Snowfall Marks Beginning of Winter for Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Swimming

By Wilson Josephson, Allie Clark, Swimming World College Interns

NORTHFIELD – Snowfall in Minnesota marks the beginning of winter, and as winter begins the first dual meets of the season are underway in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC). The results of these early head-to-head matchups have given urgency to whispers of rivalries that will last throughout the winter. Now that winter is upon us and the swim season is in full swing, competition will be nearly incessant. Moving into the coming weeks, teams will continue to prepare for dual meets, as well as developing experience with larger meets like the Andregg Invite and Roger Ahlman Invite.

The Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) teams are: Carleton College, St. Olaf College, The University of St. Thomas (UST), Gustavus Adolphus College (GAC), Hamline University. Macalester College, Saint Mary’s University, St. John’s University (men), College of Saint Benedict (women), Augsburg College (women), Concordia College (women), St. Catherine University (women)

Last Weekend

The Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) swim and dive teams had a full weekend of competition. St. Thomas had back-to-back home meets against Carleton and St. Olaf. Though double-booked, the Tommies had their eyes on Olaf all weekend; they weren’t worried about Carleton, and they didn’t need to be. On both the men’s and women’s sides, St. Thomas took advantage of their depth, took swimmers out of their main events, and even scored their 200 IMs and 200 freestyle relays as exhibitions. The St. Thomas women would go on to win against Olaf 153-138, while the men lost by the same margin. For their phenomenal performances at these double meets, St. Thomas divers Casey Nightingale and Andrew Grabowski won the conference’s “athlete-of-the-week” recognition. Grabowski’s 301.25 is both a new school record and an NCAA b-cut.

Carleton’s sophomore sensation Maria Wetzel won the 100 backstroke, 200 backstroke, and 200 IM. Her 2:06.26 in the backstroke puts her within a second of the NCAA B-cut. Additional wins came from Brittany Salazar, who clinched wins for Carleton in both the 100 and 200 freestyle. The Carleton men struggled to match the Tommies, but Evan Harris came through with three victories in the 100 and 200 breaststroke and in the 200 IM, before joining the 200 freestyle relay and closing the meet with a victory in 1:26.94. But the Knights just couldn’t keep up with the Tommies’ depth. The Tommies’ women went 1-2 in ten events, including both relays and both diving events. Their men’s squad didn’t meet with quite the same success, but still handily outdid the Knights. Mike Lanz took a break from butterfly to win the 100 and 200 freestyle, while his teammates proved they could get along just fine without him and swept the butterfly events.

If any doubts were left over, the St. Thomas women surely dispelled them on Saturday. The St. Olaf men were dominant in the short axis strokes, but the St. Thomas women swept these events. Elizabeth Falconer and Molly Peichel finished first and second, respectively, in the 200 breaststroke. They were joined by Nicole Herrli for a phenomenal 1-2-3 finish in the 100 breaststroke. The stand out swim from Saturday has got to be the race between St. Olaf’s Billy Brebrick and UST’s Lanz in the 200 butterfly. Brebrick won with a time of 1:52.71, but Lanz was close and closing, finishing in 1:52.88. These times are not only well under the NCAA B-cut; they put Brebrick and Lanz at the very top of Division III in the event. Though losing to the defending champions, St. Thomas didn’t make it easy for them. The Tommies went 1-2 in both backstroke events and the mile.

The Hamline University Invite featured Hamline University, Saint Mary’s University, the College of Saint Benedict, and St. John’s University, as well as non-MIAC competitors Carroll University. Each team at this invite was led by its underclassmen; sophomore Jose Alvarez led the Johnnies’ efforts, winning the 200 IM (2:01.48) and the 100 backstroke (54.79) and finishing second behind teammate Joe Duxbury in the 100 breaststroke (1:01.81 and 1:02.27). Hodd Gorman, Hamline University’s newest star, won both distance freestyle events (5:03.54, 10:30.39) and had the fastest split in their second-place 200 freestyle relay (22.80). Saint Mary’s freshmen Janelle Mueller and Reese Galewski both picked up wins (in the 3-meter diving and 100 butterfly). Saint Ben’s, the winners of the women’s title, are perhaps the one exception to this general trend: only two of their six individual titles were won by underclassmen.

