The Minnesota Challenge at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis saw swimmers in all stages of rest and taper this weekend; some teams without conferences treat the meet as a championship, while other teams send their non-conference swimmers, and still others swim the meet as a regular season invitational or an end-of-season tune-up.
You can find the full results here.
One big performance of the weekend was Minnesota diver Matt Barnard‘s new school record 3-meter performance. He won the event with 450.95 points, 24 points ahead of second place. This was his second time breaking the record this season.
Relay wins came from teams all over the Midwest. The women’s 200 free relay went to the NCAA Division III University of Saint Thomas’s Emma Paulson, Kate Smarjesse, Alex Howard, and Tiana Molitor (1:37.24), while the men’s went to DIII Carleton College’s Stephen Grinich, Karl Schwarzkopf, Wilson Josephson, and George McAneny (1:23.92).
The Saint Thomas women came back to win the 400 medley in 3:54.44 (Paulson, Nicole Herrli, Katelyn Strauss, Howard), while their men’s team won the same event with 3:32.68 (Matthew Kearney, Elliot Jacobson, James Bussey, Tom Larocca).
The 200 medley went to the women of the University of Minnesota, Danielle Bergeson, Nicole Ciavarella, Zoe Avestruz, and Abigail Raatz with 1:44.69, and the University of Wisconsin- Steven’s Point’s NCAA Division III men won the men’s 200 medley with 1:34.33.
The women of the University of North Dakota, Meredith Ubel, Anne Voigt, Paige Prestigiacomo, and Gabby Goerlinger won the 800 free relay with 7:48.04, while Saint Thomas won the men’s event (Michael Stark, Josh Nelson, Evan Kalb, Spencer Allen) with 7:11.19.
The UND women took another victory in the 400 free relay, where Ubel, Goerlinger, Prestigiacomo, and Jennifer Thompson clocked 3:32.95, and South Dakota State University took its sole relay victory in the men’s 400 free relay, when Daniel Jacobson, Pierce Oja, Tony Mikrut, and Ben Bolinske swam 3:06.47.
The University of Minnesota took a bulk of individual victories, including Erin Emery’s personal best 4:53.50 in the 500, Nick Plachinski’s personal best 4:33.11 in the 500, James Tidd‘s personal best 20.07 in the 50 free and his 44.82 in the 100 free, Liz Click’s 1-meter 364.15, James Bushman‘s 3:50.08 in the 400 IM, Lauren Voltava‘s 56.09 100 fly, Chase Bublitz‘s 48.32 100 fly, Erin Buck’s 1:50.54 in the 200 free and 2:00.07 in the 200 back, Brian Poon’s 1:39.97 200 free, Elisa Bugstahler’s 1:06.43 in the 100 breast, Conner McHugh’s 55.88 100 breast, Erik Hunter’s 50.34 100 back, Lexi Tenenbaum‘s 369.55 point 3-meter dive, Jack Tribble’s 1:50.72 in the 200 back, Brenner Hohenstein‘s 2:00.70 in the 200 breast,
Saint Thomas’s Herrli won the women’s 200 IM in 2:08.99, and her teammate Paulson won the 50 free in 23.12.
SDSU’s Taylor Donovan won the men’s 200 IM in 1:54.60 and the 200 fly in 1:54.77. His teammate McKenna Shallberg won the 100 back in 58.33.
UND took an individual victory in the 400 IM, where Syd Swanson clocked 4:37.21. Her teammate Anne Voigt won the 1650 free in 17:54.20. Thompson, another Fighting Hawk, won the 100 free with 52.86, and Emily Ortner won the 200 breast with 2:25.42.
Steven’s Point’s Nate Somers won the 1650 free in 16:15.32.
The University of South Dakota saw its sole victory in the 200 fly, where Julia Gorham clocked 2:10.16.
