St. Peter, Minn. – In its final dual of the season, the Gustavus Adolphus women’s swimming and diving team took care of business against one its chief MIAC title contenders on Saturday afternoon at the Vic Gustafson Pool. The Gusties won a total of 12 events and kept their unblemished dual record intact by defeating the University of St. Thomas 182-116 in what was also their final home competition of the year.
The afternoon’s spotlight fell on junior Leah Anderson (Apple Valley, Minn.) who turned in a team-best three first place finishes. Anderson dominated the freestyle races with wins in the 100 with a time of 54.86, 200 with a time of 1:58.31, and 500 with a time of 5:21.45.
Behind Anderson with a pair of individual event wins each was Jennifer Strom (Sr., Rochester, Minn.) and Kate Reilly (Fy., Hastings, Minn.). Strom did her damage in the breaststroke with wins in both the 100 in 1:07.19 and 200 in 2:27.41, while also adding a second place finish in the 200 free in 5:23.44. Reilly touched the wall first in the 50 free with a time of 24.31 and the 100 butterfly with a school-record time of 56.60. The Hastings product broke Danielle Klunk’s school-record time of 56.91 recorded in 2014.
The Gusties also got wins from Hayley Booher (So., Warren, Vt.), Sammy Jagler (Fy., Eagan, Minn.), and Heather Funai (Sr., Lincolnwood, Ill.). Booher provided three finishes on the podium with a win in the 200 IM (2:13.04), and second place finishes in the 100 backstroke (1:00.22) and 200 backstroke (2:11.28). Jagler took first in the 200 butterfly (2:15.77), while Funai was the Black and Gold’s top diver with a win on the one-meter board (231.40) and a second place effort on the three-meter (245.35).
Other Gustavus individuals posting top three finishes included Katie Olson (Sr., North Oaks, Minn.), Nicole Lohman (So., North Mankato, Minn.), Libby Larson (Sr., Detroit Lakes, Minn.), Kayla Hutsell (Sr., Apple Valley, Minn.), and Danielle Klunk (Sr., Appleton, Wis.). Olson came in runner-up both the 50 free (24.69) and 200 free (2:00.03). Lohman took second in the 100 free (55.52) and third in the 50 free (25.42). Larson finishes second in the 1,000 free (11:10.76), Hutsell placed third in the 200 butterfly (2:29.04), and Klunk came in third in the 100 butterfly (1:00.84).
Gustavus won both the 200-medley relay with a pool-record time of 1:47.65 and 400-free relay with a time of 3:36.30. Making up the 200-medley relay was Klunk, Strom, Reilly, and Olson, who topped the former Vic Gustafson Pool standard of 1:49.21 set by St. Thomas’s Talbot, Punyko, Kukielka, and Splinter in 2013. Coming together to win the 400-free relay was Klunk, Anderson, Reilly, and Olson.
The Gustavus swimming and diving teams will be in action once more before the upcoming MIAC Championships on Feb. 19-21. The Gusties will travel to the Aquatic Center on the campus of the University of Minnesota for the Minnesota Challenge set to take place Feb. 6-7.