Minnesota continued to dominate through day 2 of the Jean K. Freeman Invite. Allison Schumacher picked up double wins to highlight the final session.
Minnesota:
The Golden Gophers won every event in which they participated on the second and final day of the Jean K. Freeman Invitational. Allison Schumacher won two events in the Saturday night session, and several other Gophers picked up their second wins of the meet. Diver Matt Barnard set his second school record of the weekend.
Women’s
Schumacher won a pair of events on the night after winning one on Friday. Her 50.47 led the Gophers’ 1-2-3-4 finish in the 100 free, followed by Zoe Avestruz (50.77), Abigail Raatz (51.00) and Danielle Nack(51.09). Schumacher later won the 100 butterfly in a personal-best 55.01. Lauren Votava (55.75), Danielle Bergeson (56.94) and Ellen Bloom (56.98) finished after Schumacher.
Brooke Zeiger won the 400 individual medley in 4:18.54, her second event win of the meet. Breanne Siwicki was second in 4:21.81. Both Gophers’ times were their season bests.
Samantha Harding was first among five straight Gophers topping the 1,650-yard freestyle field. She clocked a 16:41.41 ahead of Erin Emery (16:52.87), Lauren Lalumiere (17:06.17), Alandra McDowell(17:13.41) and Brooke Lorentzen (17:18.47).
Bergeson won the 100 backstroke in 55.89 ahead of teammate Chantal Nack (56.04). Kaela Marcus(2:17.74) won the 200 breaststroke.
Avestruz, Rae Bullinger, Schumacher and Raatz (1:42.50) won the 200 medley relay. The Gophers also took second and third place.
Lexi Tenenbaum won platform diving with a score of 318.20.
Men’s
Barnard set his second school record of the meet, winning on the 3-meter diving board with a score of 446.40. He broke Mikey Ross’ record of 423.90. Dylan Zoe (356.70) and Manny Pollard (351.65) joined Barnard in the top three. Barnard set the platform record on Friday.
After winning the 200 individual medley Friday, Brian Poon completed the IM sweep by winning the 400-yard event Saturday in 3:55.88. John Bushman (3:56.93) took second.
Bowe Becker swept the sprint freestyle events. He won the 100 in 45.36 on Saturday after winning the 50 Friday. Paul Fair (45.58) tied for second in the 100.
Conner McHugh also completed a sweep, taking first in the 200 breaststroke after winning the 100 on Friday. McHugh’s season-best 1:59.03 led a 1-2-3 Minnesota finish with Bushman (2:01.97) and Nick Hatanaka (2:03.28).
Michael Messner (15:57.40) and Nick Plachinski (16:12.97) took the top two places in the 1,650-yard freestyle. Daryl Turner won the 100 butterfly in 47.87, his second event win of the meet.
Noah Busch, Eric Sande, Ben Bravence and James Tidd (1:32.16) won the 200 medley relay ahead of three straight teams of their fellow Gophers. Busch won individually in the 100 backstroke in 51.43. Jack Tribble (51.91) tied for third.
Up Next
The Gopher divers will compete at the Georgia Invite Jan. 3-5. The swimmers will go on their annual training trip, including a dual against Hawai’i on Jan. 9.
South Dakota State:
MINNEAPOLIS – Led by wins in the 400 freestyle relays on Saturday night, the South Dakota State University men’s and women’s swimming diving teams wrapped up a successful weekend at the Jean Freeman Invitational.
The Jackrabbit women’s quartet of Hadlie Overhue, Cassie Hendricks, Carolyn Kennedy and Katya Vakshteyn claimed the 400-yard freestyle relay in 3 minutes, 32.49 seconds.
Individually, Kayce Smith led Jackrabbits on Saturday with a runner-up finish in the 200 breaststroke with a career-best time of 2:19.86 that moved her up a spot to fourth on the program’s all-time performance list.
Kristin Erf placed third in the 200 breaststroke in 2:20.69 and added a sixth-place time of 53.61 seconds in the 100 freestyle.
Minnesota natives Julia Bodnaruk and Olivia Olesiak also recorded third-place finishes on Saturday. Bodnaruk clocked a third-place time of 4:35.28 in the 400 individual medley, while Olesiak placed third in the 1-meter diving competition with a score of 246.05.
In the men’s division, the Jackrabbits were victorious in a relay for the third time during the weekend in winning the final event of the two-day meet. The foursome of Ben Bolinske, Matthew Carpenter, Chris Rumrill and Garth Wadsworth combined for a winning time of 3:05.65 in the 400 freestyle.
Individually, Bolinske, a senior from Williston, North Dakota, swam his way to a tie for second place in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 45.58 seconds to lead four Jackrabbits in the top nine of the event out of more than 125 competitors. Daniel Jacobson finished sixth in 45.87 seconds, while Tony Mikrut and freshman Pierce Ojaalso joined the SDSU all-time top 10 in the event with respective times of 46.09 and 46.63 seconds to finish seventh and ninth.
SDSU also had three place in the top five of the 400 individual medley. Josh DeDina led the Jackrabbit trip with a third-place time of 4 minutes, 11.41 seconds, followed by Carpenter, 4:11.77, and freshman Thomas Davey in fifth at 4:14.11. Davey also moved into the Jackrabbit career top-10 list in the 1,650 freestyle with a fourth-place time of 16:28.73.
Weston Christensen clocked a personal-best time of 16:23.58 to place third in the 1,650 freestyle.
Another freshman, Chase Petersen, closed out SDSU’s top-three finishes on the day by tying for third in the 100 backstroke with a time of 51.91 seconds. That mark was good for fifth on the Jackrabbit career performance list.
