Minneapolis – The Gustavus Adolphue men’s swimming and diving team is in fifth place with 122 points after day one of the 2014 MIAC Swimming and Diving Championships being held at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center over the weekend.
“I’m proud of the way the men swam today,” said Head Coach Jon Carlson. “We knew that today was going to be our most challenging, yet I still thought we put together some inspiring performances. The guys set a good tempo today and I expect us to come out fast tomorrow.”
In the meet’s opening event, sophomore Bennet Woltjer (Kandiyohi, Minn.) got Gustavus off to a strong start with an all-conference performance in the one-meter diving competition. Woljter scored a 405.75 to finish third overall.
After narrowly missing the top spot on the podium last season, junior Zac Solis (Centennial, Colo.) had his eye on the prize in the 500 freestyle this season. Solis touched the wall in 4:35.35 to win the first MIAC gold medal of his career. He finished more than two seconds of the second place finisher from St. Olaf.
“Zac swam an amazing race and was an inspiration to the rest of his teammates,” commented Carlson about Solis’s outing. “He stepped up big time and went after it right from the get-go. I was so proud of the way both he and Bennet started tonight’s events.”
Gustavus’s other top performance of the day came at the very end when the 400-medley relay team comprised of Dante Colucci (So., Summit, N.J.), Jacob Stern (So., Rosemount, Minn.), Ross Larson (Jr., Brookings, S.D.), and Zac Solis finished third with a time of 3:24.47.
The top three finishers in each event – including relays – earned All-Conference honors for their performances, and were awarded medals.
The 2014 MIAC Swimming and Diving Championships will continue with four more sessions Friday and Saturday (Feb. 14-15) at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center. Each morning sessions feature preliminary races and will begin at 10:30 a.m., and the evening finals sessions will start at 6:30 p.m. each day. The doors open each morning at 9 a.m., and again at 5:30 p.m. for the evening session on Friday. The doors will open at 3 p.m. for Saturday’s final session.
Spectators are welcome at all sessions, and there are two different options for purchasing tickets. Single-session tickets will be sold, costing $8 for adults and $4 for students. Fans will also have the option to buy an All-Session Pass for $40 (adults) or $20 (students). Heat sheets are included in the price of admission and will be available at the ticket window. Children 5 and under will be admitted free, and MIAC passes will be honored. No other passes or discounts will be accepted.
If fans can’t make it to Minneapolis, there are several ways they can track the action from afar. The MIAC has again teamed up with Webcast America to offer a live video/audio webcast of all six sessions. Webcast America will also offer archives of the sessions on its website for on-demand viewing, or purchase on DVD. There will also be “live” results available online with times and scores updated shortly following each event.
Complete information and coverage of the 2014 MIAC Swimming and Diving Championships can be found on the MIAC’s event home page. Throughout the championships, the page will include the event schedules, venue information, ticket information, psych sheets, heat sheets, results, recaps, photo galleries, highlight videos, helpful links and more. Fans can connect throughout the meet via social media, using the official hashtag #MIACSD on Twitter.