<men’s swimming and diving team defeated St. Olaf College 199-100 to finish their regular season with only one loss. The men’s team put forth a solid improvement compared to last year against a powerful St. Olaf team that placed 4th in the nation in 2009, falling to the Oles 118-175. Sydney Weydemeyer was named swimmer of the meet for the ladies, achieving a lifetime best of 245.55 on the 3-meter board. Casey Andree took the swimmer of the meet honors for the men with large time drops in his 1,000 and 500 yard freestyle events. Kate Alexander earned the fourth MIAC Swimmer of the Week award of her extraordinary career, winning three individual events as well as swimming a leg in the victorious 200 yard medley relay.
The seniors were honored before the meet in recognition of their years of dedication to the program. After a few words from supportive juniors, the men’s team captivated the fans with a four part rendition of the national anthem. The melodic harmonies fell on receptive ears surprising everyone present. “The men’s team really showed their versatility both in and out of the water today, I was thoroughly impressed with their singing” said junior Louise Buckler. “I knew they could swim, but I had no idea their talent extended to other areas as well.”
The Knights look to continue the momentum into the Minnesota Challenge meet this weekend as well as to the conference championship February 18-20. This weekend the swim teams will be competing against fellow MIAC teams in addition to a few Division I schools including the University of Minnesota and University of Illinois. It will mark the end of the season for portions of both teams, with only a limited number of people allowed to swim in the conference championship meet in a few weeks. The women’s team looks to defend its first place finish at the MIAC conference championship last year while the men look to improve on a fourth place finish one year ago.