Grabinski takes one-meter and three-meter MIAC titles

The St. John’s swim and dive team took home second place out of six teams from Feb. 16-19 at the MIAC conference meet at the University of Minnesota.

This was the Johnnies’ first conference meet since 2020 due to COVID.

“It was exciting for the guys to be back there,” head coach Ben Gill said. “A large majority of our team had not been to the conference meet before. I think that played a part into some of the relay swims we had and some of the way our team reacted to the end of the season. A lot of young guys had not seen that kind of competition.”

The Johnnies started out hot the first night, Wednesday, with a three-point lead over nationally ranked Gustavus Adolphus thanks to a strong diving and relay performance.

First-year Eli Grabinski got off to a good start with the MIAC title in the one-meter dive with an NCAA Division III national standard-qualifying score of 454.70.

“I was actually less nervous for the meet just because I had no expectations to live up to or any major goals I wanted to achieve,” Grabinski said via email. “I went into this meet with the mindset that I was just going to have a good time with my teammates diving at a nice facility for a few days, not really caring about how I ended up personally.”

Grabinski’s first place finish was the first win in the event for the Johnnies since 2008. Others followed with high placement in other events. Junior Connor Reed claimed his second career All-MIAC honor, earning second place in the one-meter dive with a score of 430.00.

The 200 and 800-yard medleys both placed second. The 200-yard relay team finished a time of 1:33.63, just 2.11 seconds behind Gustavus.

SJU slipped to second place by the end of day two on Thursday, with Gustavus towering over the Johnnies holding a 67-point lead.

The Johnnies set a school record in the 50-yard freestyle with seven swimmers earning points, surpassing the previous record of six.

First-year Liam Noble placed third (21.04) to earn All-MIAC honors. Three other Johnnies, first-year Colby Kern (21.19), junior Dean Brinkman (21.48) and senior Steven Froehle (21.80) placed in the A final. First-year Zach Ruoff placed at the top (21.64) of the B final, followed by senior Spencer Atkinson (22.21) and first-year T.J. Klinkner (22.51) in 12th and 15th, respectively.

The 400-yard medley relay ended with a second-place finish and a school record of 3:27.37, just five seconds short of the Gusties.

Not only was this a school record, but junior Joe Koller swam SJU’s fastest recorded time in the 100-yard backstroke in the first leg of the race, swimming it in 51.21 seconds. The previous record was set in 2014 at 51.28.

“After the race I was really excited; it was fun being back at conference after not being there due to COVID,” Koller said.

Three juniors earned points in the 200-yard individual medley. Koller placed fourth with a time of 1:56.43, just 0.83 seconds short from All-MIAC accolades, junior Ethan Huber placed sixth (1:56.97) and junior Jack Mehus placed 14th (2:01.10).

First-year Carter Larson claimed the fourth-fastest time in SJU’s program history with a 4:43.26 in the 500-yard freestyle.

Grabinski took home the conference title in the three-meter dive (487.70).

This win, along with Wednesday’s victory in the one-meter dive, gave Grabinski the honors of becoming the first Johnnie to be awarded with the MIAC title in both diving events since 1992.

Reed earned his second second-place finish in the three-meter dive. Reed and Grabinski both hit NCAA Division III A qualifying marks.

Koller became the first Johnnie to win the 100-yard backstroke since 2012 with a school-record time of 50.88 seconds.

Noble finished fourth, just 0.42 seconds short of third place and All-MIAC distinction.

The 200-yard freestyle relay ended the third evening with a second-place finish of 1:23.43.

The final night saw the Johnnies take home second place in the MIAC with 731 points, 299 behind Gustavus.

Grabinski was named MIAC Men’s diver of the year with his two first-place finishes.

Koller won his second conference championship with a school-record time of 1:51.44 in the 200-yard backstroke.

He broke his previous record from earlier this season by nearly three seconds to become the first Johnnie to win the MIAC title in this event since 2000.

The meet ended with SJU’s 400-yard freestyle coming in with a second-place finish in 3:06.88.

Grabinski and Reed took home qualifying marks and will head off to Grand Rapids Michigan for the NCAA diving regionals on Feb. 25 and 26.