The men and women’s swimming and diving teams performed with great strength this last weekend at the University of Kansas and Northern Iowa.
Both the women’s and men’s teams got better times and were able to compete with the fast competition to help prepare themselves for the upcoming Summit League Championship in February. Even though the women lost to Kansas and Northern Iowa, they gained something in the way they performed at the meets.
‘The women’s team, while in Kansas, had all around strong performances,’ Head Coach Jason Mahowald said.
Especially with most of the team being out with the flu these past few weeks, and not only with the flu effecting them, but it was also their first full strength meet that the team has had for a little while.
Several of the girls swam extremely well up against the fast competition, such as Elizabeth Hoffman, a sophomore this year, who won the 1,000-meter freestyle, placed second in the 50-meter freestyle and yet again placed second in the 200 IM, closely followed by her teammate junior Sallie Collins who took third. Collins placed second in the 100-meter butterfly, and third in the 100-meter breaststroke.
Several girls placed in the top six on Saturday, senior Emily Connelly was fourth in the 100-meter backstroke, and fifth in the 200-meter backstroke. Freshman Kaitlyn Jefferson finished fourth in the 100-meter freestyle, followed by senior Rita Buschbacher who took fifth.
Diver Janine James also had a good meet, placing third in the three-meter dive and the highest USD finish in the one-meter, in fifth place.
Meanwhile at the University of Northern Iowa, the men’s team got to have a great chance to compete in several events all in a short period of time. Even with that the swimmers were able to break 6 school records at the meet, winning twelve events and claiming victory at the Mustang Open at Morningside College.
Sophomores Terry Rolfe and Thad Stoddard each won two events, Stoddard the 100-meter freestyle and Rolfe the 100IM. Freshman Taylor Adams won the 200-meter freestyle in 1.51 minutes, followed by fellow freshman Tyler Haddix.
Sophomore Matthew Weyer won the 500-meter freestyle in under five minutes, his first time doing so. USD’s 400-meter Relay
So now with only one more meet to go before the Summit League, the swimmers are going to be working hard, but also getting little bit of a break to rest up.
‘The sprinters will get about three weeks to rest a bit and the distance swimmers about two weeks to relax,’ Mahowald said.
However the swim and dive team still needs to work on improving some things before the Summit League Championships in February.
Leah Schretenthaler a 100-meter, 200-meter fly and 100-meter, 200-meter backstroke swimmer is looking forward to the break and said she would like to improve.
‘With this weekend we need to really be more supportive of one another, to do better at the Summit League,’ Schrententhaler said.
Next weekend the teams will be headed to North Dakota for one last meet before the Summit League Championship in February.
Reach reporter Missy Berg at Missy.Berg@usd.edu.’
