Women’s Swimming & Diving clinches third consecutive MIAC title

Over the roar of the crowd and the chants of their opponents, the Gustavus women’s swimming and diving team found a way to make themselves heard at the MIAC Championship meet held at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center Feb. 16-18. For the third consecutive year the Gusties brought home the championship title, beating out rival St. Olaf 687-643.

“Gustavus is known to be loud and proud at the Conference meet; we certainly make the other teams stop and stare,” Senior Melissa Aune said. Sure enough, all eyes were on the Gusties right away, as they started strong to take the lead early in the competition.

A first place finish by the 200-yard freestyle relay team, along with second place finishes by Sophomore Alissa Tinklenberg in the 500-yard freestyle and Junior Kelsey Lucia in 50-yard free, set Gustavus at the top of the pack after day one.

That momentum carried the team into day two, where Gustavus found the podium in every event on the second day of competition. This included First-year Diver Heather Funai, who stepped up to provide the team with 16 points by placing third in the three-meter dive competition with a score of 361.20.

However it wasn’t enough to keep St. Olaf from creeping toward the first place spot. After several close races and a couple of stand out performances by the Oles, Gustavus found themselves with a narrow three-point lead heading into the last day of the meet.

“Credit to St. Olaf, they swam a lights out meet and came prepared to battle, but so did we.  We were not going to lose that meet,” Tinklenberg said.

Gustavus held nothing back in the final leg of the competition, relying on months of hard work to see them through to the end.

“We work hard all season long for this one meet, and this is where it all pays off,” Tinklenberg said.

Aune led the charge for the Gusties, taking second in the 1,650 freestyle with a personal best time of 17:51.61. She was followed closely behind by teammates First-year McKenna Jones and Junior Anna Eames, who placed third and fourth respectively.

Tinklenberg wrapped up a stand out performance with first place finishes in the 200-yard backstroke and as a part of the 400-yard freestyle relay team. Her 200-yard backstroke time of 2:00.99 set a meet record. The underclassman already holds school records in the 100 and 200 backstroke, and would like her success to carry into Nationals in the spring where she aims to place in the top eight of at least one individual event.

First-year Jenny Strom’s first place finish in the 200-yard breaststroke and Senior Steph Korba’s second place finish in the 200-yard butterfly at the end of the night secured the win for Gustavus, earning them their fifth MIAC title in six years.  For veteran Aune, the thrill of victory hasn’t gotten old. “The conference meet is hard to beat,” Aune said. “The team did amazing and I am so proud of every one of them. We had so many inspirational swims throughout the entire meet, it was absolutely great to watch and be a part of.”

Gustavus is waiting to hear the official word from the NCAA regarding who has earned a spot to compete in the 2012 Division III Swimming and Diving Championship held March 21-24, 2012 at the IU Natatorium in Indianapolis, Ind.