<rleton College women’s swimming and diving team members Caroline Mather (So./Highlands Ranch, Colo./Mountain Vista) and Maria Wetzel (Sr./Salem, Ore./West Salem) both took home weekly honors for their performances at the Minnesota Challenge meet. Mather earned her second MIAC weekly honor and was also selected as the CollegeSwimming.com Division III National Swimmer-of-the-Week, while Wetzel was tabbed the conference swimmer-of-the-week by CollegeSwimming.com. Both Knights figured in two event victories, winning one individual event and making up half of a victorious relay quartet.
The two-day Minnesota Challenge meet was held at the University of Minnesota Aquatics Center and included four Division I programs as well as many of the top MIAC squads and other teams from around the Upper Midwest.
Mather won the 50-yard freestyle with a career-best time of 23.49, which ranks No. 8 in Division III this season, is a NCAA ‘B’ cut time, and moves her into third in team history. Wetzel was first to the wall in the 200-yard backstroke, clocking a time of 2:02.68. The duo also swam the first two legs on the 400-yard freestyle relay that won with a time of 3:38.43, good for more than a four-second margin of victory.
Both swimmers turned in other solid performances on the weekend. In the 100-yard freestyle, Mather was fourth at 53.13—which was second-fastest among D-III swimmers at the meet—and Wetzel took eighth with a personal record mark of 54.02.
Wetzel also took third in the 500-yard freestyle besting her previous personal best by more than three seconds with her time of 5:10.63, and was the top D-III performer in the 200-yard freestyle, touching the wall at 1:58.16.
The duo comprised half of the Knights’ 200-yard freestyle relay that placed second overall with a season-best time of 1:37.42 to rank 17th in D-III this season. They also helped Carleton post fourth-place results in the 200-yard medley relay (1:50.28)—behind a trio of entries from D-I Minnesota—and the 400-yard medley relay (3:59.87).
Both racers will be busy when Carleton participates at the MIAC Championships on Feb. 16-18. The conference meet be held at the same facility as the Minnesota Challenge.