Minnesota Freshmen Make Statement Against North Dakota

GRAND FORKS, North Dakota, November 9. THE University of Minnesota women’s squad maintained its perfect dual meet record this season with a convincing win over the University of North Dakota this afternoon. The Gopher women won 14 of 16 events to top North Dakota 179-114, while the men’s team won 13 of 16 events and walked away victorious with a nearly identical score of 179-113. Thirteen of Minnesota’s 27 wins were by freshmen.

Both Gopher teams began the meet with a win, as Katelyn Holmquist, Heidi Busack, Chloe Portela and Abigail Raatz swam a 1:46.64 to top the women’s 200 medley relay field, and Jimmy Rafter, Nick Hatanaka, Sandy Whitaker and Ryan Miksch posted a 1:33.21 to grab 11 points for the Minnesota men.

Freshman Breanne Siwicki gave Minnesota its third straight victory with a solid 10:11.17 in the women’s 1,000 free. Teammate Logan Redondo led a 1-2-3 Minnesota sweep in the men’s event with a 9:28.72, ten seconds ahead of Garin Marlow (9:38.75). Maddie Hoch, another Minnesota freshman, dominated the field in the women’s 200 free, winning by four seconds in 1:50.20.

North Dakota freshman Noah Lucas broke up the Gopher parade with an outstanding swim in the men’s 200 free. Lucas flipped second at the halfway point then pulled away from the field with a blazing 51.05 second 100 to win in 1:41.06, well ahead of Minnesota’s Danny Brebick (1:42.60).

Gopher freshman Katelyn Holmquist continued the impressive showing by youngsters at the meet with a win in the 100 back. Her time of 57.08 was nearly a second and a half in front of teammate Katherine Anton (58.43). Fellow freshman Jonathan Thielen won the men’s 100 back in 52.41, leading a 1-2-3 Minnesota freshman sweep with Jack Tribble (53.05) and Noah Busch (53.26) taking second and third.

North Dakota proved to have the best women’s breaststrokers of the day, as Camille Merwin (1:06.03) and Alexa Weyer (1:07.71) went 1-2. Nick Hatanaka made sure that trend didn’t continue in the men’s event, as he out-touched North Dakota’s Austin Smith for the win, 56.97 to 57.07.

The Gophers reasserted themselves in the 200 fly, with Chloe Portela (2:10.08) and Jenna Howenstein (2:11.84) taking 1-2 in the women’s event and Drew Johnson (1:52.98), Viktor Bjork (1:54.06) and Alex Cisneros (1:55.52) going 1-2-3 in the men’s event. The Gopher dominance continued in the 50 free, as Abigail Raatz (24.13) and Paul Fair (21.31) led 1-2-3 and 1-2 finishes on the women’s and men’s sides, respectively.

Abigail Raatz and Lucas Noah, already winners of the women’s 50 free and men’s 200 free, returned to take their second titles of the meet in the 100 free. Raatz swam a 51.63 while Lucas posted a 46.24. Minnesota’s Katherine Anton, the runner-up in the women’s 100 back, got to the wall first in the 200 in 2:03.15. Meanwhile, Jonathan Thielen picked up a second win, sweeping the backstroke events with a 1:51.80 in the 200.

North Dakota swept the 200 breaststroke events, with Camille Merwin earning her second win of the day in 2:23.17, and Austin Smith redeeming himself after his runner-up swim in the 100 with a 2:08.64 in the 200. Smith actually had the third fastest time, but Minnesota’s swimmers were both entered as exhibition.

Gophers Maddie Hoch and Logan Redondo added to their win tallies this afternoon by posting the winning times in the 500 free. Hoch blew through the 5:00 barrier with a 4:56.88, while Redondo posted a 4:33.28 in the men’s event. In the 100 fly, Gophers Allison Schumacher (58.72) and Drew Johnson (50.78) recorded wins. In the final individual event of the meet, Maddie Hoch (2:05.94) and Jonathan Thielen (1:55.51) earned their third wins of the day in the 200 IM.

In the diving well, Minnesota’s Maggie Keefer captured the 3-meter with 342.85 points and the 1-meer with 300.40 points. Dylan Zoe, also of Minnesota, swept the 1-meter (324.90) and 3-meter (348.35).

Minnesota wrapped up the meet with wins in both the women’s (1:36.13) and men’s (1:24.43) 200 free relays.

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