By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — The 2019 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championships got underway Thursday evening — and the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota swimming and diving teams kicked the season-ending event off in record-setting fashion.
 
The Cardinal women's 800 freestyle relay team of Brooke Shefchik (Stevens Point, Wis.), Ashlyn Seifert (Austin, Texas), Katie Beitz (Blaine, Minn.), and Claire King (Red Wing, Minn.) team to post a time of 8:30.88, breaking the old school mark of 8:32.71, set in 2017. The women's 200 medley relay team of Amanda Hansen (Brooklyn Park, Minn.), Erica Camarato (DeForest, Wis.), Emme Quandt (Shawano, Wis.), and Beitz added an 11^th-place showing with a time of 2:04.52.
 
The Saint Mary's men's 800 freestyle relay team of Griffin Rades (Shawano, Wis.), Cole Stepanovich (St. Francis, Wis.), Darren Anes Dy Quiangco (Rochester, Minn.), and Alex Morrow (Stevens Point, Wis.) posted an eighth-place time of 7:51.23. In the 200medley relay, Stepanovich, Rades, and Anes Dy Quiangco teamed with Casey Hanson (Grand Rapids, Minn.) to place eighth in 1:47.18.
 
In the only other event Thursday, Jack Wells (Glenview, Ill.) placed 10^th in the three-meter diving, posting a score of 252.20.
 
The four-day event, held at the University of Minnesota's Jean Freeman Aquatic Center, continues on Friday, with preliminaries at 10 a.m. and finals at 6 p.m.