ST. JOSEPH, Minn. – In just her first major competition with the College of Saint Benedict swim and dive team, junior Haley Zelen made an unforgettable impression.

Competing at the St. Catherine Pentathlon on October 11, Zelen (Shakopee, Minn.) not only claimed the individual title (413 points) but also shattered two school records and won four out of five events—an effort that earned her this week's The House / St. Cloud Orthopedics CSB Athlete of the Week honor.

A transfer from NCAA Division I Wisconsin, Zelen wasted no time in establishing herself as a force in Division III swimming. She led Saint Benedict to a strong second-place team finish at the meet, which featured programs from both Division II and III. CSB totaled 5,150.5 points, finishing behind only NCAA DII Concordia-St. Paul (6,514 points), and ahead of St. Catherine (3,874) and Hamline (911.5).

Zelen's dominance began with the 100-yard butterfly, where she touched the wall in a school-record 57.09 seconds, eclipsing the previous record set in 2011 by Ellen Dean (59.13). She followed that performance with another record-breaking swim in the 100 individual medley, clocking 59.76 seconds to surpass Anna Birklid's 2021 record of 1:00.80.

Her winning streak continued with a victory in the 100 breaststroke at 1:08.56, which now ranks 10th all-time in CSB program history, and the 100 freestyle, where her 53.19 finish places her third-fastest ever in the event for CSB.

In the 100 backstroke, Zelen was second with a time of 1:00.63 as she totaled 413 points to win the overall individual title of 82 competitors.

Up next, Zelen and her CSB teammates will return to the pool on Saturday, October 18, for the CSB/SJU Fall Invitational at the Warner Palaestra Pool in Collegeville.