Men’s Team

The men’s swimming and diving team made the drive down Grand Ave last Saturday to compete at the St. Thomas Invitational. Both host St. Thomas and swam away with the meet (combining for 2,237 out of the possible 2,908 points), leaving the other four teams to battle for third place.

Led by Clark Jacobson ’14 and Wojciech Michno ’15, Macalester ended up winning that battle, finishing ahead of Hamline, Saint Mary’s, and Gustavus. In the men’s 50-yard freestyle, Jacobson, Michno, and Paolo Venneri ’12 all finished within one second of each other en route to placing 17th-18th-19th out of 27 swimmers. Domi Lauko ’14 and Ted Metz were 12th and 14th out of 18 swimmers in the 100-yard butterfly. Lauko, Jacobson, Michno, and Venneri composed Mac’s 400-yard freestyle relay team that finished 11th out of 13 teams.

This was the second straight event in which the Scots finished third. On November 19 the team hosted the Roger Ahlman Invitational and was narrowly beaten by Hamline for second place. Michno finished 8th out of 21 swimmers in the 50-yard freestyle. Jesse Goldblum ’14 was 6th out of 9 swimmers in the 500-yard freestyle.

The team next travels to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to compete at the Ed Kennedy Meet on Dec. 31. The team looks to improve upon last year’s tenth place finish.

Women’s Team

At last weekend’s St. Thomas Invitational the Macalester women’s swimming and diving team finished solidly in the top half of the meet’s competitors, placing fourth overall out of nine teams.

The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and St. Thomas led the meet, finishing first and second, respectively.

Renee Jordan ’14, who qualified for the NCAA Championships in the 2010-2011 season, was impressive off the diving board, finishing second in the 1-meter event and fifth in the 3-meter event.

On the swimming side, Karoline Hart ’12 claimed third in the 200-yard breaststroke and eighth in the 100 free. Fellow senior Grace Fleming swam to a fifth place finish in both the 1650-yard and 500 freestyles as a well as a sixth place in the 200 free. Hart, Fleming, Alese Halvorson ’15, and Claire Pillsbury ’12 came together for a fourth place freestyle relay team.

The Scots have competed in five meets so far this season. Notably, the women won early duals against Concordia-Moorhead and St. Mary’s. They will, however, face several strong MIAC rivals after the December break. During the break, the Scots head to Florida for a training trip and will compete in the Ed Kennedy Meet in Fort Lauderdale on Dec. 31.