MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. -- The St. Catherine University swimming and diving team remains in fourth place after the Wildcats second day at the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Swimming and Diving Championships with a score of 175. The Wildcats posted 16 career bests between preliminary trails and the finals session.
The day started with the 500-yard freestyle preliminary trials with
Olivia Weil leading the pack qualifying for the A final with a time of 5:14.29. Junior
Nicolette Harvey followed qualifying for finals with a career best time of 5:21.54. Charolette Johnson also competed in the 500-free clocking a career-best time of 5:43.57. The final Wildcat in the prelims was
Clare Cook clocking a season-best time of 5:52.80.
In finals of the 500-free, Weil clocked a second place time with a career best finish of 5:08.91 scoring St. Kate's 17 points. Harvey was the top finisher in the B final securing another career best finish and also resetting her career best 200-yard split from prelims. Her time of 5:15.41 was a six second improvement leading her to touch the wall first.
In the 200-yard individual medley, senior
Emma Svendsen recorded a prelims time of 2:10.63 while
J Dombroski followed with a time of 2:12.49, both making it to the A final.
Natalie Chandler also qualified for the finals after clocking a prelims time of 2:16.38 for a career best time.
Sierra Hermansen recorded a time of 2:23.25 just ahead of
Mira Gupta with a career best time of 2:24.31.
Avery Doom touched the wall in 2:24.71 and
Richanta Pollard recorded a career best of 2:26.16. The trend continued for the Wildcats with
Maka Chikowero also finishing with a career best clocking in at 2:30.48.
The final individual event for the swimmers of prelims was the 50-yard freestyle with two more career bests for St. Kate's. Ella Hochstettler qualified for the A final with a time of 24.47 and
Jordyn Grotbo qualified for the B final with a career best time of 24.95.
Shea Bradley finished the event with a time of 25.70 with Ava Hack in at 26.00. The second career best belonged to
Eloise McKeon with a prelims time of 27.12.
For the first time since 2021, St. Kate's had three divers compete in the MIAC championships, with rookie
Macey Morgan making the finals. First-year
Madeline Galazen earned a score of 260.60 while sophomore
Juliet Peterson recorded a career best score of 242.80. Morgan finished the event with a score of 338.60, good for fifth place and a career best performance.
Day two concluded with the 400-yard medley relay and a fourth place finish for St. Kate's. The relay team of Hochstetler, Weil, Svendsen, and Grotbo clocked a time of 3:55.75 to add another 30 points to the overall team score.
On the schedule for Friday is the 400-yard IM, 100-yard fly, 200-yard free, 100-yard breast and the 100-yard back. Preliminary trials are scheduled again for 10:30 am with finals starting at 6:30 pm.
