Mavericks finish second in St. Thomas Invite

On November 11 and 12, the Minnesota State Mavericks swimming and diving team competed in the St. Thomas Invite in St. Paul. The Mavericks finished in second place with 858.5 points. St. Cloud State took home first place with 1,179 points, while MSU Moorhead finished behind Minnesota State with 778.5 points.

“The coaches and I were happy with the team’s performance overall. Collectively, it was our best meet of the season thus far,” head coach Nathan Owens said.

Freshman Jaycie Klein had two top-three finishes as she finished the one-meter diving event in third (361.10) and finished the three-meter diving event in first (204.95). Freshman Krista Kovar also competed in the three-meter, finishing in second (204.00).

“We had some standout performances from a few women like our freshman divers Jaycie Klein, Krista Kovar, and Lauren Hake,” Owens noted.

Also coming in third for the day was Taylor Bass, who took third (2:13.13) in the 200-yard butterfly, Alycia Holwerda placed third (59.84) in the 100-yard butterfly, and Sam Johnston took third (2:28.28) in the 200-yard breaststroke.

Junior Chelsea Calhoon had herself a busy day, as she managed to finish top-three in all four of the categories. In the 200-yard Individual Medley, Calhoon finished in the top spot taking home a first place (2:10.04) finish, and finished in third place in three events including the 200-yard backstroke, 400-yard Individual Medley, and 100-yard backstroke with times of 2:07.03, 4:47.15, and 58.65 respectively.

Also competing in the 100-yard backstroke was Cecilia Hake, who finished up with the top placement for a Maverick in second (58.22). in the 200-yard freestyle, the duos of Maggie Knier and Cheyenne Rova, and Nicole Bean and Hake came out on top and finished in first (1:36.63). Rova, who is a senior, also won the 100-freestyle with her time of 52.60. which earned her second-first place finish of the day. Rova competed in the 50-yard freestyle as well, this time coming out in second (23.87) while Knier placed third (24.35).

“It’s been good to see them get stronger throughout the fall and look sharper during competitions as we head into our mid-season championship meet coming up in early December,” said Owens.

Now for the season, the ladies are ranked 21st in the most recent edition of the College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) poll. The Mavericks along with the St. Cloud State Huskies are the only Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference schools to be ranked in the top-25.

Minnesota State’s women’s swimming and diving team will be back in action this weekend as they compete against MSU-Moorhead on Friday in Moorhead.

“Moorhead has a great team, probably the best in the history of their program. We’ll need to be at our best to keep the meet close and hopefully score enough points to win the meet,” Owens said.