Sophomore Sara Pfau (Bismarck, N.D.) recorded top ten finishes in four individual events to help lead the Gustavus women’s swimming and diving team to a third place finish at the 2005 TYR/CollegeSwimming.com Classic hosted by Carthage College on December 2-3. The Gusties scored 734 points, finishing behind team champion St. Cloud State (1141 points) and runner-up St. Olaf (798 points) and just ahead of host Carthage (705 points). Senior Katherine Haynes (Duluth, Minn.) and first-year Emma Espel (Fargo, N.D.) also added a pair of top ten individual finishes for the Gusties, who are idle until the new year.
Pfau posted one of the highest individual finishes of the weekend for the Gusties, placing third in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:09.64. Pfau also finished fourth in the 100 backstroke (1:02.77), sixth in the 200 individual medley (2:16.83) and eighth in the 200 breaststroke (2:37.75).
Haynes recorded the other third place individual finish for Gustavus, inching out Pfau at the wall for third place in the 100 backstroke with a 1:02.48 clocking. Haynes also finished fifth in the 200 backstroke in a time of 2:16.22. Espel picked up an eighth place finish in the 50 freestyle (26.17) and a tenth place finish in the 100 butterfly (1:04.24).
First-year Erica Hickey (Great Falls, Mont.) added a fourth-place finish in the 100 butterfly (1:02.09), while junior Laura Watkins (Fargo, N.D.) finished sixth in the 50 freestyle (25.82). Junior Yoshi Ludwig (St. Peter, Minn.) and sophomore Maggie Luke (Stillwater, Minn.) finished ninth and tenth, respectively, in the 400 individual medley. Ludwig stopped the clock in 5:03.42, while Luke touched the wall in 5:04.79. First-year Carly Ernst (Lincoln, Neb.) placed tenth in the 1650 freestyle in a time of 19:26.71.
Gustavus recorded five top five finishes in relays, topped by a runner-up finish in the 200 medley relay. The Gusties touched the wall in 1:53.32, edged by Carthage, which recorded a time of 1:53.34. Gustavus also finished third in the 200 freestyle relay (1:42.26), fourth in the 400 freestyle relay (3:44.65) and fifth in both the 400 medley relay (4:12.83) and the 800 freestyle relay (8:22.75).