MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – The Gustavus men’s swim & dive team finished the MIAC Championships on Saturday with a second place finish, scoring 759.5 points. St. Thomas won the title with 908 points and Saint John’s took third with 398 points.
“I thought we swam amazing all weekend,” Head Coach Jon Carlson said. “The team atmosphere was unbelievable. They produced great swims and they swam for each other. Its hard to create that type of atmosphere in an individualized sport, but that’s exactly what they did.”
For the second night in a row, Tanner Sonnek (Jr., North Mankato, Minn.) broke his own MIAC meet record and defended his title, this time in the 200 breaststroke with a 2017 NCAA selection time of 2:00.61.
Mack Christianson (Fy., Cottage Grove, Minn.) also won a MIAC title, touching the wall first in the 1650 freestyle with an NCAA B qualifying time of 16:15.27. Zach Dawson (So., Eagan, Minn.) earned All-Conference in the race with a third place time of 16:20.68.
Josh Muntifering (Fy., Buffalo, Minn.) earned All-Conference in the 200 backstroke, taking second place in 1:52.05. Logan Bican (So., Monticello, Minn.) also earned All-MIAC honors, taking third on the three-meter board with a score of 430.20. Jonathan Bovee (Jr., Farmington, Minn.) was right behind in fourth place with 429.75 points.
The 400 freestyle relay team of Nolan Larson (Fy., West Des Moines, Iowa), Sonnek, Muntifering, and Andrew Peters (Jr., Montevideo, Minn.) capped the meet with an All-Conference second place finish in 3:07.60.
Riley Fairbanks (Jr., Hutchinson, Minn.) and Ryan Sklar (So., Lake Oswego, Ore.) took fifth place in their respective events. Fairbanks in the 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:08.99 and Sklar in the 200 butterfly, clocking a time of 1:56.03.
The NCAA Championships participants will be announced Wednesday, Feb. 28.