ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota swimming and diving teams officially kicked off their seasons on Saturday at the Hamline Invitational—and several Cardinals made rather impressive debuts.
Janelle Mueller (Lewiston, Minn.) and Reese Galewski (Winona, Minn.), competing as Cardinals for the first time, picked up a pair of first-place finishes to lead the Saint Mary's women to a fourth-place team finish, while fellow Cardinal newcomer
Zac Finkelstein (Naperville, Ill.) chipped in a fourth-place effort to help the Saint Mary's men match the women's fourth-place team showing.
"It was a good meet for us," said Saint Mary's coach
Eric Lindquist. "We needed a meet like this see where we are at—to set the standard for the rest of the season."
And set an impressive standard they did.
Mueller won the three-meter diving competition, totaling 179.25 points, while adding a fourth-place finish in the one-meter diving (168.10). Galewski, meanwhile, had a very busy afternoon, collecting a first in the 100 butterfly (1:02.50), a second in the 200 IM (2:27.90) and a ninth in the 500 freestyle (6:08.57).
Katie Heller (St. Cloud, Minn.) posted a third-place time of 58.48 in the 100 freestyle and added a sixth-place showing in the 50 freestyle (26.77), while Grace VanBeest (Flossmoor, Ill.) chipped in a pair of fourth-place performances in the 200 IM (2:29.34) and 100 breaststroke (1:14.35). Marit Christianson (Cottage Grove, Minn.) and Anne Raecker (Cedar Falls, Iowa) also recorded top 10 efforts, with Christianson placing sixth in the 1,000 freestyle (12:56.77) and Raecker adding an eighth in the 200 freestyle (2:21.56).
Finkelstein led the way for the Cardinal men with his fourth-place time of 22.90 in the 50 freestyle. The Cardinal freshman also finished seventh in the 100 freestyle (51.53), while
Joe Tonda (St. Paul, Minn.) chipped in three top-10 performances—placing seventh in the 100 breaststroke (1:08.31), eighth in the 200 IM (2:18.01) and a ninth in the 100 backstroke (1:01.93).
The Cardinals make a return trip to St. Paul, Minn., next Saturday, as Saint Mary's takes part in the Macalester Invitational.
