Release courtesy of Matt Higgins, MIAC Assistant Executive Director
BLOOMINGTON, Minn. – The Gustavus Adolphus College women’s swimming and diving team rose to the occasion at the Grinnell Invite, finishing second behind only Division I Nebraska-Omaha, defeating the rest of the Division II and III field. Sophomore standout Kate Reilly (Hastings, Minn.) led the way with five first-place finishes – four individual and one relay – and she finished in the top three in all eight of her events. For her performance, the MIAC sports information directors honored Reilly Tuesday with the MIAC Women’s Swimming and Diving Athlete-of-the-Week award.
Reilly was a major reason for the Gusties’ great performance against a loaded field, as she took home individual titles in all four of her individual events – the 100-freestyle (53.48), 100-individual medley (1:00.75), 100-butterfly (59.39) and 50-freestyle (24.81). She also helped the 200-yard freestyle relay team finish first (1:39.28) and she also swam on the second-place 200-medley (1:51.59) and 400-ree (3:39.43) teams and the third-place 400-medley (4:08.98) squad. This season, Reilly in ranked in the top four in the MIAC in five different individual events. She’s ranked first in the 100-breast, second in the 50-free and 200-IM, third in the 100-fly and fourth in the 100-free.
Gustavus and its star sophomore have just two meets left on the regular-season schedule before the 2016 MIAC Swimming and Diving Championships. The Gusties will visit St. Thomas on Friday for a 6 p.m. dual between two of the conference-championship favorites, and they’ll compete at the Minnesota Challenge in Minneapolis, Minn., on Feb. 5-6. The MIAC Championships are set for Feb. 18-20 at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center in Minneapolis, and Gustavus enters aiming to win a seventh-straight MIAC title.