ST. JOSEPH, Minn. – Ashley Groebner didn’t let first-meet jitters get to her Saturday afternoon.
Not only was it the first meet of the season for the College of Saint Benedict swimming and diving team, it was also the first meet of Groebner’s college career, but she didn’t show it.
Groebner picked up one individual win and one relay win, swam one lifetime best and just missed a second and helped the Blazers win the Hamline Invite Saturday afternoon in St. Paul, Minn. For her big weekend, Groebner has been named the CSB Athlete of the Week.
Groebner, an Inver Grove Heights, Minn., native, started her day Saturday by helping the Blazers’ 200 medley relay team win the event in 1:55.22. Groebner swam the second leg of the relay, the 50-yard breaststroke, and her time of 32 seconds is a new lifetime best.
She followed that up with a sixth-place finish in the 200-yard individual medley in 2:28.03. Groebner picked up the first individual win of her career in the 100 breaststroke. Her time of 1:10.44 beat out the second-place finisher by more than two full seconds, and it is also just 0.2 seconds shy of her lifetime best. That time is also good for fourth-best in the MIAC so far this season.
Groebner wrapped up her afternoon with an eighth-place finish in the 200 freestyle relay with three of her teammates.
CSB fans get the chance to watch Groebner and her teammates swim right away this season. The Blazers are at home for three straight dual meets starting this Friday, Nov. 13, when they host MSU-Moorhead at 5 p.m. at the Palestra Pool on the SJU campus. CSB hosts St. Kate’s on Friday, Nov. 20 and St. Thomas on Saturday, Nov. 21.
