“Minnesota Athletics: A Powerhouse in University Sports”

MINNEAPOLIS – The Minnesota men’s and women’s swim and dive teams dominated in their Friday night competition at the Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center, defeating St. Thomas and South Dakota State.

Prior to the event, the Gophers recognized their 16 seniors for their valuable contributions to the program.

The No. 24-ranked women’s team secured victories against St. Thomas (246-53) and SDSU (243-57), while the men’s team defeated the Tommies (245-55) and the Jackrabbits (230-68).

Despite many swimmers participating in events outside of their usual meet schedule, the Gophers emerged victorious in all but one of the 32 events, including a clean sweep of 16 events. The women’s team had victories from nine different individuals, while the men’s team had wins from 10 individuals.

Senior swimmer Megan Van Berkom led the women’s team once again, finishing first in the 200 free (1:49.71), 100 breast (1:02.39), and 100 fly (55.17). Grace Drabot added two top-finishes in the 1000 free (10:25.43) and 200 IM (2:05.71).

The other victories for the women’s team came from Ava Yablonski (100 back, 56.43), Faith Johnson (200 fly, 2:04.06), Mina Kaljevic (50 free, 23.35), Hannah Cornish (100 free, 50.58), Katie McCarthy (200 back, 2:01.19), Ava Gustafson (200 breast, 2:20.82), and Jade Roghair (500 free, 5:01.01).

In the diving competition, Megan Phillip achieved her highest score of the season with 299.50 points in the 1-meter dive, while Vivi Del Angel earned the highest score of any Gopher this season with 353.25 points in the 3-meter dive.

Freshman swimmer Ian Steffen led the Gopher men with victories in the 100 back (50.00) and 100 fly (49.53).

Other wins for the Minnesota men’s team came from Kaiser Neverman (200 IM, 1:51.48), Jackson Brown (500 free, 4:37.39), William Christenson (1000 free, 9:20.39), Lovro Serdarevic (200 free, 1:40.28), Grant Wodny (200 fly, 1:51.29), Davide