Summit League Swimming Teams Head into a Race-Filled Weekend

By Katya Vakshteyn, Swimming World College Intern

BROOKINGS – The upcoming weekend promises some intense racing among Summit League swimming teams South Dakota State, USD, Denver, Eastern Illinois, Omaha, IUPUI, and Western Illinois.

Looking Back

Last week, South Dakota State took on University of Nebraska Lincoln. The Jacks gave the Cornhuskers a run for their money when the fate of the meet came down to the 4×100 relay. The Cornhuskers relay consisting of Bria Deveaux, Cassie Brassard, Alex Bilunas, and Katt Sickle edged out the Jacks relay of Nicole Grimit, Katya Vakshteyn, Jade Goosen, and Julia Bodnaruk with a time of 3:35.36 for the Huskers and 3:35.57 for the Jacks. The final score of the meet was 155-139. Senior Emily Campbell of SDSU won both breaststroke events, posting season best times of 1:07.07 in the 100 breast and 2:22.90 in the 200. SDSU senior Nicole Grimit also had a first-place finish in the 100 fly, swimming a time of 1:00.04.

Denver dualed Wyoming this past week, however the meet was not scored. Denver packed away 7 wins of the 15 total events. The Pioneers used this meet as an opportunity to practice a meet without the pressure of scores. Wyoming was a perfect matchup for Denver in that the Wyoming team was pretty equally matched to race the men of Denver.

South Dakota State University (SDSU)

This season, SDSU brought in a large freshman class of 12 women swimmers, 1 women diver, 1 men swimmer, and 2 men divers. The freshman class has made quite the impression on the Jacks team. Kristin Erf leads the freshman in breaststroke, while Cassie Hendricks posted the fastest times in both backstroke events from the entire team.

University of South Dakota (USD)

SDSU’s in-state rival, USD, is currently home to sophomore Sam Schuttinger who holds the top time in the league for the 200 free (1:52.44). Schutt’s outstanding performances in the month of October also earned her two consecutive swimmer of the week honors. Schutt will be one to watch at the upcoming dual against SDSU. USD wound up taking down Omaha last night as well.

Denver University (DU)

New member, Denver University, took the Summit League by storm, following a 14-year conference winning streak set by Oakland University. Pre-season polls pick Denver as the favorites to defend their Summit League Championship title from the 2013-14 season. Swimmers from Denver currently hold 11 top times on the women’s side and 10 on the men’s. Denver will be a team to look out for in upcoming meets. This weekend, Denver will have a packed weekend of meets. They will travel to Las Vegas to race UNLV and then turn around the next day to take on Air Force/Grand Canyon. Denver will be looking for senior leader Samantha Corea and junior Dylan Bunch to make an impact at these meets.

Eastern Illinois University (EIU)

EIU welcomes new head coach Jaqueline Michalski after former Coach Elliott McGill resigned to take a coaching position at Nitro Swim Club in Texas. Eastern fell to IUPUI and Butler in their first two meets this season. Despite the loss, personal bests were set by freshman Matt Jacobs in the 200 breast, freshman Patrick Wood in the 200 fly, and freshman Amy Smith in the 100 and 200 backstroke. EIU has recruited a strong freshman class that looks to be making a positive impression among the team and the Summit League.

University of Nebraska – Omaha (UNO)

The Omaha Mavs took on Iowa State and North Dakota in a double dual. Undeterred by having a winless night, junior Natalie Renshaw finished second in the 50 free with a time of 24.22 and third in the 200 free, posting a time of 1:55.77. An impressive swim from sophomore Megan Stepp in the 500 free took third place and topped her previous personal best by four seconds. Omaha fell to USD last night in Summit League action.

Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)

The favorite for conference runner up this year on the men’s side, IUPUI, had a busy weekend of racing. IUPUI raced Western Illinois and SLU Friday night and then turned around to race Western Kentucky and Indiana the next day. The Jags had a rocky start to the meet but were able to have a strong performance at the end of the day on the 4×100 freestyle relay where they pulled out a first place finish. Redshirt sophomore Lennart Kuester had the fastest split of the relay, posting a time of 45.47, placing IUPUI in the lead after the second leg. Teammates Trenton Wolfe and Aaron Brych put up splits of under 47 seconds to secure the win.

Western Illinois University (WIU)

The fighting Leathernecks lost to both IUPUI and SLU. Regardless of the loss, the Leatherneck had Chris Neaveill touch the wall first in the 100 fly with an impressive time of 50.51. Neaveill also posted a winning time of 53.44 in the 100 backstroke at WIU’s tri-meet at Truman State. Sophomore Neaveill will be one to keep an eye on in the upcoming meets for the Leatherneck.

Schedule

November 7: Denver at UNLV (Las Vegas, Nev)
Eastern Illinois at Ball State (Charleston, Il)
SDSU at South Dakota (Brookings, SD)

November 8: Denver at Air Force/Grand Canyon (Colorado Springs, Colo.)
IUPUI at Wright State (Dayton, Ohio)
Western Illinois at Valparaiso (Valparaiso, Ind.)

Summit League Swimmers of the Week

For the week of October 28 – November 3, the Summit League named WIU sophomore Chris Neaveill and SDSU senior Emily Campbell as swimmers of the week. Neaveill’s time of 50.51 in the 100 fly not only too first in the tri-meet at IUPUI but it is also the second-fastest time in the league. Emily Campbell received her first career swimmer of the week after sweeping the breaststroke events against Big 10 school, University of Nebraska – Lincoln. Campbell’s times of 1:07.07 in the 100 breast and 2:22.90 in the 200 breast are currently the third-fastest in the league.

Past swimmers of the week this month have been awarded to DU”s Dylan Bunch, DU’s Samantha Corea, DU’s Ray Bornman, USD’s Sam Schuttinger, and SDSU’s Alex McLain.

Katya Vakshteyn is a freshman middle-distance freestyler at South Dakota State University. Prior to college, she spent 10 years training with the Kansas City Blazers and was a high school state runner-up in the 200 free in Kansas.

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