Day 1 Session I: Results | Recap
Day 1 Session II: Results | Recap
Day 1 Photos: Men | Women
GameDay Preview | MIAC Championships Homepage

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — All season, Saint Mary's University swimming and diving coach Eric Lindquist has preached that every meet this season was preparing his Cardinals for the season-ending, three-day Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championships.

And if Friday's performance was any indication, it's safe to assume that Evan Lecy (St. Paul, Minn.) heard his coach loud and clear.

Lecy, competing in his first-ever conference championships, earned a spot in the one-meter diving finals, posting a preliminary score of 289.85 — nearly 40 points higher than his collegiate-best MIAC-qualifying score of 250.85 at the St. Catherine Invitational on Jan. 25 — to highlight the Cardinals' Day 1 conference championship performance at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center.

Lecy wasn't able to match his career-best showing in the one-meter final, slipping from seventh to eighth with a score of 280.60, but his effort still helped the Cardinal men hold down the sixth spot after Day 1 of the three-day competition. The SMU women, meanwhile, head into Friday's second round sitting in 10th place.

"It was a good first day for us," said SMU coach Eric Lindquist. "Lots of season- and personal-bests — and it was all capped by Evan's performance in the one-meter. He had a great day."

Joe Tonda (St. Paul, Minn.) and P.J. Heller (St. Cloud, Minn.) also had solid Day 1 performances for the Cardinal men, as Tonda clocked a time of 2:05.43 in 200 IM and Heller finished the 50 freestyle in 23.08. Tonda and Heller also teamed with Scott Carnahan (St. Cloud, Minn.) and James Lynch (Chicago, Ill.) to post a time of 4:13.02 in the 400 medley relay, while the four also teamed up for a time of 1:38.54 in the 200 freestyle relay.

On the women's side, Anna Smaron (Maple Plain, Minn.) posted a time of 2:24.79 in the 200 IM, out-touching teammate Grace VanBeest (Flossmoor, Ill.), who finished in 2:26.54. Ashling Meehan (Glenview, Minn.) added a time of 27.76 in the 50 freestyle, while Marit Christianson (Cottage Grove, Minn.) recorded a time of 6:28.10 in the 500 freestyle, and Claire Judeh (Eagan, Minn.) and Sarah Jansen (Manitowoc, Wis.) posted scores of 151.75 and 138.25, respectively, in the three-meter diving competition.

Smaron, VanBeest and Meehan joined forces with Kristin Wilkes (Savage, Minn.) to record a time of 4:36.18 in the 400 medley relay, while the 200 freestyle team of Smaron, VanBeest, Meehan and Bethany Schmidt (Sparta, Wis.) clocked a time of 1:47.62.