Results

ST. PAUL, MINN. – With finals and Christmas quickly approaching, the St. Catherine University team had one last meet to go before the team could celebrate the holiday season. The Wildcats hosted the College of Saint Benedict in their final dual meet of 2016 Friday evening in the Butler Center Pool. Although St. Kate's lost the dual meet 157-86 the team still has plenty to celebrate, with multiple strong performances from its swimmers and divers.

"We came back strong tonight after a long, intense week of training," first year Head Coach Justin Zook said after the meet. "We continue to compete through the end of the semester and the end of this part of the season and continue to look stronger and better at each meet."

A trio of Wildcats were extremely successful in Friday dual meet and won two events as individuals. One of those three individuals was none other than senior diver Jenna Nagy (Hutchinson, Minn. / Hutchinson) who became the first Wildcat in recent history to qualify for NCAA Regional Diving Zones for four consecutive years. Nagy was superb on both the 1 meter and 3 meter boards winning both by easy margins of victory. However, the senior saved her best performance of the night for last. In six dives on the 3-meter board, Nagy was awarded a score of 289.05, which was not only her best score of the season, but also met NCAA qualifying standards. Since Nagy already recorded an NCAA qualifying score in the dual meet against UM-Morris in November, her score against Saint Ben's automatically qualifies her for the Regional Diving Zones, which will take place in February.

Mary Jane Voss (Mequon, Wis.) and Alissa Ellingson (Eagan, Minn. / Eagan) also won two individual events in Friday night's dual. More impressive, both posted a career best time in at least one race. Voss posted two career best swims en route to winning the 200 Individual Medley (IM) and 100 Butterfly races. Voss' splits in the butterfly and freestyle legs of the 200IM helped her win the race by over two seconds and post a new career best time of 2:18.39. Then, later in the evening, the junior won the 100 fly by three seconds with a career best time of 1:03.53.

Ellingson also had a career night in the pool for the Wildcats, winning both the 200 and 500 freestyle races. The sophomore posted a career-best time in the 500, which turned into one of the most thrilling races of the evening. After taking an early lead in the race, Ellingson felt pressure from Blazer freestyle specialist Allie Crum during the final lap. With just a few yards to go, the sophomore kicked into another gear, using a last second surge of energy to win the marathon-like race by .2 seconds. More impressive than the win, though, may be that Ellingson dropped nearly 24 seconds from her previous career-best time, finishing the race in 5:37.20.

Three other members of the St. Kate's swimming and diving team posted career best scores Friday night. Sophomore breaststroke specialist Micah Goldman (Arden Hills, Minn. / Mounds View) posted a career best time of 12:13.03 in the 1000 freestyle race, while Kristin Koniar (Minneapolis, Minn. / Robbinsdale Cooper) and McKenna Peterson (Cameron Park, Calif. / St. Francis) posted career times in the 200 freestyle and 200 IM races, respectively. Koniar's time of 2:23.75 in the 200 freestyle was a career best by two seconds while Peterson's 2:31.75 in the 200IM was three seconds faster than her previous career best time.   

With the conclusion of the Saint Ben's dual, the first half of St. Kate's season has come to an end. The Wildcats will enjoy the holiday break before returning to the pool in January to prepare for the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Championships. St. Kate's first meet of the second semester will take place on January 13, when the Wildcats host the Augsburg College Auggies in the dual meet at 5 p.m. in the Butler Center Pool.