It wouldn’t take one long to look at the results and see the Gustie women and men had a terrific night. There were a lot of great times on both sides and the energy was by far the highest I have ever experienced on day 1 of the meet. A great crowd of Gustie parents, alums and current teammates made the trek to support the teams and made sure everyone in the MIAC knew who was the loudest.
Both the men and women had successful 200 free relays. The women took first by almost two seconds. While anti-climatic, it was an awesome race to watch. All four women put up great times and really set the pace for the team. The men wound up a solid second.
From there it was on to the 500 freestyle. In the women’s 500, it was a showdown between Alissa Tinklenberg and St. Olaf’s Meghan Weiss. Weiss took an early lead and Tinklenberg fought all the way to the end but was beat by a second. Tinklenberg broke the five-minute barrier, the second time in Gustavus swimming history this feat has been accomplished. Melissa Aune, McKenna Jones and Anna Eames provided solid depth. Ben Stewart was the only men swimmer to qualify in the 500 and placed 10th.
In the IM, it was more of the same. Stephanie Korba was seeded eighth but moved up to 3rd by going a lifetime best in the 200 IM. Korba went 2:11.17, one of four girls who were in the 211 range. Abby Lyle and Gabe Gazzola both lowered their seed times from the morning as well. In what may have been one of the weaker events for the Gustie women coming in, it became a solid point scorer. For the men, it was a big event due to four men making the top 8. While none moved up, they still scored solid points.
In the 50, the women took it to the field with three women making the top eight. Kelsey Lucia made the top-three with a time of 23.83. For the men, Zach Nachtsheim was the top performer. Nachtsheim lowered his time from the morning, going 21.12, a new lifetime best. Nachtsheim edged out four Tommies to hold his fourth seed.
The Gustavus coaching staff and athletes cheer during a race on day one of the 2012 MIAC Championships. Photo courtesy of Go Gustires! Photography by Kim Hagemeyer.
The last event of the day was the 400 medley relay. The women got off to a quick lead, but the halfway through it was neck and neck between the Gusties and the Tommies. However, Lucia pulled away from UST’s Erin Hogan to get the win. However, the second swimmer jumped causing the Gusties to DQ. Disappointing for sure but all four women had solid splits, leaving plenty of optimism for tomorrow. The men posted solid times as well but wound up third in the relay, although they did move up a spot from their original seed.
It was a fun, exciting and memorable day for both teams and Day Two should be no different. Tomorrow the crowd should be bigger and louder. As the meet progresses, the excitement only builds. The women are in a tight battle with St. Olaf. The DQ in the relay hurt but nothing the Gustie women can’t recover from. The men are in third and will look to start chipping away at the 60 point deficit they are in. Both teams have a lot swimmers in action tomorrow and it will be interesting to see where they fall in place after prelims.
Gunnar Teigen, a senior on the Gustavus swimming and diving team, is an intern for the Gustavus Adolphus Sports Information Department. Teigen will be blogging from the 2012 MIAC Championships to give fans a behind-the-scenes look at the conference championships through the eyes of one of the student-athletes competiting. Teigen will be posting a new installment his feature blog, “Deck Pass To The 2012 MIAC Swim & Dive Championships” following each day of competition.