South Dakota Celebrates Final Meet In DakotaDome Pool With Sweep of St. Thomas

South Dakota vs St. Thomas

• January 25, 2025
• Vermillion, S.D.
• SCM (25 meters)
• Results

Courtesy: South Dakota Athletics

VERMILLION, S.D. — South Dakota men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams celebrated the final meet inside the DakotaDome Pool on Saturday with a dual against Summit League foe St. Thomas.

The Coyotes swept the Tommies and said goodbye to the Dome Pool for competition for the second time, after previously doing so after a dual a year ago.

South Dakota is set to open its custom state of the art pool inside the Wellness Center on campus during the 2025-2026 school year.

The Coyote women won 11 of the 14 individual events contested on Saturday and both relays in posting a 199-98 win, getting individual victories from 10 different swimmers.

The men’s squad won 194-106 behind individual wins in 10 of the 14 events as Alex Parkinson, Nick Rounds, Jack Berdahl and Charlie Matthews each won twice while the hosts also won both relays, the 200 medley relay and 200 free relay.

Emily DiProspero won two events, the 200 free and 400 free while other individual wins from the women’s team came from Grace Schultz, Phoebe Paarlberg, Madeline Schrank, Emily Kahn, Gabbie Ahrendt, Madilyn Gehrke, Anna Balfanz, Dylan Hogenson and Samantha Mersnick.

Schultz won the 50 back, Paarlberg the 50 breast and Balfanz the 50 fly while Kahn took first in the 50 free as Saturday’s unique competition schedule saw all four strokes swam at the 50 meter distance.

Schrank touched the wall first in the 100 fly, Ahrendt the 100 free, Gehrke the 100 breast while Hogenson claimed the 200 IM and Mersnick the one-meter diving competition.

Parkinson won the 200 free and 200 IM, Rounds the 50 back and 100 free and Berdahl the 50 breast and 100 breast. Joaquin Contreras-Fallico earned a win in the 100 back, Jacob Carlson captured the 50 fly and Matthews swept the diving competition.

Matthews tallied a personal best 272.93 on the one-meter board to move into the Coyote Top Ten at eighth all time. He added a win on the three-meter board with a score of 260.85.

The foursome of Balfanz, Paarlberg, DiProspero and Ahrendt opened the meet with a win in the 200 medley relay while the men’s quartet of Adam Fisher, Berdahl, Grant Wolner and Rounds did the same.

Gehrke, Balfanz, Sara Mayer and Kahn combined to win the 200 free relay while the group of Fisher, Carlson, Matthew Sorbe and Parker Sonnabend did the same for the men’s team.

The DakotaDome Pool opened in 1979 and is a six-lane, 25-meter pool. The Coyotes new home inside the Wellness Center will be a state-of-the-art 50-meter competition pool and will feature two movable bulkheads, which enable the pool to be divided into three separate zones so that three unique activities can take place simultaneously. The space will also include seating for 400 people.

Courtesy: Tommie Sports

VERMILLION, S.D. – The dual meet season is officially over for the University of St. Thomas swim and dive team. The Tommies competed in their final dual of the 2024-25 season, traveling to Vermillion, South Dakota to take on the University of South Dakota Coyotes. While both the men’s and women’s teams fell to their conference foes, St. Thomas put together several strong performances, as swimmers and divers alike won their respective events. The men fell to South Dakota by a final score of 194-106, while the women lost 199-98.

Of note: the Coyotes compete in a meters pool rather than yards.

WOMEN’S RESULTS:  ST. THOMAS (98) AT SOUTH DAKOTA (199)
Several Tommies found success in the poll Saturday afternoon, as St. Thomas won two races and one diving competition in Vermillion. As she has done all season, Sophia Hayes (Naperville, Ill. / Naperville) dominated the freestyle distance races, winning one event and placing top-2 in the other. The sophomore won the 800m with a time of 9:31.02, over two seconds faster than the second place finisher from South Dakota. She also took second in the 400m, swimming a time of 4:36.79.

Jordyn Davis (Cambridge, Wis. / Cambridge) won the team’s second race of the afternoon, claiming the top spot in the 100m backstroke. The first year swam the fastest time in the pool in the event at 1:05.90 and took second in the 50m backstroke with a time of 30.68. Teammate Kathryn Bonneville (Lakeville, Minn. / Visitation) finished third in the 100m back with a time of 1:08.27 and Sophie Curran (Minneapolis, Minn. / Edina) earned a sixth place finish with a time of 1:10.04.

Several other swimmers put together impressive performances in Vermillion on Saturday. Grace Forsberg (Rice Lake, Wis. / Rice Lake) was a force to be reckoned with in her individual races, finishing second in both the 50m and 100m freestyle. She just beat teammate Libby Fischer (Eagan, Minn. / Visitation) to the wall, finish second in the 50 with a time of 27.81. She followed that up with a second place finish in the 100 with a time of 1:00.68 while Fischer was fourth with a time of 1:02.42.

