St. Paul – The Gustavus Adolphus men’s swimming and diving team suffered a 193-111 loss to the University of St. Thomas in the team’s final Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference dual of the season on Saturday afternoon at the St. Thomas Natatorium. The Gusties recorded a total of four event victories, yet couldn’t keep up with the surging Tommies.
“I’m pleased with how the men went out and battled today,” said Head Coach Jon Carlson. “We went up against a strong St. Thomas team and I thought we benefited greatly from the competition. Zac and Jacob are both swimming great and it was fun to see them go out and compete.”
Zac Solis (Jr., Centennial, Colo.) and Jacob Stern (So., Rosemount, Minn.) both recorded a win and two second place finishes. Solis won the 500 freestyle with a time of 4:45.55, and finished runner-up in the 200 free (1:47.30) and 200 back (2:02.35). Stern out-touched the field in the 200 individual medley in 2:08.18, and placed second in the 100 breaststroke (1:00.12) and 200 breaststroke (2:16.20).
Gustavus’s other individual event victory came from Dante Colucci (So., Summit, N.J.) who won gold in the 100 backstroke in 55.33.
The 400-free relay team comprised of Jeff Nelson (So., Maple Grove, Minn.), Kyle Herold (Jr., Ramsey, Minn.), Solis, and Kurt Youngdahl (Jr., Deephaven, Minn.) provided the Black and Gold’s final win of the day, taking the event with a time of 3:19.23.
Youngdahl and diver Bennet Woltjer (So., Kandiyohi, Minn.) both recorded a pair of second place finishes. Youndahl’s came in the 50 free (22.18) and 100 free (48.03), and Woltjer’s came in the one-meter (230.30) and three-meter (267.35) competitions.
Ben Miller (So, Des Moines, Iowa) came in second in the 200 IM (2:09.38), Tommy Panetti (Jr., Bloomington, Minn.) placed third in the 1,000 free (10:48.09), and Matt Kuckler (Fr., St. Paul, Minn.) took third in the 200 IM (2:11.86).
The Gustavus swimming and diving teams will be in action once more before competing in the MIAC Championships set to take place on Feb. 13-15. The team will take part in the MIAC Invitational hosted by the University of St. Thomas next weekend on Jan. 31-Feb. 1.’