between both teams.

In the 1000 free, both the men and women went one, two, three. On the women’s side Eliot Kennedy picked up her second first place finish of 2025 with 9:41.41. Katie McCarthy placed second with a 9:43.38 and Jade Roghair came in third with 10:11.23.

On the men’s 1000, freshman Luke Brennan placed first with a 9:07.06. Bar Soloveychik placed second with 9:08.18 and Joey Tepper was third with 9:08.42.

On the women’s side, Anja Kaljevic came in first with a 1:47.18 in the 200 free and Mina Kaljevic placed second with a 9:48.32.

Junior Ava Yablonski picked up the first-place victory in the women’s 100 back.

Freshman Rachel Conley posted a 2:01.16 in the 200 fly to bring home first place.

Kennedy also placed first in the 500 free with a 4:45.24. McCarthy also picked up a first-place finish in the 400 IM with a 4:15.14.

The men’s side was led by three graduate students who all picked up first place finishes.

Graduate transfer Joey Tepper also picked up a first-place finish in the 200 back with a 1:44.94. Tepper also placed first in 400 IM with a 3:50.89.

Casey Stowe placed first in the 100 back with a time of 47.82.

Kaiser Neverman placed first in the 50 free with a 19.81.

In the men’s 200 breast sophomore Max Scheurer came in first with a time of 1:59.10.

Senior Bar Soloveychik picked up another 500 free victory with a 4:20.47.

In the diving well the Gophers took first on both the men’s and women’s three meters. Elna Widerstrom brought home first on the women’s side with a 333.23 and YuTong Wang was victorious on the men’s side with a 380.63.

The Gophers are back in action at Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center January 31st and February 1st for a tri-dual meet vs. Northwestern and Purdue.

0
Leave a Reply

Subscribe
Notify of

0 Comments
newest
oldest most voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments