MIAC Championship Preview: 5 RACES TO WATCH

Photo Courtesy: Hayley Good

By Wilson Josephson and Allie Clark, Swimming World College Interns

The MIAC Championship meet will take place February 19-21 in Minneapolis, MN at the Jean Freeman Aquatic Center. On the women’s side, eleven teams will be competing: Gustavus, St. Thomas, St. Olaf, Carleton, St. Benedict, St. Catherine, Macalester, Concordia, Hamline, Augsburg, and St. Mary’s.

View psych sheet for MIACs here!

As for the men, the eight teams that will be battling for the championship are: St. Olaf, St. Thomas, Gustavus, Carleton, St. John’s, Macalester, Hamline, and St. Mary’s.

Will the St. Olaf men be able to fend off St. Thomas to defend their championship title? Will the Gustavus women be conference champions for the sixth year in a row? All will reveal itself this weekend. Stay tuned via live results and the live webcast here.

HERE ARE FIVE RACES THAT SHOULD KEEP YOU ON THE EDGE OF YOUR SEAT:

MEN’S 200 FREE RELAY

Opening the first night of competition is the 200 freestyle relay, and on the men’s side, it’s bound to be a thrilling race. St. Olaf is currently the top seed at 1:23.27, far ahead of the competition. But this time was notched at the Jean Freeman invitational, with a team that was at least partially tapered and suited up.

Add to this the absence of Billy Brebrick on St. Olaf’s conference roster, and it seems that the Oles’ relay is well within striking distance. The top challenger right now is Carleton College, seeded in second at 1:25.89. Carleton’s George McAneny has returned from a study abroad program in the fall and has lain down some lightning quick sprints, but the Carleton relay needs to keep an eye on the rest of the field. The distance between second seed and fifth seed (Gustavus Adolphus) is only two seconds. You can expect all five relays to come crashing toward the wall in a tight pack on Thursday night.

WOMEN’S 500 FREE

Gustavus’ Jennifer Strom, the reigning conference champion, is the top seed with a 5:07.10. Strom qualified for Nationals last year with a time of 5:02.22. Next is Carleton’s Maria Wetzel (5:14.21), Gustavus’ Leah Anderson (5:17.29), Olaf’s Maddie Lee (5:18.33), and Gustavus’ Michelle Campeau (5:18.74). Although she is seeded eight seconds behind Strom, Lee was runner-up at last year conference championship with the time of 5:03.87. These ladies will both put up quite a fight for the conference title and it will be a race you won’t want to miss.

MIACs

Photo Courtesy: Samantha Sharpe

MEN’S 400 I.M.

The general expectation was that Tanner Roe would win the 400 IM for St Olaf without breaking a sweat. Instead, Roe has entered the 200 freestyle, leaving an intense race for the title. The top seed is Warren Melton, a St Thomas freshman, whose 4:15.30 puts him just ahead of Alex Mathson, swimming for Carleton and seeded at 4:16.64.

The top five seeds are all within three seconds of each other- Carleton’s Evan Harris is fifth at 4:18.46. The top eight in this event include one swimmer from St. Olaf, two from Carleton, two from St John’s, and three from St. Thomas, but in the back eight there are five Gustavus swimmers ready to race for one of the spots in the A final. With such even representation from the conference’s top four teams, the overall outcome of this race may not influence point totals very much – but you should still prepare for some tight and exciting racing.

WOMEN’S 200 BACK

Carleton Knight’s Maria Wetzel, last year’s runner up, holds the top spot at 2:03.26. She is closely followed by St. Thomas transfer Emma Paulson (2:05.32), St. Olaf junior Abbey Schnaith (2:07.80) and Gustavus’ Hayley Booher (2:08.02). Not only will the top four seeds be fighting for the conference title, they will also be attempting to clock times that better the Division III National Invite time from last year (2:02.93).

After the top four seeds, there is a four-second gap between them and the rest of the field but then the race becomes a nail-biter. Two and a half seconds is all that separates fifth (2:12.25) from eleventh (2:14.71), which gives anyone a chance to break into the top eight.

Sixteenth seed, Meghan Talbot of St. Thomas, comes into prelims with a 2:18.87, but the 24th seed, Masha Toulokhonova of Carleton, is only four seconds behind (2:22.58). The rest of the swimmers will have to bring their ‘A’ game to prelims to have a chance at making it back to finals.

MEN’S AND WOMEN’S 400 FREE RELAYS

It’s the final relay of the championships. For the women, Gustavus Adolphus is the first seed, and their 3:33.24 gives them a comfortable lead over the second-place Oles, who are seeded at 3:39.39. Two seconds back from the Oles are Carleton and St. Thomas, half a second apart. The fight for All-Conference recognition will deliver some phenomenal racing from these teams.

On the men’s side, the top seed is St. Olaf at 3:06.21, followed by St. Thomas at 3:10.00. The race for third – in both this event and in point totals – will be between Carleton, St. John’s, and Gustavus. A second and a half separates the relays from these three schools, and if their point totals are as close as the psych sheet suggests, the meet could come down to this last relay. Be sure to stick around – the meet won’t be over until the 400 free relay anchor legs’ hands hit the wall!

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