ROCHESTER, Minn. – Saint John’s swimming and diving finished sixth out of eight teams at the three-day Rochester Invitational, hosted by Division II St. Cloud State, on Saturday, Dec. 6.
The host Huskies won the meet with 2,001 points, followed by Wisconsin-La Crosse (1,418) and NAIA St. Ambrose of Iowa (1,408.5). SJU was fourth among DIII schools behind La Crosse, Wisconsin-Eau Claire (1407.5) and Carleton (786).
Senior Brayden Slavik (Green Isle, Minn./Chaska) won the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:30.15, which surpassed the NCAA B-cut time of 4:31.24. He set the SJU record in the event last year with a 4:29.49. His time was nine seconds short of the DIII A-cut time and two seconds faster than the Division II B cut.
He added his second B-cut time of the weekend in the 1,650-yard freestyle with a time of 15:43.14 to win the event. He beat the cut time by nearly seven seconds – another event in which he set the SJU record (15:32.98) in at last February’s MIAC Championships. His distance swim was 13 seconds faster than the second-place swimmer from SCSU.
Slavik also finished second in the 400-yard individual medley (4:04.88) and was a member of three SJU freestyle relay teams, two of which finished in the top 10.
Junior Cody Watts (St. Cloud, Minn./Tech) led SJU on the boards, taking fourth in the 1-meter (365.35) and sixth on the 3-meter dive (322.65).
Sophomore Henry Hilgendorf (Owatonna, Minn.) finished seventh in the 3-meter dive (312.00) and sixth in the 1-meter (337.55), just ahead of teammate senior Tim Rotter (Blaine, Minn.), who was eighth on the 1-meter dive (312.90) and 10th on the 3-meter (300.15).
Freshman Lincoln Cochran (Helena, Mont./Capital) took 12th in the 400-yard individual medley (4:18.11) and 13th in both the 200-yard breaststroke (2:14.27) and 200-yard individual medley (2:01.01) and 23rd in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:01.76). He was SJU’s top finisher in four of his swims over the week.
Freshman Vincent Schulze (Eden Prairie, Minn.) touched the wall 10th in the 200-yard freestyle (1:45.55), 16th in the 50-yard freestyle (21.71) and 39th in the 100-yard freestyle (49.35).
Senior Carsten Reuter (St. Cloud, Minn./Tech) led SJU in the 100-yard freestyle (47.05), taking ninth to win the consolation final after placing 10th in the prelims. He added a 14th place finish in the 200-yard freestyle (1:47.10).
Senior Clay Megaw (Monticello, Minn.) collected an 11th place finish in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:12.74), 14th in the 100-yard breaststroke (59.88) and 23rd in the 100-yard individual medley (1:00.19).
Junior Trevor Barton (Buffalo, Minn.) added a 12th place touch behind Slavik in the 1,650-yard freestyle (17:15.02), a 17th in the 500-yard freestyle (4:52.39) and finished 21st in the 400-yard individual medley (4:30.03).
Freshman Braydon Ohrtman (Highlands Ranch, Colo.) finished with a pair of 22nd in freestyle finals, claiming the mark in both the 200- (1:48.83) and 500-yard (5:00.99) freestyles.
Sophomore Jason Jones (Monticello, Minn.) was 19th in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:15.31), tied for 20th in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:01.37) and finished 23rd in the 200-yard individual medley (2:05.13).
Junior Luis Flores (Hugo, Minn./Mahtomedi) was 20th in both the 200-yard butterfly (2:08.83) and 1,650-yard freestyle (17:48.41), and 22nd in the 400-yard individual medley (4:33.28).
Sophomore Riley Yerks (Hutchinson, Minn.) touched the wall 22nd in the 200-yard backstroke (2:06.60) and 24th in the 100-yard backstroke (58.05), while junior Brennan Close (Princeton, Minn.) took 23rd in the 1,650-yard freestyle (19:17.84) and 24th in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:21.13). Senior Joe Fuller (Omaha, Neb./Creighton Prep) capped the SJU performances with a 24th in the 100-yard individual medley (1:06.19).
SJU’s relays:
-400-yard freestyle (Slavik, Reuter, Schulze, Cochran), 14th (3:11.93)
-800-yard freestyle (Barton, Slavik, Schulze, Ohrtman), sixth (7:10.45)
-200-yard freestyle (Reuter, Ohrtman, Schulze, Slavik), seventh (1:25.73)
-200-yard medley (Yerks, Jones, Flores, Ohrtman), 28th (1:43.80)
-400-yard medley (Betts, Jones, Cochran, Ohrtman), 28th (3:44.71)
SJU returns to the pool in the New Year with the Luther Sprint Invitational at noon Saturday, Jan. 10, in Decorah, Iowa.
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