Swimmers finish in 1st at Grinnell Invitational

What you need to know:

- St. Catherine set 7 meet records in the two-day event
- 16 total team first place finishes including 12 individuals placing first in their respective events, 4 first place relay finishes
- 33 season-best finishes, 34-lifetime bests
- 5 program records were set, while 4 finishes were NCAA Division III B Cut qualifying times
- First-year Jordyn Wentzel had 7 total first-place finishes over the two days, plus set a Grinnell College Pool Record in the 100 Free (during 400 Free Relay) of 51.14 split time

GRINNELL, Iowa. – For the first time in program history, the St. Catherine University swim team placed first in the highly competitive Grinnell Invitational including nine NCAA Division III regional opponents. St. Kate's scored a total of 1116 points, 38 points ahead of tournament host and 2018 champion Grinnell College.

Going into day two, the Wildcats held a lead of 581 to 565 over Grinnell and ran away with the meet on day two winning each event of the finals on Saturday.

Head coach Justin Zook said, "As we take our journey back to campus, I am reminded of truly how special of a place St. Kate's and our program are for our student-athletes. The meet was an overwhelming success in terms of performance in the water. This meet really comes at an opportune time of year for us with just about four weeks to go before MIAC Championships and 8 weeks before NCAA Championships. Perfect timing to get some confidence and quality feeling in the water by throwing on old tech suits in finals. Even I was almost speechless at our showing, as we executed what I am lucky to see in workout regularly. Thankfully, the Wildcats will tell you I am never speechless so I had plenty to say after races! We did certainly have some areas we need to get a little sharper come championship season, but I think we did a great job of seeing those small mistakes happen now and can get back to work on them come Monday. I reminded them this weekend nothing happens in a vacuum, and we are getting results not just because of the commitment to the practice pool. Time to continue doing what makes our program special and see the rewards pay off in four weeks. We are looking forward to hosting Macalester this Friday as our last dual of the year!"

What's Next: Home Dual with Macalester College – Friday, January 25, 2019 6 PM – Butler Center

Event 1 200 Free Relay
Macy Klein, Sydney Grohman, Ella Henderson, Jordyn Wentzel 1.36.14 1^st place – meet record, program record, NCAA Top Time- 14th
Hannah Svendsen, Maggie Menso, Mikayla Meece, Julia Mertens, 1:43.18 5^th place
Franceska Hernandez-Nietling, Molly McMahon, Tori Hagstrom, Charlotte Green 1:43.83

Event 3 200 IM
Maggie Menso 2:08.38 1^st place – meet record, program record, career best, NCAA Top Time-38th
Franceska Hernandez-Nietling, 2:11.83 2^nd place
Mikayla Meece 2:19.36, 11^th place, season best
Julia Mertens, 2:23.61, 13^th place, career best

Event 5 500 Free
Hannah Svendsen, 5:13.05, 1^st place, season best
Molly McMahon, 5:19.27, 2^nd place, season best
McKenna Petersen, 5:22.27, 3^rd place

Event 7 100 Backstroke
Jordyn Wentzel 58.21, 1^st place, season best
Macy Klein, 1:00.32, 3^rd place, season best
Charlotte Green, 1:01.68, 6^th place, season best
Katie Rising, 1:02.77, 9^th place
Tori Hagstrom, 1:03.41, 11^th place, season best
Sydney Grohman, 1:03.82, 12^th place, season best
Ella Henderson, 1:10.44, 22^nd place, season best

Event 9 200 Breaststroke
Hannah Svendsen, 2:24.87, 1^st place, season best, NCAA Top Time- 40th
Mikayla Meece, 2:36.85, 6^th place, season best

Event 11 100 Free
Macy Klein, 52.34, 1^st place – meet record
Sydney Grohman, 54.50, 3^rd place
Ella Henderson, 54.87, 4^th place, season best
Tori Hagstrom, 56.67, 21^st place

Event 13 200 Fly
Jordyn Wentzel, 2:03.44, 1^st place – meet record, D3 B Cut Time National Standard, season-best, program record, NCAA Top Time 4th
Maggie Menso, 2:12.17, 2^nd place, season best
Franceska Hernandez-Nietling, 2:20.88, 4^th place, season best
Katie Rising, 2:21.54, 5^th place
Julia Mertens, 2:22.62, 6^th place, season best

Event 15 100 IM
Molly McMahon, 1:04.71, 2^nd place, season best
Event 17 800 Free Relay
Mikayla Meece, Katie Rising, Tori Hagstrom, McKenna Peterson 8.50.74, 4^th place

