Freshmen Step Up in Minnesota’s Victory Over North Dakota

MINNESOTA VS. NORTH DAKOTA

  • Results
  • Hosted by University of Minnesota
  • Friday, November 4th
  • 25 yards
  • Dual meet format

FINAL TEAM SCORES

  • Men: Minnesota 199, North Dakota 96
  • Women: Minnesota 203, North Dakota 90

The Minnesota men and women hosted a home dual meet on Friday, as North Dakota traveled to compete against the Gophers. Both Minnesota teams were victorious, as the men won 199-96 and the women won 203-90. Several freshman swimmers played a role in the team’s success, with 4 of them winning individual events.

For the women, freshmen Isabel Whitehed and Rina Krupsky each picked up a win. Whitehed was the 500 free champ, winning by nearly 10 seconds with her 5:03.21. Krupsky, on the other hand, won the 200 fly in 2:03.90 to edge out North Dakota’s Marlena Pigliacampi (2:04.05).

Minnesota sophomore Zoe Avestruz was a double event winner for the Gophers, topping the fields in the 100 free and 100 back. Her first win came in the 100 back, where she clocked a 56.49 ahead of North Dakota’s Maddie Derby (58.78). She then returned to the pool for the 100 free, winning again in 51.30.

On the men’s side, freshmen Tuomas Pokkinen and Tyler Klatt stepped up to take individual wins for the Gophers. Pokkinen’s victory came in the 100 fly, where he posted the only sub-50 time of the field to win in 48.78. Klatt posted a dominant 1:51.13 in the 200 back, winning by 4 seconds.

North Dakota senior captain Noah Lucas put up a highlight swim for the Fighting Hawks. Lucas won the 50 free with his 20.59 to stop the Gophers from sweeping the events. His teammate Tyler Zelen raced to the wall in 20.73 to give the FIghting Hawks a 1-2 finish.

PRESS RELEASE – MINNESOTA:

The women’s and men’s Minnesota swimming and diving teams swept North Dakota on Friday at the Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center. The women won 203-90, while the men won 199-96.

“We have a number of areas where some student-athletes who don’t always have an opportunity to shine really had an opportunity to shine today, so it was a great meet for us,” head coach Kelly Kremer said. “Since we started, everybody’s been following the process of trying to get better day to day.”

WOMEN – W, 203-90
The Gophers captured wins in all 16 events. They opened with a win in the 200-yard medley relay, which consisted of Zoe Avestruz, Lindsey Horejsi, Danielle Nack and Allison Schumacher (1:41.72).

After assisting the Gopher relay in a win, Avestruz was able to achieve two individual wins in the 100-yard backstroke (56.49) and 100-yard freestyle (51.30). Avestruz’s time in the 100 free was a season best.

Chantal Nack posted a career in-season best during the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:50.48.

Breanne Siwicki won both the 1,000-yard freestyle (10:06.89) and the 400-yard individual medley (4:23.59).

During the meet, the Gophers captured the top three spots multiple times, including the 1,000-yard freestyle led by Siwicki, followed by the 200-yard backstroke led by Holmquist and 200-yard breaststroke led by Kaela Marcus.

The Gophers also clinched the top four spots in the 400-yard individual medley, which was led by Siwicki.

Other Gophers with first place finishers were Rae Bullinger in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:03.31), Rina Krupsky in the 200-yard butterfly (season-best 2:03.90), Isabel Whited in the 500-yard freestyle (5:03.21), and Schumacher in the 100-yard butterfly (season-best 56.52).

Sarah Bacon and Lexi Tenenbaum split the wins on the diving springboards. Bacon captured 1-meter with a score of 317.10, while Tenenbaum posted a score of 355.20 in 3-meter.

Minnesota closed off the meet with another relay win in 3:25.47. The top finishing 400-yard freestyle relay group consisted of Avestruz, Danielle Nack, Allison Schumacher and Abigail Raatz (3:25.47).

MEN – W, 199-96
Minnesota won 15 of 16 events, and started the meet off strong, sweeping the top spots in the 200-yard medley relay. Minnesota A, which consisted of Noah Busch, Conner McHugh, Daryl Turner and Bowe Beckerfinished in first place with a time of 1:29.54.

