MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – First year
Maria Newton won the 100-yard butterfly as part of three top-two finishes for the St. Olaf College women's swimming and diving team on the third day of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Championships on Friday at the Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center.
Newton recorded the second-fastest time in program history on her way to winning the 100-yard butterfly in 56.51, which is also an NCAA B cut time and was half a second ahead of Anna Astrup of St. Thomas.
Senior
Helen Jensen and junior
Maya Knutson added runner-up finishes for St. Olaf in the 400-yard individual medley and 200-yard freestyle, respectively. Jensen, the school record holder in the event, placed second in the 400-yard IM (4:33.64), while Knutson was less than a second behind Maggie Menson of St. Catherine in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:52.17, which ranks fourth in program history.
In addition to the three All-MIAC individual swims, junior
Marissa Wolff placed fourth in the 200 free (1:52.62) to give the Oles two of the top four in the event and was just one one-hundredth of a second out of third. Wolff qualified in seventh place in the prelims before moving up three spots to fourth in the final.
St. Olaf's 200-yard freestyle earned All-MIAC honors with a third-place finish (1:37.50). As a team, the Oles remain fourth in the standings with 301 points. St. Catherine leads the way with 467 points, followed by St. Thomas (417) and Gustavus (414).
Newton was one of three Oles to qualify for the finals of the 100-yard butterfly. First year
Annika Cleven also earned a spot in the A final and ultimately took sixth (58.90), which is seventh on St. Olaf's all-time list in the event.
First year
Brydie Stewart competed in the B final of the 100 fly and recorded a 12th-place finish (1:00.20) to rank just outside the program's top 10.
In the 100-yard breaststroke, first year
Allison Purdum and senior
Kelly Wichmann booked their spots in the B final before finishing 11th (1:09.12) and 12th (1:09.93), respectively.
The MIAC Championships conclude on Saturday, Feb. 15 with two more sessions of preliminaries at 10:30 a.m. and finals at 6:30 p.m.
