Day 4 Results | Full results
MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota – Saint John Swimming and Diving finished second out of six teams at the 2022 MIAC Championships on Saturday, Feb. 19 at the University of Minnesota’s Jean Freeman Aquatic Center in Minneapolis.
No. 25 Gustavus Adolphus won his third straight conference title with 1,030 points, followed by SJU (731), Carleton (590), St. Olaf (410), Macalester (220) and Hamline (64).
At the end of the meeting, freshman Eli Grabinski (Sauk Rapids, Minn./Sauk Rapids-Rice) was named MIAC Male Diver of the Year after winning both events this week.
Junior Joe Koller (Savage, Minn./Shakopee) won his second conference championship in as many nights with a school-record time of 1:51.44 in the 200-yard backstroke. The time shattered the record he set earlier this season by nearly three seconds (1:54.24) to become the first Johnnie to win the MIAC title in the event since Luke Vestrum ’03 in 2000.
Senior Spencer Atkinson (Cold Spring, Minn./Litchfield) and freshman TJ Klinkner (Lakeville, Minn./North) followed in eighth (2:00.65) and ninth (1:59.17), respectively, while juniors Handsome Brinkman (Wayzata, Minnesota) finished 11th (2:06.63).
First-year student Liam Noble (Plymouth, Minn./Benilde-St. Margaret’s) was fourth (46.65) in the 100-yard freestyle, 0.44 shy of All-MIAC honors (top three) and freshman Colby Kern (Delano, Minnesota) followed in seventh place (47.26). The Johnnies earned the event’s two fastest B-final times as a senior Steven Froehle (DuPont, Wash./Steilacoom) and freshman Zach Ruoff (Melrose, Minn.) placed ninth (48.02) and 10th (48.19), respectively.
junior Dylan Fleischhacker (Greenwald, Minn./Melrose area) and Ethan Huber (Mitchell, SD) hit the wall sixth (2:12.15) and seventh (2:12.71) in the 200-meter breaststroke, and classmate Tim Belov (Medina, Minn./Wayzata) finished 14th (2:20.44).
Second year Alex Heer (St. Paul, Minn./Cretin-Derham Hall) took seventh place (2:01.58) in the 200-yard butterfly, and freshmen Andre East (Minneapolis, Minn./South) and Langston Philion (Maple Grove, Minnesota) finished 10th (2:03.23) and 11th (2:03.65).
First-year student Carter Larson (Sartell, Minn./Sartell-St. Stephen) led SJU with a seventh-place finish (16:35.69) in the 1,650-yard freestyle. Classmate Connor Thayer (Prior Lake, Minn.) clocked the best time of the event in Saturday afternoon’s preliminaries (17:08.98), which earned him ninth place overall.
SJU’s (Kern, Noble, Larson, Huber) 400-yard freestyle relay finished the competition with a second-place finish in 3:06.88.