Indianapolis – The Gustavus Adolphus swimming and diving team will have a pair of female swimmers competing in tonight’s finals following their performances in the preliminaries of the NCAA Championships on Friday morning. Alissa Tinklenberg (Sr., Willmar, Minn.) finished seventh in the 100 backstroke, while Jennifer Strom (Jr., Rochester, Minn.) placed 15th in the 100 breaststroke.
“We survived the morning,” said Head Coach Jon Carlson. “We had some good swims but other teams swam well too. This is a long meet and I’m proud of how we’ve battled so far. It was a crazy morning with a lot of individuals moving around, so I’m glad to see Alissa and Jenny pull through and make it to tonight.”
By virtue of her performance this morning, Tinklenberg has guaranteed herself a spot on the All-America Team, which will be her first individual All-America honor of the meet barring a disqualification. Despite not swimming her best race, Tinklenberg earned a place in the finals after touching the wall in 55.87. She entered the meet with a qualifying time of 55.01.
Jennifer Strom recorded a time of 1:04.53 in her 100 breaststroke and will now compete in the consolation finals this evening. Strom came into the NCAA Championships with a qualifying time of 1:03.58.
Also competing in the women’s 100 breaststroke was Tarin Anding (So., Sartell, Minn.) and Laura Drake (Sr., Mendota Heights, Minn.). Anding finished 26th overall with a time of 1:05.74, and Drake came in 33rd with a time of 1:07.06.
Gustavus’s lone male swimmer, Dante Colucci (So., Summit, N.J.), was back in the pool this morning and swam a 50.35 in the 100 backstroke for a 22nd place finish.
Danielle Klunk (Jr., Appleton, Wis.) rounded out Gustavus’s individual competitors in the 200 butterfly. Klunk posted a time of 2:07.29 to finish 22nd in the race.
The Gustie women also posted a tenth place finish 800-free relay – the meet’s one and only relay that is a timed final. Katie Olson (Jr., North Oaks, Minn.), Strom, Anding, and Klunk went 7:45.81, going four seconds slower than the team’s qualifying time of 7:41.15.
The finals for the 200 butterfly, 100 backstroke, 100 breaststroke, and men’s one-meter diving will begin tonight at 6:00 p.m. For complete results of this morning’s prelims and to view tonight’s heat sheets, please follow the links below. Note: Results do not include times of the 800-free relay.