ROCHESTER, Minn. – The College of Saint Benedict swim and dive team concluded competition at the Rochester Invite with 18 more season-bests. As a result, CSB finished seventh in the team points with 666.

Now the CSB team will be off until they compete in a dual with St. Cloud State on Jan. 11.

In the 400 freestyle relay, CSB finished eighth in a season-best 3:40.10 with a team of senior Lindsay Smutka, sophomore Rachel Schlueter, sophomore Mikayla Haskamp and senior Emi Wagner. CSB's best mark of the year was 3:49.07 as this performance was nearly nine seconds better than the clocking at the CSB triangular with Hamline and Augsburg earlier this year. In fact, the Bennies also had a B squad that clocked 3:46.13 which was also better than the previous top time this year. It was a team, which placed 17^th, and included sophomore Morgan Stout, senior Hannah Tatge, first-year Claire Canfield, and sophomore Liz Hansen.

CSB had swimmers perform in the 100 IM for the first time this year and they shined with four times that rank in the program's top 12. Smutka just missed qualifying for the top eight in the 100 IM as she was ninth overall and first in the consolation final in 1:02.54, a mark that is a career-best and ranks third all-time at CSB. Also in the consolation final, Schlueter was 11^th in 1:02.88 although she swam a season-best 1:02.32 in the prelims. Schlueter's time ranks fourth all-time at CSB. In addition, Wagner was 16^th overall and eighth in the consolation final in 1:04.24 but had a season-career best 1:02.99 in the prelims, which places her fifth all-time at CSB. In the same event in the C final, Mikayla Haskamp was 22^nd in a season-best 1:06.13, which also places the sophomore in the top-12 all-time at CSB.

Senior Laura Jennings had a strong outing in the 200 butterfly as she advanced to the finals and placed seventh with a season-best clocking of 2:17.51. Jennings topped her previous best mark this year by over five seconds (2:22.63).  First-year Josey Jackson also had her season-best in the 200 butterfly with a 14^th place finish in 2:24.77. In the prelims she had her career-best of 2:24.44, which was three seconds better than her 2:27.44 earlier this year. First-year Anna Boomgaarden was 21^st in 2:31.46, which improved on the 2:37.20 she ran at the St. Kate's Double Dual.

Wagner also advanced to the consolation final in the 100 freestyle as she clocked a team-season-best 54.91 to place 15^th. Haskamp was 35^th in the 100 freestyle in 56.51 as she also bettered her season-best (56.63).

Smutka advanced to the consolation final in the 200 backstroke as she clocked 2:13.21, which was over three seconds better than her previous mark this year of 2:16.96. Also in the 200 backstroke, Canfield was in the C Final and placed 17^th with a season best 2:14.40, a mark that improved her season best by 2.34 seconds (2:16.74). Senior Megan Pattee was 36^th in the 200 backstroke in a season-best 2:27.61.

Stout also had a strong performance in the 1,650 freestyle as she finished 20^th in a season-best 19:59.85. She crushed her previous mark by nearly 24 seconds (20:24.19).  First-year Jayda Alholm was 23^rd in a season-best 20:38.31, which was 30 seconds better than her previous mark of 21:19.03. Emma Vicker was 24^th as she also had a season-best of 21:05.79 (21:22.07).

Sophomore Megan Bartels finished 20^th in the 200 breaststroke in a season-best 2:35.57, which bettered her mark of 2:37.82 earlier this year.