Grinnell, Iowa – The Gustavus Adolphus women’s swimming and diving team is in third place with 442 points following the opening day of the Grinnell College Invitational being held over the weekend at the Grinnell Natatorium in the Charles Benson Bear ’39 Recreation and Athletic Center. The Gusties posted two event wins and a total of nine top three finishes on day one of the 10-team meet. The University of Nebraska-Omaha leads the field with 514 points, while Grinnell sits in second with 471.
Rookie Kate Reilly (Hastings, Minn.) stood out on day one with Gustavus’s lone individual event victory and another finish on the podium. Reilly out-touched her competitors to win the 100 freestyle with a time of 53.26 and finished runner-up in the 200 IM with a time of 2:11.74.
Reilly also contributed to the Black and Gold’s other first place swim by helping the 400-medly relay team made up of Hayley Booher (So., Warren, Vt.), Morgan Field (Jr., Albert Lea, Minn.), and Leah Anderson (Jr., Apple Valley, Minn.) take gold with a time of 4:04.34.
Hayley Booher, Danielle Klunk (Sr., Appleton, Wis.), and Heather Funai (Sr., Lincolnwood, Ill.) all posted runner-up finishes in their respective events. Booher recorded a time of 2:12.53 in the 200 IM, Klunk went 2:17.07 in the 200 butterfly, and Funai scored a 381.40 in the one-meter diving competition. Leah Anderson rounded out Gustavus’s top individual performers with a third place swim in the 500 free with a 5:17.29.
The 200-free relay team of Reilly, Sophia Iaquinta (Sr., Lincoln, Neb.), Nicole Lohman (So., North Mankato, Minn.), and Klunk placed second in 1:39.99, while the 800-free relay team comprised of Klunk, Michelle Campeau (Fy., Rochester, Minn.), Booher, and Anderson took third in 8:10.14.
The 2015 Grinnell College Invitational will come to a conclusion on Saturday with preliminary races beginning at 9:00 a.m. Finals will begin later at 5:00 p.m.