Gustavus Adolphus College (GAC) had a tri-meet against MSU and UW Stevens Point on Saturday. Point-wise, the women blew the other teams away. Senior Jennifer Strom won all three of her individual events and was a crucial leg on the winning medley relay. Sophomore Hayley Booher also hit a few outstanding swims; her 1:00.44 and 2:08.49 in the backstroke events and 2:13.00 in the 200 IM set her up as a potential rival for Carleton’s Maria Wetzel as the season progresses. Zac Solis continued to lead the GAC men, dropping his distance times from last week down to 10:09.60 and 4:52.92. Jacob Stern took first in the 200 breaststroke (2:16.41) and second in the 100 (1:01.20).

On Tuesday the 11th, teams throughout the MIAC participated in the annual Hour of Power. The event involves a full-team, hour-long relay of 50 yard sprints, and is a fundraiser for the University of Chicago’s sarcoma research program. The event originated in the MIAC in 2006 after Ted Mullin, a Carleton Knight from the class of 2006, succumbed to the disease after a long fight. Though the event began in the MIAC, this year 174 teams and more than 8,300 athletes across the country participated and helped to raise funds to battle sarcoma.

Because of a scheduling conflict, Gustavus Adolphus College participated in the Hour of Power on November 6. Mary Henry and Rick Mullin, Ted’s parents, came to speak to the team about the Ted Mullin Fund and the importance of their involvement.

St. Olaf

Olaf will host a dual meet Friday evening against Gustavus Adolphus College. This meet will likely be lopsided on both sides; the GAC women will undoubtedly prove untouchable, as will the St. Olaf men. Billy Brebrick (1:52.71 and 50.39) should dominate the butterfly, while teammates Andrew France (21.77 and 47.65 in the freestyle sprints) and Nick Wilkerson (2:10.65 and 58.69 in the breaststroke) will likely own their events. The women’s squad will definitely struggle to earn points against GAC, but if anyone has a chance it’ll be either freestyler Maddie Lee (54.68 and 5:18.33 in an impressive combo this past weekend) or backstroker Abbey Schnaith (1:00.47 and 2:10.24).

Gustavus Adolphus College

The Gustavus Women have no need to fear the Oles. Kathleen Reilly’s 2:11.00 200 IM, Jenny Strom’s 59.55 100 fly and 1:07.41 100 breaststroke, and Hayley Booher’s backstroke (2:08.49; 1:00.44) should all contribute to a list of individual wins. On top of this, GAC has already demonstrated remarkable early-season depth, and can be expected to take points from Olaf in the third, fourth, and fifth positions in each event.

While the team scores may be set in stone, the GAC men will have a shot at individual titles; look especially to Zac Solis in the distance freestyle events (4:52.92 and 10:09.60) and Dante Colucci in the backstroke events (55.37 and 2:02.93).

The next day, Gustavus Adolphus College will travel down to Sioux City, Iowa, for some extra-conference competition at the Morningside Invitational. Back-to-back meets like these are crucial for MIAC teams’ preparation for three consecutive days of racing at championships.

St. Benedict

The College of Saint Benedict will travel to Moorhead Minnesota on Friday for a competition against MSU-Moorhead, and on Saturday will compete again, this time against fellow MIAC school Concordia College. Because of the back-to-back schedule, Saint Ben’s will likely shuffle their roster. Upperclassmen in the distance events, like Hannah Iverson and Haley Chatelaine, will likely not be asked to swim their top events two days in a row. However, Kristina Rudin and Steph Bierman could very well be dominant on both days of competition; they both posted very quick times this past weekend, Rudin in the 50 (26.09) and Bierman in the 100 (56.44).

