The Minnesota men swept the events and the women put on a dominant performance as well on day 1 of the Jean K. Freeman Invite. Matt Barnard highlighted the session with a school record on the platform.
Minnesota:
The Gopher men won every event, and the women won all but three, on the first day of the Jean K. Freeman Invitational. Diver Matt Barnard’s school record on the platform, along with several other personal bests, highlighted the day for Minnesota.
The meet will conclude Saturday with preliminary heats beginning at 11 a.m. and finals beginning at 6 p.m.
Women’s
Zoe Avestruz, Danielle Nack, Abigail Raatz and Kaia Grobe won the 200-yard freestyle relay in 1:32.12.Allison Schumacher, Lauren Votava, Danielle Bergeson and Ellen Bloom took second in 1:33.24.
Brooke Zeiger’s 4:55.55 won the 500 free. Lauren Lalumiere (4:56.16), Alandra McDowell (5:04.79) andBrooke Lorentzen (5:05.01) completed the 1-2-3-4 Gophers finish.
Minnesota also took the top four spots in the 200 individual medley with Katelyn Holmquist in a personal-best 2:05.40, Rachel Munson in 2:06.51, Kaela Marcus in 2:06.62 and Olivia Johnston in 2:07.12.
Votava’s personal-best 1:59.39 led a 1-2-3 Minnesota finish in the 200 butterfly. Schumacher (2:01.70) and Breanne Siwicki (2:05.17) followed Votava.
Schumacher (23.20), Raatz (23.60), Bloom (23.70) and Bergeson 23.89 led the way in the 50 free.
Danielle Nack (1:48.97), Erin Emery (1:51.24) and Lalumiere (1:52.10) went 1-2-3 in the 200 free.
Rachel Munson (1:03.23) finished second in the 100 breaststroke by 1/100th of a second with Marcus and Nicole Ciavarella behind her.
Lexi Tenenbaum led the Minnesota divers with a second-place finish on the 3-meter board. Her score was 343.90. Jessica Ramberg was fourth with a 306.70.
Chantal Nack (2:00.52) and Erin Buck (2:02.39) finished second and third in the 200 backstroke.
Men’s
Matt Barnard broke his own school record in platform diving with a score of 475.40. His previous best came at the 2015 NCAA Championships. Seniors Dylan Zoe (377.40) and Manny Pollard (327.10) followed in second and third in their final home meet.
Jan Hansen won two events: the 500-yard freestyle in 4:34.64, and the 200 free in 1:39.64. Nick Plachinskifollowed his teammate in the 500 in 4:36.88. In the 200, Ben Bravence (1:40.11), Erick Huft (1:40.68) andBowe Becker (1:41.29) completed the 1-2-3-4 finish.
Noah Busch, James Tidd, Daryl Turner and Eric Sande took the 200 free relay with a time of 1:22.70.
Brian Poon (1:50.10), John Bushman (1:51.20) and Nick Hatanaka (1:53.78) finished in the top three places in the 200 individual medley.
Turner cruised to a gold finish with a 1:47.27 in the 200 backstroke, over five seconds ahead of second place, for his second win of the night.
Becker swam a personal-best 20.39 to win the 50 free. Hunter Doerr (third in 20.63) and Tidd (fourth in 20.71) also set personal records.
Conner McHugh won the 100 breastroke in 55.36, followed by Jakub Maly in 56.93. Nick Orf’s 1:52.18 won the 200 butterfly.
South Dakota State:
MINNEAPOLIS – Kristin Erf won the 100-yard breaststroke and several other members of the South Dakota State University women’s swimming and diving team turned in strong performances Friday on the opening day of the Jean Freeman Invitational.
A sophomore from nearby Oakdale, Minnesota, Erf won the event with a time of 1 minute, 3.22 seconds in Friday night’s finals. She lowered her time by more than a half-second after sharing the top time in the preliminaries during the afternoon session. Erf also placed fifth in the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:08.73 and swam the leadoff leg of the Jackrabbits’ third-place 200 freestyle relay, teaming with Richelle Bruyckere, Hadlie Overhue and Abby Zenner for a time of 1:34.56.
Bruyckere and fellow freshman Gabrielle Langerud each moved into the Jackrabbit career top-10 list in the 50 freestyle during Friday’s prelims. Bruyckere moved into sixth place with a time of 24.12 seconds, while Langerud checked in at No. 10 with a time of 24.46 seconds. In the event finals on Friday night, Zenner placed fifth in 23.91 seconds, followed by Bruyckere in sixth (:24.23) and Langerud in eighth (:24.77).
