Swimming & Diving Continues Success at Rochester Invite

Photo by: A.J. Olnes

Swimming & Diving Continues Success at Rochester Invite

Dec 3, 2022 | Women's Swimming & Diving, Men's Swimming & Diving

ROCHESTER, Minn. - Day two at the Rochester Invited wrapped up with even more success for the Maverick swimming & diving teams. Since the start of the event, the team has seen over 50 personal bests and a school record.

The Omaha women continue to lead in first place, while the men hold strong in second.

"Today was a major positive step forward for our team," said interim head coach Jessica Hessel. "We have set over 50 lifetime bests after day two, and our energy on deck was unmatched again tonight. The women continue to separate themselves in the pool and on the boards, and the men are battling hard in every event. It's great to see a freshman take down a team record!"

Saturday's finals saw 23 top-10 finishes by the women with the day starting off strong with first and second place in the 200 free relay. Rachel Shelstad, Hailey Matthews, Parker Hagemann, and Payton Easley teamed up for first with a time of 1:34.48, while Gracie Streblow, Morgan Baker, Olivia Dendinger, and Alaina Agnew took second with a time of 1:36.40.

In the first individual event for Omaha, Payton Krug took third with a time of 4:25.91 in the 400-IM. The Mavericks then took first and second in the 200 free with the help of Matthews (1:51.49) and Hagemann (1:53.12).

Caroline Gardner took second for Omaha in the 100 breast with a time of 1:04.47, while in the 100 back, Streblow (56.06) and Annika Harthoorn (56.44) got first and second, respectively.

The individual events concluded for the women with the 1M dive. Kady Eller was Omaha's top finisher in sixth place with a score of 367.85.

The Maverick women capped a successful second day of finals with first and second in the 400 medley relay. Streblow, Gardner, Harthoorn, and Easley posted a time of 3:48.22 for first, while Hagemann, Dendinger, Matthews, and Shelstad got second with a time of 3:52.93.

To start the action off for the men Saturday, Omaha took fourth in the 200 free relay with the help of Grant Waszak, Owen Hoak, Grant Schaeffer, and Logan Kempf. They swam a time of 1:23.80.

In the prelims, Caden Murphy broke the school record in the 400 IM. In the finals, Murphy struck again and shattered his previous time. Murphy took second with a time of 4:02.55 to rewrite the record books.

The Maverick men swept the top-three spots in the 200 free. Caleb Miller took first with a time of 1:41.96, Luke Asbury followed behind in second with a time of 1:42.20, and Michael Johnson wrapped up the finishes with a time of 1:42.45 for third.

In the 100 breast, Amir Haviv entered the top-five for Omaha. He posted a time of 55.82 for fourth place to lead the Mavericks. He was followed up by a second-place finish by Schroeder in the 100 back with a time of 48.92.

The individual events wrapped with Ian Blackstock posting a score of 437.75 in the 3M dive for third place.

"I'm really proud of how our divers competed this weekend," said diving coach Eric Sprague. "Preparing for this competition's 11-dive format was a challenge as it's not the format Division I diving uses. When you add that we got into our home pool to train for the first time this season just two days before Thanksgiving, it made the challenge substantially more difficult. This weekend's group will benefit from the experience.

"This wraps diving competition for the fall semester, and now it's time for some of our student-athletes to get healed up and for everyone to finish the semester strong in the classroom. We're looking forward to getting back into competition in 2023."

In the final event of the night, Schroeder, Haviv, AJ Swibold, and Hoak placed second in the 400 medley relay with a time of 3:22.07.

Omaha will wrap-up the Rochester Invite Sunday with the final set of prelims and finals.