Results

MORRIS, MINN. – The St. Catherine University swimming and diving team looked strong in its two opening meets of the 2016-17 season. On Saturday afternoon, the Wildcats continued to look good in the pool at their dual against the University of Minnesota-Morris. After opening the season with top-notch performances against Concordia College and at the Roger Ahlman Invite, St. Kate's won 10 of the 16 events in Saturday's dual against the Cougars, defeating the home team 170-128.

One Wildcat who was especially strong in Morris was Alissa Ellingson (Eagan, Minn. / Eagan). The sophomore made quite a splash in her return to the pool, winning all three individual races she was entered in. Ellingson's excellent day started in the 200 yard Medley relay, where she swam the second leg and helped St. Kate's finish second in the race. Then, she won the 50 yard breaststroke in 33.34 seconds, the 100 yard breaststroke race with a time of 1:12.31, and topped it all off with a first place finish in the 50 yard butterfly with a time of 28.79 seconds.

Mary Jane Voss (Mequon, Wis.) continued to excel with two individual wins. The junior won the 200 yard freestyle race and recorded a career best time of 2:03.60 and took second in the 100 butterfly with a time of 1:05.10. However, Voss saved her best performance for last, when she won the 200 individual medley by shaving two seconds off her seeded time of 2:25.55. Voss won the race with a time of 2:23.28 to earn nine points for the Wildcats and seal the dual victory.

Voss also earned points for St. Kate's as a member of the team's 400 freestyle relay. That race also featured first year McKenna Peterson (Cameron Park, Calif. / St. Francis), who, once again, was stellar for the Wildcats. Peterson won both the 1000 and 500 yard freestyle races and showed her versatility with a second place finish in the 50 yard freestyle race.

Other Wildcats who won individual events were sophomore Katie Rising (Bismark, N.D. / Century) and senior diver Jenna Nagy (Hutchinson, Minn. / Hutchinson). Rising won the 50 yard backstroke with a time of 30.61 and swam the opening leg of the 400 medley relay.

Nagy had her best performance of the season in both the 1 meter and 3 meter diving where she won both events and earned her highest scores of the season. The senior was awarded 221 points with six dives on the 1 meter board to win the event by 10 points before dominating on the 3 meter board. Nagy took home the gold with 277.50 points on the 3 meter dives, over 40 more than the second place finisher and nearly 70 points better than the third place diver.  Her score of 277.50 was a NCAA qualifying score, which puts her on track to compete at the regional diving meet.  Nagy also impressed as a swimmer with a second place finish in the 50 yard backstroke.

Other notable performances include Brooke Soller's (Maple Grove, Minn. / Maple Grove) 1000 yard freestyle race. The senior dropped 15 seconds from her previous swim. After taking her junior year off from swimming, she is showing that she is back on track to have a successful senior season.  Sophomore Alex Schmeltzer (Coon Rapids, Minn. / Coon Rapids) had a career best day on the boards, especially soaring to new heights on 3 meter. 

Thanks to these and several other impressive performances, the Wildcats outright won the dual against UM-Morris 170-128. St. Kate's will take the next week off from competition before returning for one of its biggest meets of the season. The Wildcats will compete in the prestigious Jean Freeman Invite at the University of Minnesota December 2-3 before taking on the College of Saint Benedict in a home dual on December 9.