On their yearly training trip to Honolulu, the Minnesota Golden Gophers men and women picked up dominating wins against the University of Hawaii Saturday.
Each team lost just one event on the day, sweeping the other 13 (diving events were not contested at the dual), with the women winning 164-95 and the men claiming a 171-87 victory.
Freshman Daryl Turner was the big winner for the #20 men – he went 49.52 to win the 100 back for the Golden Gophers, but more impressive was his second event where he beat All-American teammate Derek Toomey in the 100 free 44.91 to 45.32. Toomey did win the 50 free by a landslide, going 20.32.
Distance star CJ Smith was another major contribuor; he won the 1000 free in a solid time of 9:15.68 and also went 4:32.82 to win the 500 free.
Kyler Van Swol was the other double-winner for Minnesota. He won his signature 100 fly in 48.56 and took a break from his usual 200 fly to win the 200 free. His time of 1:38.39 has to be a welcome sign for a Minnesota team that’s going to need some big freestyle splits from him down the road to round out their relays. That time is nearly as fast as he went at Minnesota’s mid-season rest meet.
For the 10th-ranked women, Kiera Janzen continued to impress, dipping under 10 minutes in the 1000 free to win in 9:59.43. She also won the 500 free in 4:51.96, blowing away the field by nearly 6 seconds.
Minnesota was dominant in all of the freestyle events – Lauren Votava took over where Janzen left off in the shorter distances, winning the 200 free (1:48.64) and 100 free (50.40), and Erin Caflisch and freshman Abi Raatz combined for a 1-2 finish in the 50 free.
Standout Kierra Smith swam as well as she needed to to win both breaststrokes, and senior Tess Behrens did the same for both backstroke races.
Hawaii got its lone individual win from breaststroker Paulo de Paula, who won the 100 breast in 56.53. Freshman Victor Goicoechea had a couple of nice distance swims, but wasn’t able to overcome Minnesota’s Smith, and Yuri Samouilich was 1:39.32 chasing Van Swol in the 200 free.
The Rainbow Wahine women picked up a win in the 200 free relay to close the meet, going 1:35.80 to Minnesota’s 1:36.22, and Jasmine Alkhaldi was a close second in the 100 free.
For Hawaii, this was the last dual meet before the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships in February. The Golden Gophers will have some time to head back to the mainland an adjust to the climate change before taking on NC State in late January.
