The Gustavus men’s swimming and diving team has qualified eight swimmers to compete in the 2005 NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving Championships. The championships will take place March 17-19 at Hope College in Holland, Michigan. The Gusties will be competing in five relay events and twelve individual events. The swimmers include Brian Amundson (Sophomore, Blaine, Minn.), Evan Christianson (Senior, Hutchinson, Minn.), Scott Hagemeyer (Sophomore, Willmar, Minn.), Brad Hammer (Junior, Rock Island, Ill.), Ben Hanson (Freshman, Minnetonka, Minn.), Greg Pokorski (Freshman, Rochester, Minn.), Will Sutor (Senior, Fergus Falls, Minn.) and Jonah Winter (Freshman, Park Rapids, Minn.).
Head coach Jon Carlson’s squad will compete in all five-relay events at the national meet. The Gusties have automatically qualified in the 200 freestyle relay and is the top seed heading into the national meet with a conference and school record time of 1:22.89. The team consists of Scott Hagemeyer, Brian Amundson, Will Sutor, and Evan Christianson. The same team is seeded fourth in the 400 freestyle relay with school record time of 3:04.61.
The team of Sutor, Greg Pokorski, Amundson and Ben Hanson will compete in the 800 freestyle relay. The Gusties are seeded tenth overall with a time of 6:53.58. The 200 medley relay team of Hagemeyer, Brad Hammer, Jonah Winter and Amundson are seeded tenth with a time of 1:33.59. The team of Hagemeyer, Hammer, Sutor and Hanson are seeded 13th in the 400 medley relay with a time of 3:28.07.
Scott Hagemeyer, Ben Hanson, Will Sutor and Brian Amundson will compete in individual events at the national championships for Gustavus. Hagemeyer is seeded in the top ten of the 50 freestyle, 100 freestyle and 100 backstroke and holds the school records in each of these events. The sophomore is seeded fourth in the backstroke with a time of 50.61, sixth in the 100 freestyle with a time of 45.57, and tenth in the 50 freestyle with a time of 20.90.
Hanson will be competing in three individual events at the championships. The freshman recorded provisional qualifying times in the 500 freestyle and the 1650 freestyle. Hanson, the school record holder in both events, is seeded ninth in the 500 freestyle with a time of 4:36.90 and 11th in the 1650 freestyle with a time of 16:02.75. He will also be competing in the 200 freestyle and is seeded 20th overall with a time of 1:42.81.
Sutor will be competing in the 100 butterfly, 200 butterfly and 50 freestyle at the national meet. Sutor, the school record holder in the 100 and 200 butterfly, is seeded second in the 100 with an automatic qualifying time of 49.75 and eleventh in the 200 with a provisional qualifying time of 1:53.53. The senior is seeded 50th in the 50 freestyle with a time of 21.89.
Brian Amundson will be competing in three individual events. The sophomore is seeded 17th in the 50 freestyle with a time of 21.00 and is seeded 21st in the 100 freestyle with a time of 46.45. Amundson will also compete in the 200 freestyle. He is seeded 31st with a time of 1:43.87.
Gustavus recently won its fourth consecutive MIAC Title and 18th in school history. The Gusties claimed nine individual event titles and four relay event titles at the conference meet to finish 56 points ahead of second place St. Olaf College with 876 points. Gustavus set a school record by scoring 119.5 points and finishing ninth overall at the NCAA Championships last year. Coach Carlson feels that this year’s squad has the potential to challenge last year’s record setting point total.
The championships will begin Thursday, March 17 and conclude on Saturday, March 19. Each day, the prelims will begin at 11:00 a.m. (ET) with the finals scheduled to start 6:30 p.m. (ET).