2024 Summit League Swimming & Diving Championships
- Wednesday, February 21 – Saturday, February 24, 2024
- Minneapolis, Minn.
- Jean J. Freeman Aquatic Center
- SCY (25 yards)
- Teams: Denver, Eastern Illinois, Omaha, South Dakota, South Dakota State, St. Thomas, Lindenwood, Southern Indiana
- Defending Champion: Denver women (10x), Denver men (2x) – [results]
- Meet Central
- Live Results
- Live Stream ($)
Denver’s reign atop the Summit League continued last season, as the women’s team ran away with their 10th straight conference title in dominant fashion and the Pioneer men successfully went back-to-back to mark their ninth championships in 10 seasons.
The women’s meet figures to be another big win for Denver, they’re just too deep, while the men’s battle could be a close one with Lindenwood loaded with potential individual title contenders. However, the depth of the Pioneers is unmatched, making them the favorites to three-peat.
EVENT SCHEDULE
Wednesday
- Men’s 1-meter diving
- Women’s team diving (exhibition)
- 200 medley relay
- 800 free relay
Thursday
- 500 free
- 200 IM
- 50 free
- Women’s 1-meter diving
- Men’s team diving (exhibition)
- 200 free relay
Friday
- 100 fly
- 400 IM
- 200 free
- 100 breast
- 100 back
- Men’s 3-meter diving
- 400 medley relay
Saturday
- 1650 free
- 200 back
- 100 free
- 200 breast
- 200 fly
- Women’s 3-meter diving
- 400 free relay
SWIMMERS TO WATCH
WOMEN:
Jessica Maeda, JUNIOR – Denver: Maeda is a perfect six-for-six in her collegiate career individually at the Summit League Championships, and is in a position to three-peat across the board as the fastest swimmer in the conference this season in the 100 breast (1:01.24), 200 breast (2:09.75) and 200 IM (2:00.70). She essentially matched her winning times from 2023 in the 100 breast and 200 IM at the midseason Big Al Invitational, and in the 200 breast, she’s been significantly faster—she won the 2023 conference title in 2:12.69—and could take a run at the Summit League Record of 2:08.24 from 2016 next week. At least on paper, the only swimmer who appears to have a shot at upsetting Maeda is Lindenwood’s Maja Piorowicz, who is ranked #2 in the 100 breast this season at 1:01.93.
Emily Kahn, JUNIOR – South Dakota: Kahn came into her own in her sophomore year at South Dakota, sweeping the 50 and 100 free conference titles, and has a good chance to do so again this year. Kahn and Denver’s Eri Remington are on a collision course for a pair of good battles in the sprints, with Kahn ranking 1st this season in the 100 free (49.81) over Remington (49.93) and Remington (22.74) leading Kahn (22.87) in the 50. Last season, Kahn beat Remington by .01 in the 50 free final.
Inés Marin, SENIOR – Denver: Marin, who comes in as the defending champion in the 200 free, set a new lifetime best of 1:46.73 in the event in late January, putting her more than three seconds clear of the next-fastest swimmer in the conference this season. It’s somewhat unfortunate for the Chilean that another one of her best events, the 100 fly, comes on the same day as the 200 free, as she leads the Summit League so far this season at 54.85. We’ll likely see her in the 100 free, where she ranks 4th at 50.37, a new PB set in December.
MEN:
Dylan Wright, JUNIOR – Denver: Wright has been on fire this season, sitting on top of the conference rankings in five events. The South African junior is the defending champion in the 200 back, but could be looking at three titles this season with the 100 back and 200 IM being potential changes to his schedule after he raced the 200 free (6th) and 500 free (4th) last year. Wright also leads the Summit League in those events this season, establishing new lifetime bests of 1:37.33 and 4:21.19, so he’s incredibly versatile and has been on impressive form all year.
Elliott Irwin, SENIOR – Lindenwood: Irwin rocketed to a sweep of the 50 free, 100 free and 100 fly at the 2023 Summit League Championships, and is in position to do so again this season. The Australian native holds the top time in the 100 free and 100 fly this season and is ranked 2nd to Denver’s Donat Fabian in the 50 free, but showed last season he saves his best for the conference meet. Wright set best times of 19.40 in the 50 free, 42.81 in the 100 free and 45.85 in the 100 fly en route to the titles last year, with the 100 fly marking a new Summit League Record.
