Results
ST. PAUL, MINN. – The busy season is about to start for the St. Catherine University swimming and diving team. With less than a month remaining before the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) swimming and diving Championship, the Wildcat are starting to ramp up with two dual meets in one weekend. In its first meet of the weekend, St. Kate's dominated in its dual with Macalester Friday evening, winning by a final score of 135-105.
Eight different Wildcats recorded career best times in the dual, including first year stud Franceska Hernandez-Nietling (Kansas City, Mo. / Bishop Miege). The first year continued her strong rookie season with a career best time and an individual win in Friday evening's dual with the Scots. Hernandez-Nietling won the 200 yard freestyle with a career best time of 2:03.78 and finished second in the 100 yard butterfly with a time of 1:05.20.
Katie Rising (Bismark, N.D. / Century) was also strong for the Wildcats on Friday, recording two second place finishes in the 1000 freestyle and 100 backstroke. Despite losing her cap midway through the 1000, Rising crushed her previous career best time of 12:03.54, swimming the race in 11:47.80 to finish in second behind teammate McKenna Peterson (Cameron Park, Calif. / St. Francis). Rising also finished second in the 100 backstroke with a time of 1:03.77.
Other student-athletes from St. Kate's to record career best times were Sydney Grohman (Muskego, Wis. / Muskego), Mykayla Laurie (Esko, Minn. / Lincoln), Molly McMahon (Verona, Wis. / Madison Memorial), Sammi Meyer (Woodbury, Minn. / Tartan), Georgie Kinsman (St. Paul, Minn. / Como) and Micah Goldman (Arden Hills, Minn. / Mounds View). Grohman was outstanding in the pool for the Wildcats, recording a career best time of 2:24.36 in her season debut of the 200 Individual Medley (IM). She also recorded a season best time in the 500 freestyle (5:47.64).
Goldman swam a career best in the 100 butterfly (1:08.13), while Laurie (1:01.86) and McMahon (1:09.64) recorded career best times in the 100 freestyle and 100 backstroke races. Meyer and Kinsman both recorded career best swims in the distance races, as Meyer swam 6:13.28 in the 500 freestyle and Kinsman swam 12:51.38 in the 1000 freestyle.
St. Kate's also had several swimmers and a diver earn individual wins in the pool. Peterson won the 1000 freestyle with a season best time of 11:18.70 and helped the Wildcats win the 200 freestyle relay, the final event of the evening. She also recorded a third place finish in the 100 freestyle with a time of 58.99.
Mary Jane Voss (Mequon, Wis.) and Ellie Menso (Barrington, Ill. / Barrington) both earned individual wins in the first meet of their senior weekend. Voss won both the 200 IM and 100 freestyle with season best times of 2:17.47 and 57.41 respectively. Menso won the 500 freestyle with a time of 5:45.58.
Tori Hagstrom (Maple Grove, Minn. / Heritage Christian Academy) won the 50 freestyle with a time of 27.00 and also recorded a third place finish in the 100 backstroke with a time of 1:05.06.
The Wildcat divers also found success in Friday evening's dual. Junior Gabby Page (Cottage Grove, Minn. / Park) won the 3-meter event with season best score of 264.75, .25 points off the NCAA Zones qualifying score of 265.00. Emilee Lance (Brooklyn Park, Minn. / Park Central) put together her best performance of the season on the 3-meter board, finishing the event in fourth with a season and career best score of 163.90. Serita Donovan (St. Cloud, Minn. / Cathedral) also recorded a season best score of 144.50 in the same event.
Thanks to these performances, and several more, St. Kate's won the dual meet against Macalester 135-105. The Wildcats will return to the Butler Center Pool on Saturday, January 27 when they host Concordia College at 12 p.m.
