ST. JOSEPH, Minn. - After opening the season on the road last week, the College of Saint Benedict swim and dive team is set to host Macalester College for its home opener Saturday, Oct. 24. The meet, which is co-hosted with Saint John's University at Warner Palaestra Pool in Collegeville, Minn., will serve as the Breast Cancer Awareness meet. All proceeds will be donated to the Minnesota Breast Cancer Awareness Coalition. Free will donations will be accepted at the door. Action is slated to begin at 1 p.m. with diving events scheduled near the halfway mark of the meet. 

 

The Bennies enter the weekend off a strong showing at the MIAC vs. WIAC Invitational Saturday, Oct. 17. Saint Ben's snagged four individual titles with senior Haley Zelen (Shakopee, Minn./Shakopee), sophomore Josey Larson (Hastings, Minn./Hastings) and first-year Brynn McNanley (Medina, Minn./Wayzata) claiming crowns. Zelen secured the win in the 200-yard individual medley, clocking in at 2:08.76, and in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 55.48. Her 200 IM time bested the field by nearly five seconds, as she was the line swimmer to finish sub-2:10. It is also the second-fastest 200 IM time in program history, only trailing Ana Birklid's time record of 2:06.17 set in 2022. Zelen's time in the 100 Fly was just over two seconds faster than the next finisher and already surpasses the NCAA B cut mark. Larson locked in the win in 200-yard butterfly, finishing with a career-best time of 2:12.60. McNanley made a splash in her collegiate debut, winning the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:56.87.  

 

CSB finished with 13 top-10 finishes at the meet. In the In the 50-yard freestyle, sophomore Anna Schottler (Chanhassen, Minn./Chanhassen) clocked in at 24.49 to finish runner-up in the event. Schottler collected a fourth-place finish in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 54.08. Also making a statement in her first collegiate meet, first-year Sydney Thompson (Eden Prairie, Minn./Eden Prairie) joined Larson in the top-five in the 200 Fly. Thompson finished fourth in the 200 Fly behind a time of 2:17.14. The first-year also finished eighth in the 400-yard individual medley after touching in at 4:57.23. To go along with her win, McNanley added a fifth-place finish in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:28.15. Larson also finished with two top-10 times, as she notched a seventh-place finish in the 100 Fly, recording a personal-best time of 1:00.54. Senior Ella Kowalczyk (Minneapolis, Minn./Southwest) recorded top-10 finishes in the 3-meter and 1-meter dive. Kowalczyk finished seventh in the 1-meter dive with a career-best score of 209.50. The senior added an eighth-place finish in the 3-meter with a score of 201.45. Sophomore Bella Kern (Delano, Minn./Delano Senior) rounded out the top-10 finishes after finishing 10th in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:36.59.   

 

In total, 29 collegiate personal-best marks were established for Saint Benedict. 

 

The meet will be live streamed, which can be found here. Results will be posted on gobennies.com upon the completion of the meet.