Johan Cue Carrillo, SOPHOMORE – Lindenwood: Cue Carrillo rocketed to the win and a new conference record in the 100 breast last season, clocking 52.28 to win the title by more than a second. The Cuban native, who is a sophomore albeit 23 years old, has already been faster this season, clocking 52.22 at the Mizzou Invitational in November. He doesn’t have a true second event where he can contend, especially with the 100 IM no longer on the program, but he’s surely one to watch with a chance to dip into the 51s in the 100 breast.
SHOWDOWN RACES
WOMEN:
100 Backstroke: Denver sophomore Ali Beay leads the conference this season at 54.89, nearly matching the swim that earned her 3rd last year (54.74). Lindenwood’s Stephanie Marks is the top returner as the 2023 runner-up, having clocked 54.29 in last year’s final and ranking 2nd this season in 55.34. Behind those two, four more women have been sub-56 this season, led by Denver freshman Lilly Zippel, who will be one to watch after clocking 55.34 at midseason.
100 Butterfly: Marin leads the conference this season but she might not race the event. Last year’s winner Natalie Arky is now on Denver’s coaching staff, making this event ripe for the taking for the rest of the field. Beay is the top returner after placing 3rd last year, and ranks 2nd to Marin this season in 55.05. She’s followed by Remington (55.09), Omaha’s Annika Bussinger (55.20), Denver’s Kali Metuzals (55.26) and Sarah Turchanik (55.48), and South Dakota’s Sara Mayer (55.48) in what should be a tightly contested event.
MEN:
400 IM: Marco Nosack swept the medley events last season, and while he’s the favorite to win the 200 IM again, the 400 IM will be a battle. Nosack claimed the title last season in 3:51.20, edging out teammate Jan Hanzal (3:51.29) and Denver’s Kieran Watson (3:51.71) after setting a PB of 3:50.83 earlier in the campaign. This season, Nosack has been 3:53.52, done in January after he was 3:55 at the midseason Big Al Invite. Denver teammates Watson and Noah Laird will be in the hunt, but the swimmer who stands in Nosack’s way the most is Lindenwood senior Matheo Mateos, who went 3:50.63 in November and owns a best of 3:49.06 from 2022. A Paraguayan native, Mateos is currently in attendance at the 2024 Worlds in Doha, but Lindenwood has confirmed he will be racing.
200 Free: The 200 free was a must-see event last year with the top six finishers within 1.13 seconds of each other in the final. Although the three fastest swimmers this season, Wright, Nosack and Watson, might not race it, there’s still no shortage of challengers making this another marquee race. Lindenwood’s Patryk Winiatowski comes in as the defending champion, while his teammate Adam Szczerba, SDSU’s Eric Anderson and Denver’s Dylan Mes were 4-5-7 last season and Mes is the fastest swimmer this season excluding Wright, Nosack and Watson at 1:38.41.
SWIMSWAM PICKS
WOMEN:
- Denver
- South Dakota
- Lindenwood
Denver is poised for another title on the women’s side, with the Swimulator scoring them 338 points clear of South Dakota. Last season, the Pioneers finished 351.5 points clear of the Coyotes, while Lindenwood placed 3rd.
The teams figure to fall in the same position this year, though the Lions could face a challenge from South Dakota State, who figure to get big points from freshman Gigi Hioki.
History tells us that diving won’t have much of an impact on the top spots, with Denver fairly dominant there and South Dakota deeper than Lindenwood.
MEN:
- Denver
- Lindenwood
- South Dakota State
The men’s meet figures to be much closer than the women’s, with Lindenwood having enough swimmers capable of individual titles that they’ll pile up some big points and challenge Denver.
The Pioneers finished just over 100 points clear of the Lions last season, and lose one of their top scorers in Riley Babson. Denver is still incredibly deep, making event selection key so they maximize point potential in order to not let Lindenwood get a sniff of the top spot.
Wright, Nosack and Watson will be key players for Denver, while Lindenwood needs clutch relays and similar performances from Irwin and Winiatowski that we saw last year.
It’s similar in diving, where Lindenwood has the double defending champion David Molina-Fregenal, but Denver has the depth.
In addition to being projected for 24.5 more points in the pool, South Dakota State should also have the diving edge on South Dakota, putting them in 3rd place.
HOW TO WATCH
Live streaming of the meet will be available on the Summit League Network. There will be a fee to view the streams for those not subscribed to SLN.