Concordia College

The Concordia College Cobbers have a dual meet against the College of St. Benedict on Saturday the 15th at 1 pm at Concordia College. Keep an eye on these two sophomores: Libby Hardwick and Sarah Nelson. They swam well in their dual meet against MSU Moorhead and there is a chance that they will repeat their successes during their dual meet against St. Benedict.

St. Thomas

The University of St. Thomas’ women will host the Andregg invite on Friday, where they will compete with Augsburg and St. Catherine’s University. These three teams won’t be very competitive in terms of team scores; at conference championships last year St. Thomas finished second, St. Kate’s placed sixth, and Augsburg came in ninth. This invite will present an opportunity for St. Thomas to test out some of their upperclassmen in off events, as well as giving freshmen like backstroker Alix Glassbrenner a chance to shine.

On Saturday, both St. Thomas teams will travel to Macalester. Judging by the way the UST’s coaches swam their squads against Carleton, it seems a safe bet that their upperclassmen may sit this one out, letting freshmen like Bailey Biwer or Brady Anderson take the reins.

St. Catherine University

Saint Catherine University’s swim team will compete in the Joann Andregg invite on Friday the 14th and at the Roger Ahlman Invitational on Saturday the 15th. The Roger Ahlman Invite will likely feature an exciting 100 fly showdown between Mary Jane Voss (1:04.88), Sydney Wenner (1:04.89), and Macalester swimmer Kaia Lund (1:04.31). Hayley French Krahn will likely swim the 200 IM, potentially going as fast as 2:15, as well as the 100 breaststroke, where her 1:15.66 could challenge Augsburg’s Knollmueller (1:14.02) and Macalester’s Christina Bloom (1:14.16).

Augsburg

On Friday the 14th, the Augsburg Women will compete in the Joann Andregg invitational hosted at St. Thomas.

On Saturday the 15th, the Auggies will travel to Macalaster to compete in the Roger Ahlman invitational. Kelsey Knollmueller will likely repeat as the team’s most valuable swimmer; her 57.96 in the 100 freestyle three weeks ago will no doubt improve significantly. She will also likely swim the 100 breaststroke at both meets, since her split at the relay meet would have earned her an Augsburg record in the event.

Macalester

On Saturday, Macalester will host the Roger Ahlman invite, where they will compete with St. Thomas, St. Kate’s, Augsburg, and Hamline University, as well as the men’s divers from St. Olaf. Since Macalester has only swam a Pentathlon meet so far, this invite will prove a good opportunity to try out some longer events. Look to freshmen Matteo Tormene in the 500 freestyle as a potential competitor for Hamline’s Gorman, as well as freshmen Kaia Lund in the 100 fly, where she’ll attempt to bring her time down from 1:04.31 and closer to her 1:00 personal best, and Christina Bloom in the 100 breaststroke (1:14.16), who will no doubt share a tight race with Augsburg’s Knollmueller (1:14.02) and Hamline University’s Kaitlyn Allee (1:14.76)

Hamline University

Hannah Hawker and Kayla Hennum will no doubt look to lead the Hamline women to achieve successes similar to those found at their own invite this past weekend. They’ve already proven they can hold up to tough competition, with Hawker posting 1:03.74 in the 100 backstroke and Hennum scoring 177.35 points on the 3-meter board. Joining them for exciting racing is Kaitlyn Allee, who looks to upset Knollmueller and Bloom in the 100 breaststroke. If Hamline can maintain this level of performance, they may give their competitors quite the scare.

Hodd Gorman will likely continue his stellar freshman fall at the Roger Ahlman invite. His 5:03.54 500 freestyle will prove competitive with all but the very best distance swimmers in the MIAC. Ethan Ross’ 54.94 in the 100 butterfly should put him near the top of the pack in that event as well.

St. John’s

St. John’s University has no meets this weekend. They’ll surely be using their time to prepare for upcoming back-to-back meets on the 21st and 22nd.

Carleton

Carleton College has no more competitions this fall. Their next meet is the Jean Freeman invite in December.

Wilson Josephson and Allie Clark are teammates at Carleton College. Josephson is a junior butterfly specialist, while Clark is a sophomore who fills in multiple roles on the team.

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