The Gustavus Adolphus College women’s swimming and diving team had nine student-athletes earn all-conference honors at the 2005 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championships. The Gusties claimed three relay event titles and three individual titles to tally 652.5 points and placed third overall at the conference championships. It is the 12th consecutive top five finish at the conference meet for head coach Jon Carlson’s squad. The championships took place February 17-19 at the University of Minnesota Aquatics Center in Minneapolis, Minn.
Gustavus earned all-conference honors in all five-relay events at the conference meet. The Gusties recorded three relay event titles and a second and third place finish. The team of senior Beth DeLaRosby (Two Harbors, Minn.), senior Katie Garvey (Fargo, N.D.), senior Laurie Decknatel (Apple Valley, Minn.), and sophomore Laura Watkins (Fargo, N.D.) won the 200-yard freestyle relay with a NCAA automatic qualifying time of 1:34.00, which set a new conference record. The same relay team won the 400-yard freestyle relay with a NCAA automatic qualifying time of 3:30.62, which set a new MIAC meet record.
The team of senior Eva Miller (Sartell, Minn.), Garvey, DeLaRosby, and first-year Sara Pfau (Bismarck, N.D.) placed first in the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:47.12. The time set a new MIAC record and automatically qualified the team for the national championships.
The Gusties placed second in the 400-yard medley relay with a NCAA provisional qualifying time of 3:58.83. The team consisted of Pfau, Miller, sophomore Yoshi Ludwig (St. Peter, Minn.) and Watkins. The team of Garvey, first-year Karie Reed (Duluth, Minn.), DeLaRosby and Watkins placed third in the 800-yard freestyle relay with a NCAA provisional qualifying time of 7:53.13.
Gustavus had six individuals earn all-conference honors by placing in the top three of their event. Seniors Katie Garvey, Eva Miller and Beth DeLaRosby earned all-conference honors for the fourth consecutive season for Gustavus. Garvey recorded a time of 59.39 to place first in the 100-yard butterfly. Miller claimed two individual event titles by placing first in the 100 and 200-yard breaststroke. Miller recorded NCAA provisional qualifying times in both events.
Senior Beth DeLaRosby claimed all-conference honors in the 50 and 100-yard freestyle. DeLaRosby placed second in the 50-yard freestyle to automatically qualify for the NCAA Championships with a time of 23.51. The senior also placed second in the 100-yard freestyle with a NCAA provisional qualifying time of 52.17.
First-year Sara Pfau earned individual all-conference honors in three events. Pfau placed second in the 100-yard backstroke and the 200-yard backstroke with times of 1:00.05 and 2:10.67, respectively. The Bismarck, North Dakota native earned her third all-conference honor by placing third in the 200-yard individual medley with a time 2:11.86.
Sophomore Katherine Haynes (Duluth, Minn.) earned all-conference honors in the 100 and 200-yard backstroke. Haynes placed second in the 100 with a time of 1:01.41 and third in the 200 with a time of 2:11.58. Yoshi Ludwig recorded a time of 1:00.48 to place third in the 100-yard butterfly to earn all-conference honors for the Gusties.
Gustavus will have six swimmers competing at the 2005 NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving Championships March 10-12. The swimmers include Beth DeLaRosby, Laurie Decknatel, Katie Garvey, Eva Miller, Sara Pfau and Laura Watkins. Gustavus has automatically qualified in three relay events and three individual events. The championships will take place at Hope College in Holland, Michigan.