MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – Three different athletes earned their second top-five finish of the week Saturday evening to wrap up the 2020 MIAC Championships.
 
Ana Birklid, Emily Quill and Mikayla Von Wahlde all earned All-MIAC Honorable Mention in Saturday's finals to help keep the College of Saint Benedict swim and dive team in sixth place. The Bennies finished with 317 points. St. Kate's ran away with the team title, winning its first conference swim and dive title with 700.5 points; St. Thomas took second with 664; Gustavus finished third with 626.5 and St. Olaf (451) and Carleton (363) rounded out the top five.
 
Birklid and Von Wahlde started the night session with top-five finishes in the 200 backstroke. After taking eighth in prelims, Birklid moved into fourth in the finals in 2:07.33 – a personal best and the second-best time in program history. She is tied for second on the school's top-10 list with Gretchen Weber. Von Wahlde took sixth in 2:07.70 – the same time she swam in prelims. Senior Lauren Christiansen took 14^th in the consolation final in 2:12.44.
 
Quill, a first year, wrapped up the MIAC Championships with a second straight fourth-place finish, this one in the three-meter diving competition. She wrapped up the weekend with a score of 400.50. CSB and SJU diving coach Jon Hazen earned MIAC Diving Coach of the Year honors for the second time in his career after the two teams' successes on the boards throughout the weekend. He also earned the honor at the 2015 MIAC Championships.
 
Claudia Mahoney, Molly Johanson and Jacque Newhouse all moved up or into the top 10 in program history in Saturday's finals. Mahoney took 12^th in the 100 freestyle in 54.22 seconds – nearly a half-second faster than her prelim time, and the seventh-best time in CSB history. Johanson moved into eighth in the 200 breaststroke after finishing 11^th in the finals in 2:29.30. That time was two-tenths of a second faster than her prelim time.
 
Newhouse moved into eighth in the 200 fly finals, finishing her race in 2:18.30 – good for 13^th, a one-second improvement from her prelim time and eighth in CSB history. She is the first person to move into CSB's top 10 in the 200 fly since 2015. Jessica Milstroh finished 16^th in the 200 fly in 2:21.21.
 
Seniors Skyler Clough and Meghan Kratz teamed up with Zoe Allyson and Mahoney to finish sixth in the 400 freestyle relay to wrap up the four-day conference meet. The foursome finished the race in 3:41.34.
 
Izzy Sonday kicked off Saturday's final session with an 11^th-place finish in the 1,650 freestyle. She finished in 18:42.68 – a six-second lifetime best. Morgan Gerhardt finished 17^th in 19:00.77.
 
Von Wahlde and Birklid both swam season-best times in Saturday morning's 200 backstroke prelims to get to the finals. Von Wahlde sat fourth after the morning session with a time of 2:07.70, and Birklid took eighth to get into the championship final with a time of 2:09.96. Christiansen took ninth in the prelims in 2:11.25, and Madison Slavik just missed a second appearance in the backstroke finals, taking 18^th in prelims in 2:19.73.
 
Mahoney just missed a spot in the top 10 in program history in the 100 freestyle finals. She took 15^th in prelims in 54.69 – a one-second personal best. CSB had four swimmers just miss finals as they all finished in the top 22. Kratz took 18^th (55.23), Clough 19^th (55.51), Allyson 20^th (55.57) and Thea Oman 22^nd (55.74). Kratz's time was a season best; Clough, Allyson and Oman recorded lifetime-best times.
 
Johnanson had already moved herself into the top 10 in program history in the 200 breaststroke prelims. She finished 10^th in 2:29.50 – a five-second personal best, and the eighth-best time in CSB history. Senior Kayla Albers just missed finals as she took 19^th in a season-best time of 2:41.97.
 
Newhouse also put herself in the top 10 in program history in the 200 fly prelims. She finished 14^th in prelims in 2:19.30 – the 10^th-best time in CSB history. Her prelim time marked a nine-second personal best. Milstroh took 16^th to sneak into the consolation finals, finishing in 2:21.03. Brenna Sharp took 23^rd in 2:33.55.
 
After the three-meter diving prelims Friday morning, Quill sat in fourth with a score of 406.70. Mia Sabin just missed the top eight, finishing 10^th in 335.30. Artie Pomerenke took 15^th (285.00) and Kylie Egger finished 18^th (262.60).