ST. PAUL, MINN. – The St. Catherine University swimming and diving team saw multiple athletes set season and career best times at the Jean Freeman Invite this past weekend. One of those swimmers was none other than Mary Jane Voss (Mequon, Wis.). The junior swimmer was arguably St. Kate’s most consistent swimmer in the pool, finishing in the top-25 in her four individual races. For her performance, Voss has been named Wildcat Athlete of the Week.
Voss’ strong weekend started on Friday, when she was the only Wildcat swimmer to qualify for the evening’s final session. In the 200 butterfly, the junior dropped six seconds from her season best time in to end the preliminary rounds in 14th place, qualifying her for the final session. Voss was even more impressive in the finals, dropping three seconds from her preliminary time to finish in 11th with a 2:15.36, just missing her career best time recorded at the 2016 MIAC Championship meet last February by two-tenths of a second.
Voss was also impressive in her second race of the day: the 500 freestyle. She finished the race in 24th place with a time of 5:28.14. That time was two seconds faster than her previous season best of 5:31.47.
On Saturday, Voss continued to be one of the Wildcats most dominant swimmers in the pool. In the morning session, she was extremely impressive in the 400 Individual Medley (IM) where she took 27th place. The junior made her season debut in the race at the Jean Freeman Invite and finished with a time of 4:53.92. That time is well below the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) qualifying standard and is especially impressive, as it was the first time Voss has raced the 400 IM all season.
In total, Voss swam in four individual races over the weekend and recorded MIAC qualifying times in all of them. She took 21st in the 1650 freestyle with a time of 18:50.44, well below the conference qualifying standard of 21:17.72.
While the Jean Freeman Meet was unscored, St. Kate's can feel confident entering its dual meet against the College of Saint Benedict next week. The dual will be the Wildcats final meet before the Christmas break and will begin at 6 p.m. at St. Kate's pool.