Poon led the Gophers with a win that was also his in-season best during the 200-yard breaststroke (2:02.81). On top of that, he won the 200-yard freestyle in 1:40.07).

Nick Orf posted a season-best time of 1:50.63 to secure a first-place finish in the 200-yard butterfly.

The Gophers finished 1-2-3 in the 200 fly and 200-yard backstroke, and 1-2-3-4 in 100-yard butterfly. In the 200 fly, the top finishers were Orf, Garner Kohrell and Matthew Thomas. In the 200 back it was Tyler Klatt, Jack Tribble and Parker Lemke.

Minnesota tallied 1-2-3-4 in the 100-yard butterly, with top finishes from Tuomas Pokkinen (season-best 48.68), Paul Fair, Bowe Becker and Thomas.

Other Gophers posting first place finishes were Busch in the 100-yard backstroke (51.02), Redondo in the 1,000-yard freestyle (9:18.58, the best 1,000 by a Gopher this fall), John Bushman in the 100-yard breaststroke (season-best 55.35), Daryl Turner in the 100-yard freestyle (45.16), Plachinski in the 500-yard freestyle (4:31.97) and Jakub Maly in the 400-yard individual medley (.

Minnesota closed out the meet with a win in the 400-yard freestyle relay. Its top finishers were Fair, Becker, Doerr and Turner in 2:59.31.

Matt Barnard had another solid performance on the boards, sweeping the events. He posted a score of 375.9 in 1-meter diving, and 392.10 in 3-meter diving.

Note: For both the Minnesota men and women, non-first-place finishers’ races after the 100 free counted as exhibition swims.

PRESS RELEASE – NORTH DAKOTA:

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn.– Senior co-captain Noah Lucas’ win in the 50 freestyle highlighted UND’s efforts at the University of Minnesota Friday. The UND men fell 199-96 while the Gopher women won 203-90.

Lucas’ winning 20.59 time was his second fastest of the season as he’s now finished in the top two in that event in every dual this season. Tyler Zelen was just behind him at 20.73 for second place. Lucas also picked up a pair of third-place showings as he went 1:40.52 in the 200 freestyle– just under a half-second off the winning pace– then later was third in the 100 freestyle at 46.41.

“Minnesota is always a good measuring stick for our season process,” UND head coach Chris Maiello said. “When evaluating our team as a whole I would say our performances were at or better than expectation. With a double training cycle coming into this meet our coaches expected us to swim tired and we were, but our athletes are gritty and tough, they did well tonight.

“We had a few close calls for victories on the women’s side, both of Marlena Pigliacampi’s fly events came down to a touch. We will be working on her finishes this week. The highlight of the meet on the men’s side was definitely the 1-2 showing in the 50 free. Zelen and Lucas have been racing tough all year against each other and it is paying dividends on meet day. They train very well together and it quite a 1-2 punch.”

Other top three finishes for North Dakota included: Maddie Derby (58.78) and Abby Fisher (58.80) went two and three in the 100 backstroke. Sam Marlow was third in the men’s event (53.19). In the 100 breaststroke, Steph Frey went 1:04.57 for a runner-up finish. The 100 free saw Anna Andersen clock a 52.21 time. The 200 backstroke featured Rachel Boodt (2:06.21) in the second spot while Maddie Derby (2:07.55) earned three team points with her third-place finish. Jacob Wielinski went second in the 500 freestyle with a 4:34.94. Marlena Pigliacampi posted the thrid-fastest time in the 100 butterfly (56.83).

Nick Benson highlighted the diving events with his third place in the 1-meter (278.40).

The 400 free relay saw the UND women take second in 3:29.72 and the men had the third-fastest time with a 3:13.82.

The UND divers will next be in action at the Missouri Invite Nov. 18-19 while the swimmers’ next action comes Dec. 2-4 at the Bucknell Invite.

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About Lauren Neidigh

Lauren Neidigh

Lauren Neidigh is a former NCAA swimmer at the University of Arizona (2013-2015) and the University of Florida (2011-2013). While her college swimming career left a bit to be desired, her Snapchat chin selfies and hot takes on Twitter do not disappoint. She's also a high school graduate of The …

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