Mary Selden (Davenport, Iowa / Davenport Central) was the fastest swimmer in the 200m freestyle, earning a third place finish with a time of 2:12.54, while Gwen Moore (Rosemount, Minn. / Rosemount) and Lindsay Johnson (Duluth, Minn. / Denfield) earned top-6 finishes in the race.

Ashley Plantenberg (Eden Prairie, Minn. / Eden Prairie) and Annika Olson (Shakopee, Minn. / Shakopee) were the top breaststrokers for the Tommies on Saturday. Plantenberg earned top-3 finishes in the discipline, claiming second in the 100m race with a time of 1:16.79. She took third in the 50m with a time of 35.19. Olson finished third and fourth in both races, with times of 1:18.17 and 36.07 respectively.

Emily Wooden (Chino Hills, Calif. / Ayala) led a trio of St. Thomas swimmers to top-5 finishes in the 100 butterfly. The junior would finish second herself with a time of 1:07.79 while Lily Linden (Rochester, Minn. / Century) and Maggie Kolb (Afton, Minn. / Hill-Murray) finished fourth and fifth. Wooden, Linden and Kolb also competed in the 50m fly, finishing 4-5-6 in the race.

On the boards, Hattie Opdahl (Lindstrom, Minn. / Chisago Lakes) continued to find success. The sophomore won the 3-meter competition with a six-dive score of 250.28 and took second on the 1-meter board with a score of 238.65. Sophia Markfelder (Sauk Rapids, Minn. / Sauk Rapids-Rice) finished sixth in both events to score for St. Thomas.

The Tommies also succeeded in the relays, with both “A” teams claiming second place. The team of Forsberg, Plantenberg, Davis and Fischer clocked a time of 2:03.38 in the 200m medley relay before Forsberg, Fischer, Hayes and Selden took second in the 200mfreestyle relay with a time of 1:50.67.

MEN’S RESULTS: ST. THOMAS (106) AT SOUTH DAKOTA (194)
The men were once again deadlocked in a tight dual for the second consecutive week, coming up just sort against the Coyotes. The Tommies once again saw several individual wins in the pool Saturday afternoon, with Alex Foti (Waukesha, Wis. / Waukesha West) kicking things off in the 800m freestyle. The senior won the event with a time of 8:39.76, while Charlie Folks (Eden Prairie, Minn. / Eden Prairie) took third with a time of 8:51.50. Jacob Duran (Sante Fe, N.M. / St. Michael’s) also swam in the race, finishing fifth to score points for St. Thomas.

Foti, Nicholas Salido (Kansas City, Mo. / Rockhurst) and Carter Fask (Elmhurst, Ill. / Fenwick) would win events throughout the afternoon. In addition to his 800m win, Foti swam the fastest time in the 400m freestyle, beating out the other swimmers with a time of 4:08.08. Salido claimed the top spot in the 100 butterfly and was the lone swimmer to clock a time under a minute. The junior won the race with a time of 58.19, while teammate Thomsen Yatso (Milwaukee, Wis. / Shorewood) finished fifth.

Fask was the final swimmer to earn an individual win Saturday afternoon. He was the fastest swimmer in the pool on Saturday, winning the 50m with a time of 24.27. Willy Coborn (St. Paul, Minn. / North St. Paul) finished third in the same race with a time of 24.65.

Beside individual wins, the Tommies saw top-5 finishes in every other race, with multiple swimmers scoring points for St. Thomas. Cole Johnson (Fitchburg, Wis. / Madison West) and Matt Glenna (Cottage Grove, Minn. / Park) both scored for the Tommies in the 200m freestyle, while Ian Leonard (Muskego, Wis. / Muskego) and Nick Welle (Alexandria, Minn. / Alexandria) were the top finishers in the 50m breaststroke. Coborn paced Glenna and Fask in the 100m free, while Philip Jensen (Hastings, Minn. / Hastings) continued to lead St. Thomas in backstroke, finishing second in the 100m back.

Yatso finished second in the 200IM, beating out Jensen Richard (Rochester, Minn. / Century) with a time of 1:14.45.

On the boards, Ben Linde (Andover, Minn. / Andover) returned to competition, finishing third in the 1-meter competition and fourth in 3-meter. Julius Krumenacher (Waukesha, Wis. / Waukesha North) put together his best performance of the season, finishing second on 3-meter with a six-dive score of 256.73.

UP NEXT
The Tommie swimmers will be off next week, while the divers compete at the Omaha Diving Invitational. The two-day invite will begin on January 31 and conclude February 1. The entire team will compete in one final tune up before the Summit League Championships, competing at the Minnesota First Chance Meet February 7-8.