No team scores were kept in the two-day meet at the University of Minnesota Aquatics Center.
SDSU will be off from competition for nearly a month, returning to action Jan. 3 at the St. Pete’s Classic in St. Petersburg, Fla.
St. Johns:
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – Saint John’s swimming and diving competed at the two-day Jean Freeman Invitational Dec. 4-5 at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center in Minneapolis.
Senior Paul Knaak (Forest Lake, Minn./Stillwater Area) was the top Division III swimmer in the 50-yard freestyle Friday night, posting a time of 21.24 seconds to place sixth, and was the only Division III swimmer to reach the finals in the 100-yard freestyle, where he finished eighth (47.53) on Saturday.
Junior Andrew Urness (Rosemount, Minn.) touched the wall in 14th (48.26) in the 100-yard freestyle.
Junior Jose Alvarez (North Bay Village, Fla./Belen Jesuit) claimed seventh in the 100-yard butterfly (52.25), 10th in the 200-yard butterfly (2:00.02) and 11th in the 200-yard individual medley (1:59.65).
Senior Alex Ingulsrud (Fargo, N.D./Davies) and senior Braden McCormack (Rosemount, Minn.) finished 12th (54.21) and 15th (54.65), respectively, in the 100-yard backstroke. Ingulsrud also finished 14th in the 200-yard backstroke (2:01.85) Friday night.
All three of SJU’s relays finished in the top 10: 200-yard freestyle (eighth, 1:26.68), 200-yard medley (eighth, 1:36.09) and 400-yard medley (ninth, 3:39.44).
The Johnnies return to competition in the New Year with a 1 p.m. dual at Carleton on Saturday, Jan. 16.
St. Olaf:
Men-
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – The St. Olaf men’s swimming and diving team competed in the Jean Freeman Invitational at the University of Minnesota Aquatice Center on Friday and Saturday.
The 800 yd Freestyle Relay finished second with a time of 7:11.27, beating Gustavus by over nine seconds. Nick Wilkerson finished third in the 100 Breaststroke and fourth in the 200 Breaststroke. Gus Reynolds and Nathan France also finished in the top ten of the 100 Breaststroke at sixth and ninth, respecitively.
Bobby Schultze was fifth in the 1650 Freestyle and Abe Casey Eyman finished seventh in the 200 Backstroke. Scott Hodgson led the divers with a third place finish in the 1 Meter Dive.
The Oles will bring in the New Year with a meet vs. Macalester.
Women-
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – The Ole women’s swimming and diving team competed at the Jean Freeman Invitational at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center on Friday and Saturday.
Maddie Lee finished with a fifth, sixth and seventh finish in the 100 Freestyle, 200 Freestyle and 200 IM, respectively. Abbey Schnaith finished tenth in the 200 Freestyle.Courtney Miller led the diving squad with a sixth place finish in the 1 Meter Dive.
The Oles will bring in the New Year with a meet vs. Macalester in Florida.
Minnesota-Morris:
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – The Jean Freeman Invitational came to a conclusion on Saturday and again the Cougars had some good results. The Morris relay teams were able to battle with some of the best in the state of Minnesota. UMM will now have about four weeks to get ready for the Dragon Invite on January 15th.
The day started with a 19th place finish by the 200y medley relay in a time of 1:58.36. Two other Cougar relay teams competed in the same race. The best result of the day came in the 400y freestyle relay. The top Cougar relay team was tenth in a time of 3:50.92, a time that is just out of the top 100 in the nation. The second relay team was 15th in a time of 4:01.41. The third relay team was 23rd in the event.
Saint Mary’s University:
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — Grace VanBeest (Flossmoor, Ill.) set the stage for the Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota swimming and diving teams at the two-day Jean Freeman Invitational Friday, breaking the school record in the 100 breaststroke to highlight a day filled with season- and life-time bests for the Cardinals.
And the Cardinals in general—and VanBeest in particular—picked up right where they left off on Saturday in the two-day, non-team-scored event.
VanBeest put together her second straight school record-setting performance, whittling nearly a second off the previous record in the 200 breaststroke, touching the wall in 2:32.49.
And that wasn’t all for the Cardinal junior, who also knocked 18 seconds off her season-best in the 400 IM, clocking a time of 5:11.19. Reese Galewski (Winona, Minn.) recorded a 1:09.25 in the 100 backstroke and added a 1:05.31 in the 100 butterfly, while Christina Weldai (London, England) touched the wall in 1:00.54 in the 100 freestyle. Chloe Morrison(Ashkum, Ill.)—swimming in her first-ever 1,650 freestyle event, posted a time of 21:43.64
In the one-meter diving competition, the Cardinals’ Ailie Davidson (Duluth, Minn.) placed 12th overall with a total of 173.30, while Kierra Walske (Rochester, Minn.) finished 30th with a score of 118.75.
Joe Tonda (St. Paul, Minn.) led the charge for the Cardinal men, clocking a season-best time of 59.10 in the 100 backstroke, before shaving four seconds off his top time in the 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:25.63. Lucas Rukavina (Winona, Minn.), meanwhile, chipped in a 51.60 in the 100 freestyle and a 57.37 in the 100 butterfly.
The Cardinals are now off until Jan. 16, when they head to Decorah, Iowa, for a 1 p.m. dual meet against Luther.
Swimming news courtesy of Minnesota, South Dakota State, St. Johns, St. Olaf College, Minnesota-Morris, and Saint Mary’s University Swimming & Diving.