Gustavus 186, Carleton 108 (Complete Results) | Photo Gallery
ST. PETER, Minn. – With its seniors swimming in the final home meet of their careers, the Gustavus Adolphus College women’s swimming and diving team defeated Carleton College 186-108 on Friday evening at Vic Gustafson Pool.
“For as hard as we are training right now, I am very pleased with how we swam tonight,” said Coach Jon Carlson. “It makes me very excited as we head further into January, which is a very competitive part of the season. I thought our women’s score was going to be much closer than it was, but we swam outstandingly and the team really stepped up. Carleton swam great, but our women met the challenge.”
The Gusties tallied 12 total first place finishes, including 10 individual and two relays. Senior Leah Anderson (Apple Valley, Minn.) led the charge with three of those 10 individual wins, as she took home gold in the 100 free (55.31), 200 free (2:00.06), and 500 free (5:24.26). Fellow senior Morgan Field (Albert Lea, Minn.) was right behind her, tallying two individual wins in the 100 breaststroke (1:09.33) and 200 breaststroke (2:32.9). First-year Kate Reilly (Hastings, Minn.) also nabbed two golds, with hers coming in the 50 free (24.79) and 100 butterfly (59:09).
Haley Pesik (Fy., Eagan, Minn.), Hayley Booher (Jr., Warren, Vt.), and Michelle Simms (Fy., Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) also picked up individual victories. Pesik took gold in the 1,000 free with a time of 11:10.4, Booher won the 200 IM in 2:13.37, and Simms picked up a win in the 200 butterfly in 2:19.19.
The meet also served as senior night, and a special tribute was made to those individuals who dedicated themselves to the Gustavus swimming and diving program the past four years. Those honored before the meet included Anderson, Tarin Anding (Sartell, Minn.), Michelle Dehnke (Chaska, Minn.), Field, Annie Fittipaldi (Edina, Minn.), Meghan Heldt (Shorewood, Minn.), Julia Kramer (Burnsville, Minn.), and Amanda Winslow (Montrose, Colo.).
“This is such a special group of seniors,” said Carlson. “They’ve been apart of three conference championships and are doing of great job of leading and giving us a chance to win their fourth. I am very excited for the seniors as we go into the end of the season and believe the hard work and leadership that they’ve put in will certainly pay off at the end of the season.”