*I wrote this on Saturday and got too busy to post until today
Wow!! What a day of swimming & diving. In order to exceed expectations, EVERYONE has to step up. I talked to the team about the importance of being resilient if things don’t go how you’d hoped. I learned today that there is another way to be resilient that I hadn’t thought of…just swim so well that things DO go your way!! Both the men and women swam smart in prelims, and even smarter at night. The women are supposed to be in fourth right now, and with everyone stepping up, they are in third and only 27 points out of second!! St. Thomas took care of the championships today by scoring 91 points in the women’s 100 fly. Beyond that event, we’ve swam right with them event for event. And St. Catherine’s…they are a powerhouse!! I predict they will finish in the top 10 in the nation at NCAA’s in a month. For us to be hanging with them…I couldn’t be prouder of the girls. It seems like every event we are moving up big time!
As for the men, what an amazing day of swimming & diving!! The men put 17 swimmers/divers in the top 8, and won 5 of the 7 events (including going 1,2,3,4,8 in the 200 free). On a day where we were supposed to lose ground, the men increased their lead to 138 points going into the last day!
All of that being said, we still have one day to go. On the men’s side, this is St. Thomas’ best day by far. The guys know that they have to “bring it” tomorrow morning in prelims to try to minimize the damage from St. Thomas. For the women, this is their best day. We will again need big performances from everyone to stay in the hunt for 2nd place.
You can follow along at the MIAC Championships website. https://www.miacathletics.com/playoffs/2018-19/sd
Sunday should be VERY exciting!! LAST DAY FAST DAY!!!
Jon Carlson
Gustavus Swimming & Diving