The Gustavus men’s swimming and diving team recorded 1312.5 points to win the Grinnell Invitational held Friday and Saturday, Jan 21-22, in Grinnell, Iowa. The Gusties registered 20 individual top-three finishes and five wins in the relay events at the meet. Grinnell College finished second with 1254.5 points, while Luther College took third with 716 points.
Gustavus’ Whitaker Davis has been on mission all season, putting together another outstanding meet with four event wins. Davis won the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:45.24, the 500 free with a time of 4:40.32, and the 1650 free with a time of 16:50.50. He also swam a 2:01.94 to win the 200 butterfly.
Billy Schultze added a win in the 200 IM in 2:00.60, and three second place finishes. His second places came in the 200 breaststroke (2:10.20), 200 free (1:46.45), and 100 breaststroke (1:01.38).
Also recording wins in the individual swimming events were Matt Van Fossen and Sam DeFranco. Van Fossen swam a 54.25 to take the 100 butterfly, and DeFranco went 22.27 to win the 50 free.
Paul Kirihara scored two second place finishes in the 100 and 200 backstroke with times of 54.75 and 2:00.92, respectively. John Rice finished runner-up in the 1650 free (17:08.21) and third in the 500 free (4:53.71). Ben Stewart placed third in the 200 free (1:48.57), while Adam Rosell also took third in the 400 IM (4:30.25).
Sam Hanson was the top diver of the meet, scoring wins in both the one and three-meter diving competitions. He scored a 325.15 in the one-meter and a 299.95 in the three-meter. Jon Gerritson also added pair of third place finishes in the one and three-meter.
The Gusties record wins in all five relay events of the meet. Sam Olson-Anstett, DeFranco, Zach Nachtsheim, and Billy Schultze teamed up to win the 200 free relay with a time of 1:29.27. Stewart, Gunnar Teigen, Craig Nordquist, and Davis took the 800 free relay in 7:15.91. The 400 medley relay team of Kirihara, Schultze, Van Fossen, and Davis won in a time of 3:35.47, while Kirihara, Schultze, Van Fossen, and DeFranco swam a 1:37.39 to win the 200 medley relay. DeFranco, Stewart, Davis, and Schultze finished off the meet by taking the 400 free relay with a time of 3:14.54.
The Gustavus swimming and diving team will be in action on Friday, Jan. 28, in a dual against MSU-Mankato. Meet time is set for 5:00 p.m.