Bruyckere also posted the fifth-fastest time in program history in the 200 butterfly during Friday’s finals, placing fourth overall in a time of 2:06.07.
Hadlie Overhue also posted a pair of top-10 marks on the Jackrabbit performance list in the middle distance freestyle events during competition on Friday. Overhue posted the second-fastest time during Friday’s preliminary round at 4:59.48, a mark that ranks third in program history. She later clocked a time of 1:53.50 in the 200 freestyle, a mark that was good for fourth place overall and seventh on the Jackrabbit career charts.
Katya Vakshteyn finished right behind Overhue in the 200 freestyle, placing fifth in 1:53.81 and recording the ninth-fastest time in the event in program history. She also turned in the seventh-fastest time in the SDSU annals in the 200 backstroke with a time of 2:05.50 in Friday’s preliminaries, but did not compete in the evening finals.
Cassie Hendricks took fifth in the finals of the 200 backstroke, clocking the second-fastest time in SDSU history at 2:03.40.
Competition at the Jean Freeman Invitational concludes Saturday with event preliminaries at 11 a.m. and finals at 6 p.m. at the University of Minnesota Aquatics Center.
Minnesota-Morris:
MORRIS, Minn. – On a busy day at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center the Cougars competed with some tough competition. The Morris relay teams were in action and Kaitlin Kamm had a nice 50y swim in the B final.
The day started with the 200y freestyle relay, a race that the Cougars “A” squad took 16th in a time of 1:44.88. Morris also took 32nd and 34th in the same race. In the 400y medley relay UMM finished tenth with a time of 4:20.15. They also took 23rd in the same race. Kamm qualified for the B final of the 50y freestyle. She would finish fifth in the race in a time of 24:86, .40 seconds off her season best time.
Minnesota Morris will be back in action tomorrow morning at 11 a.m.
Saint Mary’s University:
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — The Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota swimming and diving teams saved their best for last—their best times of the season, for the last meet before the Christmas break.
And no one was better than the Cardinals’ Grace VanBeest(Flossmoor, Ill.).
The Cardinal junior broke the school record in the 100 breaststroke to highlight Saint Mary’s efforts during the opening day of the two-day Jean Freeman Invitational Friday afternoon at the University of Minnesota.
VanBeest clocked a school-record time of 1:09.39, bettering the old mark of 1:09.49, and earning a spot in the event’s finals—where she placed 13th with a time of 1:10.70.
It was the second event of the day for VanBeest, who also cut six seconds off her season-best time in the 200 IM, stopping the clock in 2:24.72. Christina Weldai (London, England) added a 27.46 in the 50 freestyle and a 2:16.75 in the 200 freestyle, while Chloe Morrison (Ashkum, Ill.) posted a career-best 6:21.13 in the 500 freestyle, Reese Galewski(Winona, Minn.) chipped in a time of 2:42.96 in the 200 butterfly, and Sarah Fanning (Sparta, Wis.) and Caroline Hoffmann (Chicago, Ill.) added times of 28.41 and 28:71, respectively, in the 50 freestyle.
In the women’s diving, Allie Davidson finished with 150.50 points in the three-meter competition, while Kierra Walske(Rochester, Minn.) added a 143.70 total.
Joe Tonda (St. Paul, Minn.) shaved five seconds off his season-best time in the 200 IM, while Brian Mockler (Dubuque, Iowa) and Andrew Eggersgluss (Mound, Minn.) whittled more than two seconds off their previous bests to pace the Cardinal men in the non-team-scored event.
Tonda posted a time of 2:08.09 in the 200 IM, while Mockler put together season-best times in both the 50 freestyle (25.23) and 100 breaststroke (1:07.25), and Eggersgluss chipped in a time of 2:16.82 in the 200 backstroke—by far his best showing of the season.
Lucas Rukavina (Winona, Minn.) led a quartet of swimmers in the 50 freestyle, clocking a time of 23.33. P.J. Heller (St. Cloud, Minn.) chipped in a 24.26, followed by Mockler and Nick Sawchuk (Rochester, Minn. / 25.24). Rukavina also clocked a time of 1:53.51 in the 200 freestyle. Lucas Gerards (St. Cloud, Minn.) also added a time of 2:18.68 in the 200 butterfly.
The Cardinals return to the University of Minnesota pool on Saturday for the second day of competition, which is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m.
Swimming news courtesy of Minnesota, South Dakota State, Minnesota-Morris, and Saint Mary’s Swimming & Diving.