Carleton Women Down St. Benedict

The Carleton College women’s swimming and diving team placed first in 13 events and cruised to a 197-103 dual meet victory over the College of Saint Benedict. Less than 24 hours after breaking the team record in the 1,000-yard freestyle at Gustavus Adolphus, first-year Molly Spence (Tacoma, Wash.) cruised to the victory in the 1,650-yard freestyle and eclipsed the 10-year old Thorpe Pool standard, posting a time of 18:02.73.

The Knights opened the festivities with a first-place finish in the 400-yard medley relay as the pairing of Annie Metcalf (So./Bath, Maine/Morse), Mia Zutz (Sr./Middleton, Wis.), Grace Cormier (Fy./Rockford, Ill.Boylan Catholic), and Erin McDuffie (Fy./Anchorage, Alaska/Service) pulled away from the field.

Carleton later grabbed the top three spots in the 100-yard backstroke, with Maggie Alexander (So./Tigard, Ore./Tualatin) winning the event at 1:02.18. The Knights posted another 1-2-3 finish in the subsequent event, the 100-yard breaststroke with Kate Alexander (Sr./Tigard, Ore./Tualatin) grabbing top honors.

Kelsey Ihinger (Sr./Eden Prairie, Minn.) and Sophie Pilhofer (Fy./Inver Grove Heights, Visitation) kept the win streak going as they touched the wall first in the 200-yard butterfly and 50-yard freestyle, respectively.

McDuffie would later grab her first individual event of the afternoon, winning the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 55.85.

Kale Zicafoose (Jr./Omaha, Neb./Westside) added to Carleton’s point total with a six-and-a-half second triumph in the 200-yard backstroke.

Lynsey Bernfeld (Sr./Yakima, Wash./West Valley) edged Zutz for the top finish in the 200-yard breaststroke and would end up being selected as the team’s swimmer of the meet as she also placed third in the 100 breaststroke and was on the second-place finishing group of the 400 medley relay.

Louis Buckler (Jr./Blaine, Minn./St. Paul Academy) nipped teammate Rose Prullage (Fy./Evanston, Ill./Evanston Township) in the 100-yard butterfly by 0.09 second, giving Carleton it’s 10th event title of the meet.

Sydney Weydemeyer (Jr./Santa Fe, N.M.) was the top scorer on the 3-meter diving board. She finished third on the lower board.

Cormier finished her day with top honors in the 200-yard individual medley.

The Knights concluded the meet the same way they began, with a relay crown. This time McDuffie, Buckler, Spence and Maggie Alexander held off the top quartet from Saint Benedict to win the 400-yard freestyle relay.

Carleton will be back in the water next Saturday, Jan. 23 as the Knights host the Carleton Mini-Invite at 12:00 p.m.