Junior sprinter Scott Hagemeyer (Willmar, Minn.) eclipsed a pair of national “B” standards and sophomore Ben Hanson (Minnetonka, Minn.) and first-year Matt Stewart (Burnsville, Minn.) each recorded four top ten individual finishes as the Gustavus men’s swimming and diving team claimed the team title at the 2005 TYR/CollegeSwimming.com Classic hosted by Carthage College on December 2-3. The Gusties edged host Carthage, 977.5-977, to win the meet. MIAC rival St. Olaf finished third with 958.5 points. Gustavus won the meet with a win in the final event, the 400 freestyle relay. It is the second time this season that the Gusties have won a meet with a win in the final relay.
Hagemeyer hit a pair of NCAA national “B” standards during the meet. The mark of 46.35 seconds Hagemeyer posted while capturing the 100 freestyle title bettered the “B” standard of 46.78 seconds. The mark also set a meet record. Hagemeyer also met the “B” standard in the 50 freestyle with a 21.28 clocking in the prelims. He finished second in the final, edged at the wall by Carthage’s Edgar Vargas by 0.04 seconds, and recorded a seventh place finish in the 200 freestyle (1:46.94).
Hanson picked up the title in the 200 freestyle in a time of 1:44.99, while also recording a runner-up finish in the 500 freestyle (4:41.79). Hanson also picked up a pair of sixth place finishes in the 200 butterfly (2:00.85) and the 1650 freestyle (16:54.02).
Stewart finished behind Hanson in the 500 freestyle (fifth, 4:49.12), 200 butterfly (seventh, 2:01.74) and 1650 freestyle (eighth, 17:18.97), while also recording a sixth place time of 53.11 seconds in the 100 butterfly.
Sophomore Connor Ziegler (Sauk Rapids, Minn.) picked up top five finishes in the 200 butterfly (third, 1:56.91) and 100 butterfly (fourth, 52.48), while also recording a ninth place finish in the 100 backstroke in a time of 57.82 seconds. Junior Brian Amundson (Blaine, Minn.) was the only other Gustie to finish with multiple individual top-five results, placing fourth in the 50 freestyle (21.80) and fifth in the 100 freestyle (48.01). Senior Jeff Pearson (Woodbury, Minn.) also finished fifth in the 100 backstroke in a time of 54.93 seconds.
The Gusties also racked up six top-five finishes in five relays, claiming the title in the 400 freestyle relay with a time of 3:10.04, while finishing second in both the 200 freestyle (1:26.04) and 800 freestyle relays (7:13.53). Gustavus also finished fourth in the 400 medley relay (3:37.41) and picked up both a third place and a fifth place finish in the 200 medley relay with times of 1:38.42 and 1:39.29, respectively.
Gustavus is now idle until facing Carleton in a dual at Northfield on January 14.