Minnesota Swimming and Diving Splits With Iowa as Gopher Women, Hawkeye Men Take Wins

Lindsey Kozelsky won both breaststrokes against Iowa. Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

The Minnesota swimming & diving program split their dual against the Iowa Hawkeyes on the road Saturday morning. The Gopher women prevailed by a final score of 157-143, while the men fell just shy via a 144-156 tally.

Team Scores:

Men: Iowa 156, Minnesota 144
Women: Minnesota 157, Iowa 143

RESULTS

Minnesota Swimming and Diving Press Release

Minnesota began the dual strong right out of the gate. In the 200 medley relay, the team of Emily Cook, Lindsey Kozelsky, Tevyn Waddell and Maggie Summit powered the Gophers to a first place finish with a time of 1:41.05. Overall, the event brought a one-three-five finish for the U.

All-Americans Waddell and Kozelsky each recorded multiple individual victories for the Gophers. Waddell won the 100 back by touching in 54.68, as well as the 500 free with a time of 4:56.31. By winning the 200 IM at the end of the dual, Waddell made it three first place finishes on the day, as the senior completed the event in 2:01.93.

Meanwhile, Kozelsky claimed the top spots in the 100 breast and 200 breast yet again with respective times of 1:00.96 and 2:16.00.

Adding to her already impressive freshman campaign, Jordan McGinty won the 100 free with a time of 50.60.

Freshman Jaclynn Fowler won the three-meter dive for the Gopher women, totaling an NCAA Diving Zones qualifying score of 347.20. Freshman Joy Zhu and sophomore Jae Sarkis also posted NCAA Diving Zone qualifying totals, placing fourth (307.10) and fifth (295.15), respectively.

In the one-meter, Zhu earned the top spot with a second place finish. Her NCAA Diving Zones qualifying score of 302.20 marked her best performance of the season. Sarkis and Fowler followed in the one-meter, finishing fourth (255.00) and fifth (253.35).

The Gopher men mimicked the hot start seen on the women’s side, but were unable to hold the Hawkeye men off at the end. Minnesota’s men’s team also won the 200 medley relay, as Gavin Olson, Max McHugh, Tuomas Pokkinen and Matt Thomas registered the first place finish for Minnesota swimming and diving, touching in 1:28.87. Thomas swam the fastest split, finishing the 200 free in 20.08.

Cameron Kelley made it back-to-back wins to open up the dual for the Minnesota men’s team by winning the 1000 free. The junior touched the wall in 9:14.58 to win the event. Kelley also took first in the 500 free later in the dual with a time of 4:26.99.

Olson and McHugh also won multiple individual events for the Gophers, with the former winning the 100 back (49.93) and 200 back (1:46.51). McHugh, enjoying a 2019-20 coming-out party of sorts, dominated the 100 breast (53.60) and 200 breast (1:58.02).

Near the end of the meet, senior Matthew Thomas provided a late push to help keep the Gophers in it by taking the top spot in the 100 fly. His winning time of 48.66 powered the Gophers to a one-three-four finish in the event.

In the diving well, freshman Jake Butler won the three-meter with an NCAA Diving Zones qualifying score of 360.10. Senior Jeremy Moser finished second (339.00) and Aiden Werner placed fifth (327.70), as the two both delivered NCAA Diving Zones scores as well.

Moser paced the U in the one-meter. Placing second in the event, Moser finished with a score of 331.60. Meanwhile, Jake Butler finished third (311.15) and Maxim Royzen came in fourth (309.00). All three divers’ scores reached the NCAA Diving Zones qualifying threshold.

Senior All-American Tevyn Waddell notched a season-high three first place finishes for the Gophers. The senior won the 100 back (54.68), 500 free (4:56.31) and 200 IM (2:01.93).

Lindsey Kozelsky, Cameron Kelley, Max McHugh and Gavin Olson all registered multiple individual victories for the Gophers as well.

Quotable

“It was an exciting meet,” said senior Tevyn Waddell. “A lot of us weren’t doing the events we usually do, so it was fun to see people do different events. It was nice to see that even in our off events, we still came out on top.”

“Big Ten dual meets are always great,” said Minnesota swimming and diving associate head coach Terry Ganley. “The Big Ten Conference is extremely competitive. For us, our seniors were good leaders. What’s really exciting is our freshman on both sides performed great. We’re a young team and they rose to the competition today. The combination of our senior leadership and freshmen enthusiasm has really created a fun experience.”

Iowa Press Release

Freshman Millie Sansome notched Iowa’s first win in the 1,000 free, swimming to a time of 10:03.70. Freshman Evan Holt (9:28.21) and sophomore Mateusz Arndt (9:31.31) came through for the men’s team with second and third place finishes. Senior Hannah Burvill kept Iowa’s streak hot with a win in the 200 free (1:48.36).

Sophomore Aleksey Tarasenko started an impressive run in the 200 free, putting up a blistering 1:37.35. The men again showed its depth in the 100 back, posting second, third, and fourth places finishes from senior John Colin (49.84), sophomore Anze Fers Erzen (49.89), and freshman Ryan Purdy (50.21).

Freshman Will Myhre (55.03) and junior Daniel Swanepoel (55.86) took second and third in the 100 breast behind NCAA finalist Max McHugh. Burvill continued Iowa’s top-3 run in the 100 free, putting up a 50.86 for a second-place finish.

Junior Kelsey Drake gave Iowa another win in the 200 fly, posting a time of 2:00.41, while senior Michael Tenney followed Drake’s swim with a victory for the men in 1:48.45.

Iowa put on display its depth in the sprint events, with Tarasenko again taking first in the 100 free (44.21), followed by seniors Joe Myhre (45.03) and Will Scott (45.49). Sansome tabbed another win for the Hawkeyes in the 200 back, putting up a stellar time of 2:01.17.

Drake was the next Hawkeye to strike in the 100 fly, placing atop the field with a time of 54.35. Tenney was the final Hawkeye to post an individual win, putting up a 1:50.42 in the 200 IM and putting Iowa one point behind Minnesota leading into the 400-free relays.

Iowa wrapped the meet with relay wins in both 400-free relays. The team of Sarah Schemmel, Burvill, Lauren McDougall, and Maddie Ziegert put a 3:24.84 on the board, just missing a victory against the Gophers.

The men’s relay of Tarasenko, Scott, Steve Fiolic, and Joe Myhre sealed the victory in a dominating win. The relay team finished in a time of 2:58.11.

Iowa took control on the 1-meter springboard, posting wins in the men’s and women’s events. Junior Jayah Mathews dove to a score of 309.65, while freshman Mohamed Neuman dove to a NCAA Zone D score of 334.00.

Sophomore Sam Tamborski (332.40) and Mathews (326.45) took second and third off the 3-meter springboard. Junior Anton Hoherz (334.20) and Neuman (329.75) rounded out diving with third and fourth place finishes.

HEARING FROM HEAD COACH MARC LONG

“We knew it would be hard fought and we knew we would get their best. We have a lot of development going on and we couldn’t be more proud of our team. With the growth we’ve seen, there’s a lot of bright spots with this program going forward.

“Dual meets are great because we don’t have to analyze too much. You get to race, step up, and do it again. We look at what we could have done better afterwards. Once we knew the meet was going to come down to the relays, we loaded up our ‘A’ relays and battled it out. They were safe on their exchanges, which was a good thing, and they’ve raced and worked hard. We’re still in that strong part of the season with training and we have an exciting group of meets coming up.”

Name*

Email*

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use