Event 19 400 IM Medley Relay
Charlotte Green, Jordyn Wentzel, Katie Rising, Ella Henderson, 4:02.30, 1^st place
Maggie Menso, Molly McMahon, Julia Mertens, Macy Klein, 4:05,61, 2^nd place
Hannah Svendsen, Franceska Hernandez-Nietling, Sydney Grohman, McKenna Peterson, 4:07.72, 3^rd place
Event 21 200 Medley Relay
Maggie Menso, Hannah Svendsen, Jordyn Wentzel, Ella Henderson, 1:49.03, 1^st place
Tori Hagstrom, Franceska Hernandez-Nietling, Macy Klein, Sydney Grohman, 1:50.33, 2^nd place

Event 23 400 IM
Hannah Svendsen, 4:30.73, 1^st place – meet record, D3 B Cut Time National Standard, season-best, NCAA Top Time-15th
Franceska Hernandez-Nietling, 4:41.52, 2^nd place, season best
Molly McMahon, 4:52.78, 5^th place
Mikayla Meece, 4:53.81, 11^th place, season best

Event 25 200 Free
Maggie Menso, 1:51.22, 1^st place – meet record, D3 B Cut Time National Standard, season-best, NCAA Top Time-10th
Tori Hagstrom, 2:02.17, 3^rd place
Katie Rising, 2:02.41, 5^th place, season best
McKenna Peterson, 2:04.11, 6^th place, season best
Ella Henderson, 2:02.88, 11^th place, season best
Charlotte Green, 2:04.44, 12^th place
Julia Mertens, 2:04.84, 13^th place

Event 27 100 Fly
Jordyn Wentzel, 55.72, 1^st place - meet record, D3 B Cut Time National Standard, season-best, program record NCAA Top Time-5th
Macy Klein, 1:00.76, 3^rd place, season best
Franceska Hernandez-Nietling, 1:01.34, 5^th place, season best
Sydney Grohman, 1:02.65, 8^th place, season best

Event 29 100 Breast
Hannah Svendsen, 1:09.25, 1^st place, season best
Molly McMahon, 1:12.50, 8^th place
Mikayla Meece, 1:12.50, 11^th place, season best
Tori Hagstrom, 1:15.42, 15^th place, season best

Event 31 200 Backstroke
Jordyn Wentzel, 2:06.83, 1st place, season best
Katie Rising, 2:14.00, 5^th place
Charlotte Green, 2:14.14, 6^th place
McKenna Peterson, 2:22.16, 12^th place

Event 33 50 Free
Macy Klein, 24.04, 1^st place, NCAA Top Time 40th
Maggie Menso, 24.74, 3^rd place, season best
Ella Henderson, 24.81, 4^th place
Sydney Grohman, 25.48, 11^th place

Event 37 400 Free Relay
Maggie Menso, Franceska Hernandez-Nietling,, Julia Mertens, Sydney Grohman, 3:40.04, 1^st place
Jordyn Wentzel, McKenna Peterson, Charlotte Green, Ella Henderson, 3:40.77, 2^nd place
*Wentzel split time-NCAA Top Time 10th
Tori Hagstrom, Katie Rising, Hannah Svendsen, Macy Klein, 3:41.27, 3^rd place

Print Friendly Version

Players Mentioned

Charlotte Green: Team; Sophomore

Tori Hagstrom: Team; Sophomore

Mikayla Meece: Team; Sophomore

McKenna Peterson: Team; Junior

Katie Rising: Team; 5' 9"; Senior

Sydney Grohman: Team; 5' 6"; Sophomore

Franceska Hernandez-Nietling: Team; 5' 3"; Sophomore

Molly McMahon: Team; 5' 1"; Sophomore

Julia Mertens: Team; 5' 2"; First-year

Jordyn Wentzel: Team; 5' 9"; First-year

Players Mentioned

Charlotte Green
: Sophomore
: Team

Tori Hagstrom
: Sophomore
: Team

Mikayla Meece
: Sophomore
: Team

McKenna Peterson
: Junior
: Team

Katie Rising
: 5' 9"; Senior
: Team

Sydney Grohman
: 5' 6"; Sophomore
: Team

Franceska Hernandez-Nietling
: 5' 3"; Sophomore
: Team

Molly McMahon
: 5' 1"; Sophomore
: Team

Julia Mertens
: 5' 2"; First-year
: Team

Jordyn Wentzel
: 5' 9"; First-year
: Team