Johnnies make waves at MIAC Championships

Over the course of four days, the St. John’s swim and dive team secured conference titles, broke three SJU school records, had many All-MIAC performances and placed third in the 2024 MIAC Championships.

Despite the multiple-day competition, the team says they kept a positive morale and cheered each other on.

“We did a good job staying focused and eager to compete for all four days,” junior Carter Larson said.

The championship journey began with a first-place finish in the 3-meter dive from junior diver Eli Grabinski. This marked Grabinski’s third consecutive MIAC title in the event with a score of 488.55. His performance, followed by first-year Cody Watts in fifth (383.85) and sophomore Tim Rotter in seventh (361.50), set the tone for the competition.

“Individually I’m happy with my performance. I completed a few new dives that went pretty well and managed to get my personal best score on 3-meter. As a team, everyone did very well,” Grabinski said.

The Johnnies’ 200-yard medley relay with Larson, junior Connor Thayer, junior Colby Kern and sophomore Brayden Slavik placed second for the third-straight season with a time of 6:50:32.

As the championship progressed to day two, Slavik broke the SJU program record in the 500- yard freestyle with a time of 4:32:97. Slavik’s second-place finish propelled the Johnnies to a second-place position in the team rankings.

“I thought the meet went very well, not only just for me, but for my team as well. There were a ton of amazing times put down and lots of great racing,” Slavik said.

Thayer and senior Parker Scanlon also placed in the 500-yard freestyle, finishing in fifth and seventh, respectively.

Junior Liam Noble finished second in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 20.94, earning his 12th overall All-MIAC distinction. Larson finished fourth in the event (21.10), and sophomore Carter Reuster finished 5th (21.27).

The Johnnies’ 400-yard medley relay (Clay Megaw, Noble, Kern, Reuter) finished fifth, and the team finished the day in second place overall.

On the third day of competition, the Johnnies continued their winning streak with two athletes securing titles in their respective events.

Larson broke his own program record to win the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:39:82. This is the first time a Johnnie has won a conference title in this event since 1980.

Kern followed Larson in the 200-yard freestyle with a second-place finish (1:42:53) to earn his ninth All-MIAC honor. Kern was proud of how the team competed as they had a lot more high placements than in previous years.

“The energy on deck for all sessions was electric,” Kern said.

Slavik won his second MIAC title in the 400- yard individual medley with a time of 4:03:98.

Grabinski had another standout performance on the third day with a second-place finish in the 1-meter dive (457.25). This performance earned Grabinski his sixth All-MIAC distinction. Watts finished sixth (419.50) in the 1-meter dive, and Rotter took eighth (377.25).

Liam Noble collected his second All-MIAC honor of the meet with a third-place finish in the 100-yard backstroke (52.43). This is his 13th All-MIAC honor of his career.

The Johnnies’ 200-yard freestyle relay with Reuter, Noble, Kern and Larson secured a second-place finish behind the Gusties with a time of 1:23:28.

The final day of the championships saw the culmination of SJU’s collective efforts.

Slavik started the day with his second conference title of the meet in the 1,650-yard freestyle, setting a new St. John’s school record with a time of 15:48:67. Behind Slavik, Thayer finished fourth, Scanlon finished sixth and first-year Jack Davies finished 12th.

Thayer had his best MIAC Championship performance to date.

“This is the best I’ve done at MIACs, placing top eight in every event that I swam. Our team’s overall performance was good,” he said.

The Johnnies put forward a strong performance in the 100-yard freestyle. Larson won the event with a time of 45.90 seconds, and teammates Noble and Kern followed in fourth (46.29) and sixth (46.74), respectively.

The 400-yard freestyle relay (Reuter, Noble, Kern and Larson) closed the meet with a second-place finish (3:06:28), securing the team’s overall third-place standing.

Larson was happy with the team’s performance at the championship meet.

“Individually I accomplished my goals of winning the 200 and 100 [freestyle]. As a team, we had a lot of seasonal and personal best performances,” Larson said.

Head coach Ben Gill expressed pride in his athletes’ performances.

“[I’m] really proud of how our guys stepped up and swam. We had a relay early in the meet that was disqualified which set us back in terms of team points, but our guys didn’t let that get them down. They pushed through and swam some really great races throughout the weekend,” Gill said.

Gill highlighted his athletes’ many standout performances over the course of the weekend, including breaking multiple team records and taking home several individual MIAC Champions.

“As always, we can learn from our season and figure out what we can do better going into next year, but I’m really proud of what they accomplished this season,” Gill said.

As the Johnnies reflect on their accomplishments at the MIAC Championships, they look forward to making progress in the future.

“We are excited to see how we can build on this next season,” Larson said.

Grabinski looks forward to competing in the NCAA Regionals on March 1-2.

“I’m excited for regionals and the next few weeks leading up. It’s always fun getting to compete with some of the best divers in the Midwest. It’s a great opportunity to show improvements from the last few years, and hopefully this year I might qualify for nationals,” Grabinski said.