BROOKINGS, South Dakota, October 11. Two pool records fell Saturday afternoon as the\u00a0University of North Dakota swept South Dakota State University, with the women winning 198-102 and the men coming out ahead 172-128.<\/p>\n
A pair of pool records were etched by UND athletes as both the North Dakota men (172-128) and women (198-102) picked up dual wins over host South Dakota State Saturday afternoon.<\/p>\n
\u201cGenerally speaking I am pleased with our progress to this point in the season,” UND head coach Chris Maiello said. “We are focused on training consistency. Racing this week after a difficult training stretch is a lot to ask of our athletes and they performed at our expectations. We have areas we need to address, mainly technical aspects of racing that are always challenging, but we will work through them. In the end, this is another step towards our team goals. It\u2019s always good to come to come south and pick up wins.<\/p>\n
“On the women\u2019s side we had consistent performances from our distance group. Gabi Leidy and Ali Church has established themselves as a good combination in distance over 100. I am proud of how hard they work in practice. They are going to swim fast at the end of the year. Other swimmers who continue to make an impact are Steph Frey and Ali Schwab in the sprints. They too seem to be forming a nice combination. Frey has done a great job of swimming all over the line up for us. We can put her almost anywhere and she excels. Grace Dimeo has also done a great job in the fly events for us, today she swam up to the 1000 and handled it nicely, all the while maintaining control in her fly events. Our ladies are coming together. On the boards, Sawyer Murrey won her second event on 1-meter this season and her diving career is off to a great start.<\/p>\n
“The men\u2019s meet was bit of a grind it out type of meet. I feel like we saw a bit more of the effects of a hard training week with their results. We got the meet off to a great start with the Medley Relay with a new pool record, and then Martin Pozniak followed that effort up with an individual pool record in the 100 fly, beating an old pool record set last year by Adam Gannon. The men\u2019s team has been battling some sickness and we were a bit short handed. Ian Ballantyne and Wes Schultz did a great job filling the void in getting those two breaststroke victories for us. We are right where we want to be.\u201d<\/p>\n
North Dakota returns home next week to host South Dakota, Air Force (men only) and Northern Colorado (women only) on Friday and Saturday.<\/p>\n
South Dakota State swimming and diving opened the 2014-15 campaign against a strong North Dakota squad and dropped both meets. The Jackrabbit men fell 172-128, while the women lost 198-102.<\/p>\n
“We have to remember it is the first meet,” head coach Brad Erickson said. “With that being said, we learned a lot today. First, we need to work harder in practice. Secondly, we have to remember that we did have some good swims for this early in the season.”<\/p>\n
The men’s performance was highlighted by wins in the 100 backstroke, 50 freestyle and 400 freestyle relay, along with a sweep on the boards.<\/p>\n
Alex McLain’s time of 52.89 was good for first place in the 100 back, while Ben Bolinske was just off of the pool record with a first-place time of 21.01 in the 50 free.<\/p>\n
The 400 free relay squad of Blake Yeager, Garth Wadsworth, Daniel Jacobson and Ben Bolinske touched in 3:07.79, which was good for the win by over a second.<\/p>\n
Returning Summit League champ Connor Florand debuted with a pair of wins on the boards. In the one-meter, Florand scored 292.27, while posting a 302.41 mark on the three-meter board.<\/p>\n
On the women’s side, Emily Campbell and Kristin Erf went took the top-two spots in the 200 breaststroke with respective times of 2:23.42 and 2:28.60.<\/p>\n
The Jacks also swept top honors on the three-meter board and Alecia Winston won with a score of 214.72, while fellow Jackrabbit Olivia Olesiak compiled a score of 206.03 to take second. Winston’s mark of 217.05 was also good for second on the one-meter board.<\/p>\n
“Today was encouraging, but we have a long ways to go,” Erickson added. “But we also have a lot of time to get there.”<\/p>\n
The Jackrabbit women return to the pool next weekend at Iowa State on Oct. 17 and Northern Iowa on Oct. 18. The men are idle until Nov. 7 when both squads play host to USD.<\/p>\n