St. Thomas Men, Gustavus Women Reign At MIAC Championships

gac
Photo Courtesy: MIAC Swimming

By Wilson Josephson and Allie Clark, Swimming World College Interns

Despite the surprises that sprung up over the course of the three-day Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Swimming Championships, when the dust settled on Saturday night, team standings were roughly as predicted.

The women from Gustavus Adolphus College won the conference title for the sixth year in a row, while the St. Thomas men (propelled by a remarkable freshmen class) claimed victory on the men’s side.

Here’s our review of the MIAC Championships.

St. Thomas Men Dominate

One of the surprises of the meet was the margin by which the University of St. Thomas conquered runner-up St. Olaf College. We were supposed to have a close meet, and instead, St. Thomas left the meet with a 200-point lead. This gap was the result of a favorable convergence for St. Thomas.

While Warren Melton and Tom Osmolak’s wins in the 400 IM and 100 backstroke respectively were clutch swims for UST, the Oles’ meet was wrought with misfortune. 

Tanner Roe was slated to win the 200 freestyle, and he ended up placing 17th. Mike Gratz was swimming on a fractured foot. Scott Hodgson led the 3M diving in the morning, but was powered past by St. Thomas freshman Andrew Grabowski at night.

Our congratulations to UST’s new head coach Scott Blanchard and all of his swimmers on an astounding meet.

tommies

Photo Courtesy: MIAC Swimming

Gustavus Women Withstand Threat from St. Thomas

For the women, the surprise came from how close St. Thomas was to overthrowing Gustavus. At the end of session 1, the teams were tied at 240 points and by the end of the second day St. Thomas was only 15.5 points behind. The last session is where Gustavus pulled through and widened the gap to 41.5 points to take the win.

St. Thomas nipped at GAC’s heels throughout the meet because of their impressive depth in many of the events. Although Gustavus had eleven first place finishes, St. Thomas had many swimmers in both the top and bottom eight of every event. St. Thomas’ newest swimmer, Emma Paulson, won all three of her individual events (50 free – 22.99, 100 back – 55.33, 200 back – 2:00.13) and significantly sped up relays which contributed to the meet’s suspense.

Most other races went as we had predicted last week. The 500 freestyle was a fight between Gustavus senior Jennifer Strom and St. Olaf junior Maddie Lee, but Strom pulled out a strong finish that was good enough for the win (5:02.53). Lee was only a second behind with a 5:03.56.

The 200 backstroke was an exciting event. The top three seeds (Paulson, Wetzel, and Hayley Booher) had a race of their own while the rest of the field battled it out for the remaining spots.

Top 3 Sweeps

There were two 1-2-3 finishes at this meet, both on the men’s side. While it may be easy to predict event winners, especially with standouts like Gustavus’ Zac Solis and Jenny Strom in competition, for a team to take all of the top three spots in an event says a lot about the strength of their program.

At the end of the first night, Carleton College’s Stephen Grinich, Evan Lahr, and George McAneny claimed the top three spots in the 50 free. These three were the only ones in the conference to dip below 21 seconds in the 50 free. Their dominance carried over to the 200 freestyle relay, which Carleton won in 1:22.79.

At the end of the final night, the University of St. Thomas took the top three spots in the 200 butterfly. MIAC record-holder Mike Lanz led the way, followed by Bailey Biwer and Melton Warren, who have been important contributors to St. Thomas’ strong freshman class.

Men’s Team Scores:
1. University of Saint Thomas 808
2. St. Olaf College 604.5
3. Carleton College 543.5
4. St. John’s University 510
5. Gustavus Adolphus College 487
6. Hamline University 248
7. Saint Mary’s University 120
8. Macalester College 118

Women’s Team Scores:
1. Gustavus Adolphus College 858.5
2. University of Saint Thomas 817
3. St. Olaf College 514.5
4. Carleton College 356
5. College of Saint Benedict 304
6. Saint Catherine University 220
7. Macalester College 209
8. Hamline University 128
9. Concordia College 122
10. Augsburg College 96
11. Saint Mary’s University 88
Complete results can be found here!

Looking To NCAAs

There were a number of NCAA B-cuts earned at MIACs this year, though many were slower than the 2015 selection times. Because of this, MIAC representation at NCAAs will be sparse compared to years past, though the meet will still hold plenty of excitement for MIAC fans.

Here are the likely entries for the NCAAs:

MEN:
Mike Lanz (St. Thomas): 3rd in the 100 fly at 48.26, 10th in the 200 fly at 1:49.57, and 22nd in the 200 IM at 1:51.49.

WOMEN:
Emma Paulson (St. Thomas): 1st in the 50 free at 22.99, 1st in the 100 back at 54.99, and 4th in the 200 backstroke at 2:00.13.
Emily Punyko (St. Thomas) 15th in the 100 breaststroke at 1:04.22, 34th in the 200 breaststroke at 2:22.21, 54th in the 50 free at 24.17.
Jenny Strom (Gustavus): 3rd in the 100 breaststroke at 1:02.70, 3rd in the 200 breaststroke at 2:17.39, and 68th in the 400 IM at 4:36.33.
Katie Olson (Gustavus): 12th in the 50 free at 23.40 and 15th in the 100 free at 51.43.
Kate Reilly (Gustavus): 15th in the 100 fly at 56.23, 21st in the 100 free at 51.71, and 35th in the 50 free at 23.81.
Maria Wetzel (Carleton): 16th in the 200 backstroke at 2:02.73, 34th in the 100 backstroke at 57.54, and 41st in the 200 IM at 2:07.53.

GAC Relays:
200 medley relay seeded 8th at 1:43.5
200 free relay seeded 7th at 1:34.80
400 medley relay seeded 7th at 3:47.68
400 free relay seeded 8th at 3:217.12
800 free relay seeded 9th at 7:34.63

UST Relays:
200 medley relay seeded 6th at 1:43.14
200 free relay seeded 8th at 1:34.81
400 medley relay seeded 14th at 3:49.68
400 free relay seeded 25th 3:30.96
800 free relay seeded 9th at 7:34.63

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