By Shannon Holden
The Carleton College men’s swimming and diving team is tied for third in team standings after the first day of competition at the MIAC Championships. The Knights collectively notched five all-conference finishes. Stephen Grinich (Jr./McMinnville, Ore./McMinnville) captured an individual victory and helped Carleton to a relay win.
The meet opened with a victory and All-MIAC performance in the 200-yard freestyle relay. Grinich, George McAneny (Jr./Santa Cruz, Calif./Santa Cruz), Wilson Josephson (Jr./Mount Hermon, Mass./Northfield Mount Hermon), and Evan Lahr (So./Monticello, Minn./Monticello) combined on a season-best and NCAA “B” cut time of 1:22.79.
In the 500-yard freestyle, Alex Mathson (So./Verona, Wis./Verona) took sixth place with a lifetime best of 4:42.38, which ranks him third all-time at Carleton. Eli Danson (Sr./Wausau, Wis./Wausau East) added to the Knights’ point total when he swam to a 15th-place result at 4:55.62.
Evan Harris (Sr./Lexington, S.C./Lexington) finished in eighth place in the 200-yard IM with a time of 2:03.85. That came on the heels of his blistering time of 1:53.79 during the morning prelims, a mark that ranks him second in team history.
In the same event, Noah Brackenbury (Fy./Cincinnati, Ohio/Indian Hill) won the consolation final and finished in ninth place, Colin Lau (Fy./Minnetonka, Minn./Hopkins) took 12th place, and Aaron Schwab (So./Elk River, Minn./Elk River) finished 15th. They posted personal-best times of 1:58.69, 1:59.40, and 2:01.26, respectively.
Grinich, Lahr, and McAneny dominated the 50-yard freestyle event. The trio posted the top three times during the prelims and followed it up with a 1-2-3 result in the finals and a trifecta of All-MIAC performances. Grinich emerged victorious in the event with a new personal best of 20.62, ranking second in team annals. Lahr followed directly behind Grinich, finishing at a lifetime best of 20.76, third-best in Carleton history. Grinich’s and Lahr’s superb efforts in the race earned them NCAA “B” cut times. Next to finish was McAneny, posting a season best time of 20.90. Wilson Josephson recorded an 11th-place finish in the event, touching at a new PR of 21.55.
The Knights finished the evening of competition with another All-MIAC performance, this one in the 400-yard medley relay. Jonathan Brodie (Jr./Fremont, Calif./Washington), Harris, Grinich, and Lahr combined on a season best time of 3:27.22 to finish in third place. That mark was only 0.03 seconds off the program standard.
St. Thomas leads the team competition with 218 points, followed by St Olaf (191 points) with Carleton and Saint John’s knotted at 173 points to encompass the top half of the eight-team field.
After the first day of competition of the MIAC Swimming and Diving Championships, the Carleton College women’s swimming and diving team stands fourth overall. Maria Wetzel (So./Salem, Ore./West Salem) led the way for the Knights, producing superb individual results as well as contributing to the squad’s solid results in both relays.
St. Thomas and Gustavus are tied atop the team competition with 240 points, with St. Olaf (135 points) and Carleton (101) rounding out the top four in an 11-team field.
The Knights began the finals on Thursday with a strong performance in the 200-yard freestyle relay. Wetzel, Alex Braiedy (So./Chanhassen, Minn./Minnetonka), Kat Nguyen (Fy./Palo Alto, Calif./Palo Alto), and Alex Guy (Sr./Denver Colo./Denver School of the Arts) took fourth out of a field of eleven in the event with a season best time of 1:37.70.
The highlight of the night came in Wetzel’s All-MIAC performance in the 200-yard IM as she captured a second-place finish. She recorded a new personal-best time of 2:07.53, categorized by the NCAA as a “B” cut performance. Allie Clark (So./Northfield, Minn./Northfield) raced to a 14th-place finish in the event, finishing at a career-best time of 2:16.15.
Brittany Salazar (Jr./San Francisco, Calif./San Francisco Waldorf) won the consolation final of the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:15.44. That time bettered her career best entering this meet by about 15 seconds.
Alex Guy notched an eighth-place finish in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 24.60, while Braiedy took 16th in the same event at 24.95. Both Knights posted even better marks during the morning prelim round, touching the wall and 24.23 and 24.67, respectively, to improve their previous lifetime bests by at least 0.25 second.
The Knights concluded an excellent first day of competition with a fourth-place finish in the 400-yard medley relay. The Knights’ quartet of Wetzel, Alison Coogan (Sr./River Forest, Ill./Oak Park-River Forest), Braiedy, and Guy finished with a time of 3:59.28, more than a 8.5 second improvement of the team’s season best entering the championships.
Racing continues Friday on the second day of the three-day meet with the preliminary round at 10:30am and the finals at 6:30pm.
