St. Peter, Minn. – In the squad’s final home meet of the 2013 calendar year, the Gustavus Adolphus women’s swimming and diving team scored 1,290 points to win the Gustie Mini Invitational held Saturday at the Vic Gustafson Pool. Rounding out the four-team meet was Carthage in second with 900 points, the College of Saint Benedict in third with 723, and Morningside College in fourth with 186.
The Gusties were responsible for two pool records and a total of 10 event victories on the day.
Alissa Tinklenberg (Sr., Willmar, Minn.) and Jennifer Strom (Jr., Rochester, Minn.) led the way with two individual event wins and another second place finish each. After thriving in the backstroke early this season, Tinklenberg focused on the freestyle at today’s invite. The senior won the 50 free with a time of 24.06 and the 200 free with a time of 1:56.04. Alissa also added a runner-up swim in the 100 free with a time of 53.67.
Jennifer Strom succeeded in dominating both breastroke races. She touched the wall in 1:08.45 to win the 100 and then recorded a time of 2:27.34 to win the 200. Strom’s second place mark came in the 500 free where she posted a time of 5:21.85.
Other individual swimmers who registered wins included Danielle Klunk (Jr., Appleton, Wis.), Katie Olson (Jr., North Oaks, Minn.), and Hayley Booher (Fy., Warren, Vt.). Klunk swam a 2:13.02 in the 200 individual medley to earn the top spot on the podium, and added a third place swim in the 200 free with a time of 1:59.94. Olson took top honors in the 100 fly in 1:02.22, and recorded a third place finish in the 50 free in 25.23.
Hayley Booher claimed a new pool record in the 400 individual medley when she out-touched all her opponents with a mark of 4:40.79. Booher shattered the previous pool record of 4:45.89 set by Saint Ben’s swimmer Morgan Peterson in 2011. She is the third Gustie this season – Alissa Tinklenberg and Danielle Klunk being the others – to break an individual event pool record at the Vic.
Gustie diver Heather Funai (Jr., Lincolnwood, Ill.) posted a win and a runner-mark performance in the diving competition. Funai scored a 192.75 to win the three-meter and a 218.50 to place second on the one-meter.
The 200-free relay team made up of Katie Olson, Tarin Anding (So., Sartell, Min.), Danielle Klunk, and Alissa Tinklenberg won the race in record-breaking fashion by over four seconds over the second place finisher. The group completed the race in 1:37.84 to break the former record of 1:38.01 held by current and past Gusties Kelsey Lucia, Olson, Sarah Hund, and Tinklenberg set in 2011.
Tinklenberg, Strom, Klunk, and Anding teamed up in the 200-medley relay to provide Gustavus its final gold medal performance of the day after finishing the race in 1:49.53.
The Gustavus swimming and diving teams will be in action once more before embarking on its training trip to Puerto Rico over the holiday break. The Gusties will travel to Minneapolis and the campus of the University of Minnesota to compete in the Jean Freeman Invitational on Friday, December 6th and Saturday, December 7th.