The Gustavus men’s swimming and diving team took first place at the SJU Triangular with 1252 points on Saturday in Collegeville, Minn. Saint John’s placed runner-up with 1042 points, while Luther College finished third with 566 points. The Gusties totaled 26 top-three finishes and nine event wins at the meet.
Whitaker Davis was the top Gustavus swimmer of the afternoon, winning three individual races and contributing to the first place finishes of two relays. He won the 200 butterfly with a time of 2:01.44, the 400 IM with a time of 4:20.87, and the 500 freestyle with a time of 4:53.36.
Paul Kirihara was dominant in the backstroke races, while Billy Schultze was tops in the breaststroke. Kirihara won both the 100 (54.41) and 200 backstroke (2:02.11), and placed second in the 200 IM (2:09.06). Schultze provided wins in the 100 and 200 breaststroke with times of 1:01.28 and 2:15.31, respectively. Sam DeFranco added Gustavus’s other individual event win by taking the 50 freestyle with a time of 22.57.
Second place finishers included Ben Stewart and Matt Van Fossen. Stewart placed runner up in the 200 freestyle (1:50.93) and took third in the 200 backstroke. Van Fossen finished second in the 100 butterfly (54.77) and third in the 200 IM.
Wes Jones (500 & 1000 free), John Rice (200 free), Zach Nachtsheim (100 back), Elliot Hoekstra (100 breaststroke), Gunnar Teigen (400 IM), and Josh Owens (200 breaststroke) all added third place finishes.
Sam Hanson and Ryan Ortlip were the top Gustavus divers of the meet. Hanson took third in the one-meter diving and Ortlip took third in the three-meter diving.
The Gusties won one of three relay events of the afternoon. Kirihara, Schultze, Van Fossen, and DeFranco teamed up to win the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:38.94, while the team of Craig Nordquist, Hoekstra, Jon Warling, and Teigen placed third in the same race. Schultze, Nachtsheim, Davis, and DeFranco partnered up to take second in the 200 free relay (1:29.67), as the squad of Davis, DeFranco, Stewart, and Schultze joined to finish runner-up in the 400 free relay (3:21.28).
The Gustavus men’s swimming and diving team will travel to Minneapolis, Minn. on Friday, December 3 to compete in the Falcon Invite. Meet time is TBD.