MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – Sophomore Katie Homme won the conference title in the 50-yard freestyle, as the St. Olaf College women's swimming and diving team remained in third and the men climbed one spot to fifth after the first full day of the 2025 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Swimming & Diving Championships on Thursday at the Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center.

Homme became the first Ole to win the conference title in the 50-yard freestyle since 2009 for one of three All-MIAC (top-three) performances for the St. Olaf women, while junior Nick Starcevich was the runner-up in the 50-yard freestyle for the men. Through 14 events, the Ole women are third in the eight-team standings with 210 points, while the men are fifth out of sixth with 152 points.

After finishing one one-hundredth of a second behind Macalester College's Verity Wray-Raabolle in the prelims during the morning, Homme edged the Scot by three one-hundredths of a second in the A Final with a time of 23.92 seconds to become St. Olaf's first conference champion in the event since Lauren Snyder '12 in 2009. Homme's time ranks fifth on St. Olaf's all-time list. Senior Ellen Varley jumped all the way up from 17th in the event last year to earn Honorable Mention All-MIAC honors with a sixth-place performance (24.36).

Junior Paige Steenblock claimed her third consecutive All-MIAC accolade in the 200-yard individual medley with a runner-up finish in 2:07.51, which moved the junior up from fourth to third on St. Olaf's all-time list. Steenblock was also the runner-up in 2023 and was third a year ago.

Along with first years Olivia Small and McKenna Hultgren, Steenblock and Varley accounted for two legs of St. Olaf's second-place 400-yard medley relay that cut nearly five seconds off its seed time by finishing in 3:52.96. The second-place finish earned the quartet All-MIAC honors after finishing a second and a half behind Macalester.

All three of St. Olaf's women's divers qualified for the eight-diver finals, as junior Zibby Hanifl went on to collect Honorable Mention All-MIAC honors with a fourth-place performance (390.05). First years Emma Haines and Savannah Carr also placed in the top eight in seventh and eighth with scores of 318.35 and 311.00, respectively.

After finishing 12th in the event last season, Starcevich registered the highest finish by an Ole in the men's 50-yard freestyle since Tanner Roe won the event in 2014 with a runner-up performance in 20.79 seconds to pick up all-conference honors. Junior William Wallace landed honorable-mention honors in fourth (30.99), as both Oles posted top-six times on St. Olaf's all-time list (Starcevich fifth, Wallace t-sixth).

Junior Aiden Yung added a second consecutive Honorable Mention All-MIAC honor in the 200-yard individual medley to his resume, finishing less than a half second out of second in fifth (1:55.58). Yung, Starcevich, fifth-year senior Aiden Yung, and sophomore Jack Homme posted a fifth-place result in the 400-yard medley relay (3:26.75).

The conference meet will continue on Friday, Feb. 21 with preliminaries at 10:30 a.m. and finals at 6:30 p.m.