MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – Led by an All-MIAC performance and second-place finish by the 200-yard freestyle relay, the College of Saint Benedict swim and dive team compiled five program top-10 marks at the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Championship which continued on Friday at the Jean Freeman Aquatic Center at the University of Minnesota.
 

The 200-yard freestyle relay team, which included senior Emi Wagner, senior Jocie Larson, senior Lindsay Smutka, and sophomore Rachel Schlueter, clocked a 1:37.43 for second-place in picking up All-MIAC honors. The relay team clocked the fourth-best time in school history. 

With 34 points from the relay, CSB, which already has eight program top-10 performances through three days of competition, totaled 109 points on day three and now have 254 as a team and sit in sixth place. Gustavus leads the team standings with 409.5 while Macalester is second with 407 points. The competition will continue on Saturday (Feb. 17) with prelims at 10:30 a.m., and finals at 6:30 p.m.

"I am so proud of the swimmers today," said CSB head coach Mandy Wolvert. "They swam with heart tonight and it showed in their results," she said.

In the individual events, Smutka led four Bennies into the finals and scored points in the 100-yard backstroke. Smutka, who had a season-best 58.57 in the prelims, finished seventh in 58.77. It was just off her career-best 58.16 in 2022. In total, CSB swimmers totaled 33 points in the event. Schlueter, whose 58.95 in the prelims was a career-best and ranked third all-time in program history, finished in 58.99 for ninth while first-year Mary Morris had a career-best 59.67 in the prelims and finished in 59.76 for 10^th place in the event. With her 59.67, Morris was tied for eighth best all-time at CSB with Noelle Peterson in 1998. Also in the 100-yard backstroke, sophomore Lauren Sitzman clocked a season-best 1:00.46 and placed 12^th.

With a career-best in the 200-yard freestyle, Morris placed sixth with a clocking of at 1:57.18 to earn 13 team's points. However, in the prelims Morris had a 1:56.81, a mark which ranks sixth all-time in CSB history. Sitzman also had a career-best in the 200-yard freestyle as the sophomore had a time of 2:01.68 for 15^th but clocked a career-best 2:01.28 in the prelims.

In the 400-yard IM, first-year Claire Canfield, who had a career-best of 4:44.74, finished ninth and just missed making the top-10 all-time (Kenzie Young, 4:44.33, 2015).

In the 100-yard breaststroke, Wagner and Megan Bartels clocked career-bests in earning points. Wagner finished in 1:08.59 to place ninth for 10^th all-time in program history. Bartels was 10^th in 1:08.70, which would rank 11^th all-time at CSB and just out of the top-10 in CSB history. In addition, CSB had five others with career-bests in the 100-yard breaststroke including senior Jocie Larson, 17^th, 1:11.56; sophomore Liz Hansen, 18^th, 1:11.87; first-year Sydney Gustin, 20^th, 1:12.87; sophomore Mikayla Haskamp, 23^rd, 1:13.61; and first-year Jayda Alholm, 25^th, 1:16.16.

In the 100-yard butterfly, senior Laura Jennings was 15^th in a career-best 1:01.78.