CSB+SJU swimmers and divers start the season strong

The CSB and SJU swim and dive teams have been busy the past two weekends, competing at the St. Kate’s Pentathlon on Oct. 15, St. Cloud State on Oct. 28 and Macalester on Oct. 29. The St. Kate’s Pentathlon was an opportunity for swimmers to compete in events they don’t usually get to do. All CSB and SJU swimmers get to swim all four strokes in the 100 IM at the end of the meet, which allows the swimmers to demonstrate their talents outside of their normal events.

“Everyone did amazing and swam their hearts out from their first event to the last. It was a great first meet, and I’m excited for the rest of the season,” CSB senior swimmer Molly Johanson said.

The Bennie and Johnnie swimmers had their second meet of the season against St. Cloud State on Friday of this past weekend. St. Cloud State is a Division II program, bringing a higher level of competition that pushed the team to perform to the best of their capabilities. The following day, both teams competed against Macalester. While the swimmers had a couple competitions under their belts, this was the divers’ first competitive meet with a MIAC school.

Many athletes used this meet to swim “off events” or experiment with new techniques, contrary to the SCSU meet which was used to hone the swimmers’ best events. Both meets resulted in many season-best individual performances.

“We had a large number of athletes get season-best times, and it was fun to race against two very good teams,” CSB senior swimmer Mary Ridgeway said.

The CSB swimmers and divers in particular had a great performance at the Macalester meet.

“We had a goal going into the Macalester meet to achieve 50 season-best times and scores, and we smashed that goal. With only 24 Bennies competing, that meant each person averaged two season-best races or dive scores,” CSB senior swimmer Katie Brewer said. “This is amazing considering we typically only have three events each per meet.”

The CSB and SJU swim and dive teams are at the point in their season where their practices are at peak intensity, and every member of the team is working hard in the pool and the weight room.

“From the chances we’ve had to race so far, we are seeing many benefits from our training. Additionally, we are finding things that we need to work on to become even better,” SJU senior swimmer Timothy Belov said.

Many swim and dive athletes are looking forward to dropping time and taking advantage of every meet this season. Additionally, there is a large focus on creating a positive team dynamic.

“I want this team to be a supportive and loving team who is always the loudest on the pool deck and brings energy to every meet,” Johanson said.

The teams’ seniors are also looking to make meaningful impacts in the pool during their last seasons as Bennies and Johnnies.

“I hope to have fun with this season and just soak in the goodness for my senior year,” SJU senior diver Sean Fisher said.

The Swim and Dive teams host St. Olaf this Friday, Nov. 4, in the Warner Palaestra pool. The Johnnies beat St. Olaf 195-105 last season and will look to get a similar result on Friday. The Bennies were not as fortunate, as they lost 169-130 to St. Olaf last season.