Minneapolis – The Gustavus Adolphus men’s swimming and diving team turned in a much improved performance on the second day of the 2014 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championships being held over the weekend at the Aquatic Center on the campus of the University of Minnesota. The Gusties scored 202.5 points on day two of competition, moving them up one spot into a fourth place standing with a total of 324.5 points. St. Olaf leads the way with 564 points, while St. Thomas ranks second with 477 points, and Carleton rounds out the top three in third place with 355.5 points.
The Gusties benefited from three all-conference swims on Friday night. In the opening men’s race of the night, Dante Colucci (So., Summit, N.J), Jacob Stern (So., Rosemount, Minn.), Ross Larson (Jr., Brookings, S.D.), and Sam Olson-Anstett (Sr., Shoreview, Minn.) joined up to finish runner-up in the 200-medley relay with a time of 1:30.36. The group’s performance earned Gustavus its second all-conference mark in a relay event.
Later in the night, Zac Solis (Jr., Centennial, Colo.) continued to impress with his third total and second individual all-conference swim of the meet. Solis, who captured gold in the 500 freestyle on day one, placed second in the 200 free after touching the wall in 1:42.56.
Gustavus’s third all-conference performance of the night was supplied by Dante Colucci. Colucci also tallied his third All-MIAC accolade when he finished runner-up in the 100 backstroke after posting a time of 51.52.
Other top Gustavus performances came from Jacob Stern and Kyle Herold (Jr., Ramsey, Minn.). Stern placed fourth in the 100 breaststroke in 57.23, and Herold came in sixth in the 100 back in 52.62.
The top three finishers in each event – including relays – earned All-Conference honors for their performances, and were awarded medals. Complete team standings and Friday’s All-Conference honorees are listed below.
The 2014 MIAC Swimming and Diving Championships will continue with two more sessions Saturday (Feb. 15) at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center. The final morning session features preliminary races and will begin at 10:30 a.m., and the last evening finals sessions will start at 6:30 p.m. The doors open at 9 a.m. for the morning session, and again at 3 p.m. for the final session of the meet.
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.