DETROIT, Mich. – The Saginaw Valley State University swimming and diving program started the 2024 calendar year with a meet at Wayne State Saturday afternoon. The women fell with a score of 151-85 while the men claimed victory 128-115.
The women's team came up with two first place finishes and seven second place finishes throughout their 13 events. Grace Charnstrom took home first in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of two minutes and 37.09 seconds. The other first place finish was the team effort of Andrea Bustos, Samantha Fowler, Alexa Hieber, and Veronica Markwood as they finished the 400-yard freestyle relay in 3:42.06. Heiber also took second in the 1000-yard with a finish of 10:46.74. Fowler took second in the 200-yard freestyle finishing in 1:58.62. Bustos also had a solo second place finish completing the 100-yard freestyle in 54.87. Markwood also teamed up with Charnstrom, Hannah Martin Cook, and Flora Mia Szklenar for a silver in the 200-yard medley relay with a mark of 1:50.49. Jenna Schmitt took second in the 200-yard breaststroke and Ava Frick, Ella Yantz, Emily Solarski, and Martin Cook had a time of 3:48.53 in the 400-yard freestyle relay for second. Lastly, Kaylee Smith took second in the 3-meter dive with a final score of 248.03.
The men had a very successful day in the pool winning eight and taking second in five of their 13 events. It started with a 200-yard medley relay victory for Eric Slabbert, Josh Rottier, Logan Fox, and Almos Szedlak who finished with a time of 1:31.94. Slabbert also took first in the 200-yard backstroke with a mark of 1:50.92 and the 200-yard individual medley finishing in 1:56.08. Fox took home first in the 50-yard freestyle and the 200-yard breaststroke with times of 21.21 seconds and 2:05.29. Szedlak had two other top finishes with a first-place finish in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 46.60 seconds and a time of 1:44.42 in the 200-yard freestyle for second place. Rottier claimed second behind Fox in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 21.75. Benjamin Wainman took home the other two top finishes completing the 1000-yard freestyle in 9:29.20 and the 500-yard freestyle in 4:38.50. The other second-place finishes came from Rodrigo Vargas and his time of 1:58.06 in the 200-yard butterfly, Rory Kaufmann's score of 311.63 in the 3-meter dive, and the 3:13.12 finish in the 400-yard freestyle relay by Nate Schluckebier, Matthew Richmond, Scott Hassett, and Gavin Crews.
After the meet, head coach Jason Lintjer had this to say,
"I'm really happy with our performance today. The win over Wayne State is a huge win for the program. The men and women both competed really well."
The victory for the men is the first win over Wayne State in the Saginaw Valley swimming and diving program history. The new year continues as the Cardinal swimming and diving program get back home with a tri-meet against Ashland and Hillsdale at Gerstacker Regional Aquatic Center. The meet is scheduled to start at 1:00 PM.