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Collegeville, Minn.  – The Saint Benedict swimming and diving team made an impressive statement yesterday (Jan. 12), returning from the holiday and semester break with a 174-119 win over MAIC rival Carleton.

The Blazers won nine events on the day, in scoring their third dual meet win of the season. Having not officially competed in four weeks, and just 36 hours off the return from their winter training trip to Florida, the Blazers showed little rust.

The winning started early, as Megan Lawson cruised to a victory on the one-meter board, posting a 225.80, 50 points better than the rest of the field.

After the divers wrapped up the first half of their day, the Blazers  made it a sweep of the top-two spots in the 200-yard medley relay, with Jenna Humbert, Victoria Tormanen, Ellen Dean and Stephanie Bierman teaming up for the win in 1:55.69, nearly three seconds better than their fellow Blazers in second place.

Bierman then added another win to her season, taking the top-spot for the third time on the year in the 200-yard freestyle. Her 2:00.94 was a half-second ahead of second place and marked her third best time of the year.  

In the 100-yard freestyle, Bierman found herself in a match-up of two of the top individuals in the conference, taking on the Knights' Sophie Pilofer who owned the second best time in the MIAC entering the meet. The senior, Pilhofer, got the best of the first-year, Bierman, with a 54.42, out-pacing the Blazer rookie in second place at 55.14.

Later, Tormanen would lead a quartet of Blazers to the wall in the 100-yard breaststroke, as the hosts swept the top-four spots. Tormanen's winning time of 1:10.31 was her fifth win of the season, and was her fourth best time of the year. Maria Gathje (1:12.72), Alexandra Alviani (1:16.51) and Sarah Mackereth (1:20.53) were all right behind in second, third and fourth place respectively.

Then, again the 200-yard breaststroke, Tormanen led three Blazers to the top three spots as she posted her third total win of the day. Her 2:33.20 was good enough to win by eight seconds, while Gathje (2:41.40) and Alviani (2:46.68) in second and third respectively.

In a Blazer-exclusive field in the 1650-yard freestyle, Lauren Kessler came out on top with an 18:56.92, winning by 30 seconds with the eighth best time in the MIAC all season.

She wasn't quite as far in front of the field, but in just 200 yards Ellen Dean built up a 17-second advantage in the 200-yard butterfly, posting a 2:18.78 to blast the field. Dean would go on to score a pair or top-two finishes on the day, placing second in the 200-yard IM with a time of 2:19.46.

Conversely, it couldn't have gotten much closer in the 500-yard freestyle, as the Blazers' Mary Wood won by a mere three-tenths of a second over Carleton's Erin McDuffie. Wood's winning time was 5:32.69.

Two Blazers touched the wall first in the 200-yard backstroke, led by Samantha Kessler's winning mark of 2:24.06, her first win of the season. Humbert was right behind in second with a 2:25.68.

The Blazers return to action next weekend (Jan. 19) at the Meet of the Saints, hosted by St. Thomas and starting at 1 p.m.