ST. JOSEPH, Minn. – The College of Saint Benedict swim and dive team got its hands on its record book this weekend, and went to work rewriting several pages.
Saint Benedict wrapped up the 2019 MIAC Championships Sunday with four school records, four All-MIAC athletes, seven other times in the top 10 in program history and more than 30 career bests. For the performance from the entire team – from the divers to the swimmers, from championship and consolation finals to prelims – the swim and dive team is this week’s CSB Team of the Week.
CSB kicked off the conference meet with a trio of top-10 times in program history Thursday as the MIAC went to a four-day meet starting this year. Ana Birklid, Morgan Gerhardt, Jacque Newhouse and Claudia Mahoney swam the fourth-best 800 freestyle relay time in program history, and Birklid’s 200 freestyle leg was the seventh-best in CSB history. In the second and final event of the day, Mikayla Von Wahlde, Ashley Groebner, Skyler Clough and Zoe Allyson swam the fifth-best 200 medley relay time in CSB history.
Friday, Mallory Jarvi finished second in the three-meter diving competition, becoming Saint Benedict’s first All-MIAC performer since 2015-16. Her second-place finish was the best for the team since 2012-13. In the championship finals of the 200 IM, Birklid set the school record, breaking the previous record set in 2011 by 40 seconds. In the final event of the day, Von Wahlde set her first record of the weekend in the first leg of the 400 medley relay. She became the first CSB athlete to break 58 seconds in the 100 backstroke, finishing in 57.89 seconds to beat the previous record by more than one second. After Von Wahlde’s record-breaking first leg, she, Groebner, Grace Livermore and Birklid swam the seventh-best 400 medley relay time in CSB history.
The 100 backstroke record only lasted one day, as Von Wahlde broke it again Saturday, finishing third in the 100 back finals to earn All-MIAC and re-break her own record. In that same race, Lauren Christiansen swam the fourth-best 100 backstroke time in program history. Also Saturday, Birklid smashed the 400 IM record by four seconds, finishing third in the event to earn All-MIAC accolades.
Sunday, Von Wahlde added one more record and All-MIAC honor to her name to wrap up her first season with the team. She broke CSB’s 20-year-old 200 backstroke record twice, and took second in the championship finals to earn a second All-MIAC honor. Birklid swam the second-best time in the same event, and Groebner wrapped up her career by swimming the third-best 200 breaststroke time in program history.
Along the way throughout the four-day conference meet, 12 other athletes recorded career-best times or marks in 14 different events. Saint Benedict finished the weekend with 13 athletes in the top 16 in their events and nine in the top eight. Fourteen athletes who recorded career bests return in 2019-20, including Birklid and Von Wahlde, as well as Maggie Pomerenke, who finished seventh in the one-meter diving competition.
