Meet Results | GameDay Preview

ST. PAUL, Minn. — With just a couple of weeks before the season-ending Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championships, Saint Mary's University swimming and diving coach Eric Lindquist was hoping his athletes could use Saturday's St. Catherine Invitational as a bit of a springboard.

And spring they did.

Led by the efforts of Mark Ross (Dubuque, Iowa), P.J. Heller (St. Cloud, Minn.), Abby Kratzke (Dent, Minn.) and Sarah Jansen (Manitowoc, Wis.), the Cardinals' performances put a smile on their coach's face.

Heller and Ross each collected a pair of top-10 finishes to lead the Cardinal men to a fourth-place team finish, while Jansen shined in the diving competitions to pace the SMU women's eighth-place showing.

“It was a good meet all the way around,” said Lindquist. “We've got people who are working hard to get times that will get them into the conference meet, and we've got others who are trying to get their times down a bit — and I think we accomplished both of those goals today.”

Heller picked up a second-place finish in the 200 freestyle, posting a time of 1:56.34, finishing behind Saint John's David Kahat, who won the even in 1:55.22 The freshman also recorded a sixth in the 100 freestyle (52.72) and added a time of 23.95 to place 11th in the 50 freestyle. Ross, meanwhile, was third in the 100 freestyle (52.40) and sixth in the 100 breaststroke (1:09.89).

Jansen totaled 297.73 points to finish third in the three-meter diving competition, while adding an 11th in the one-meter with a 219.90 total. Kratzke raced to a sixth-place showing in the 400 IM (1:08.64), while adding Anna Smaron (Maple Plain, Minn.) also cracked the top 10 with a time of 1:19.30 to finish ninth in the 100 breaststroke. Anne Raecker (Cedar Falls, Iowa) and Sivan Fogel (Haifa, Isreal) also had solid efforts for the Cardinals, as Raecker posted times of 2:20.77 in the 200 freestyle and 6:16.24 in the 500 freestyle, while Fogel added a 2:33.82 in the 200 backstroke.

The Cardinals are back in action next weekend, as they head to St. Paul, Minn., for the St. Thomas MIAC Preview — the final competition before the MIAC Championships on Feb. 14-16.