ST. JOSEPH, Minn. – The College of Saint Benedict swim and dive team wrapped up its season last week at the MIAC Championships, and came away from the four-day meet with some new top-10 times and plenty of lifetime bests.
Seven individuals and two relays moved up or into the school’s top-10 list, and the team combined for more than 40 season-best times and 26 lifetimes bests. For its big weekend in the pool and on the diving board, swim and dive is this week’s CSB Team of the Week.
On the first full day of competition Thursday, first year swimmers Jessica Milstroh and Madison Slavik both broke 25 seconds in the 50 freestyle – the first CSB swimmers to do so since the 2018 MIAC Championships. They also both just missed a spot in CSB’s all-time top 10 list in the event.
Also on Thursday, the team’s divers had a solid showing on the one-meter board. Emily Quill, Artie Pomerenke and Mia Sabin all made the one-meter finals, marking the first time since 2015 that Saint Benedict has had three divers finish in the top eight. Quill finished fourth, Pomerenke fifth and Sabin seventh. Quill wrapped up her weekend with another fourth-place finish, this time on the three-meter board Saturday evening.
Junior Claudia Mahoney, sophomore Ana Birklid and first year Molly Johanson all finished the weekend with a pair of times in the top 10 in program history. Mahoney moved from fourth to third in the 200 freestyle, and moved into the top 10 in the 100 free with the seventh-best time in CSB history. Birklid tied her 200 IM school record, and also moved up into a tie for second in the 200 backstroke, and Johanson swam the seventh-best 400 IM time in CSB history and the eighth-best 200 breaststroke time.
First year Madison Slavik broke the one-minute mark in the 100 backstroke for the first time and jumped into third in program history, and sophomore Jacque Newhouse became the first person since 2015 to swim a top-10 200 fly time in CSB history. She swam the eighth-fastest time in program history. The 400 freestyle relay team of Thea Oman, Slavik, Zoe Allyson and Milstroh moved into 10
th in CSB history and the 800 free relay team of Meghan Kratz, Newhouse, Mahoney and Birklid swam the fourth-best time in CSB history.
When all was said and done last weekend, the Bennies finished with 43 season-best times and 26 lifetime-best times. Eleven athletes competed in the A finals and finished in the top eight in the MIAC, and 13 more competed in the B finals for a top-16 finish. Mikayla Von Wahlde earned All-MIAC honors in the 100 backstroke for the second straight year after taking third, and she also earned All-MIAC Honorable Mention in the 200 backstroke after a sixt-place finish. Birklid led the team with a trio of All-MIAC Honorable Mention honors. She took fifth in the 400 IM and 200 backstroke and sixth in the 200 IM. Quill earned honorable mention after fourth-place finishes in both diving competitions, and Pomerenke earned honorable mention for a fifth-place finish on the one-meter board. Starting this year, the top three finishers in each individual event earn All-MIAC honors, and fourth through sixth places earn honorable mention.
