The Gustavus Swimming and Diving teams capped off an exciting week on Saturday, Nov. 12 with a home meet against conference rival St. Olaf. The meet came just four days after the teams participated in the annual Ted Mullin “Hour of Power” relay for Sarcoma research.

The “Hour of Power” event, an hour-long practice of fast paced, non-stop relays and sprints, was held on Tuesday, Nov. 8 in Lund Natatorium. Gustavus was one of hundreds of teams nationwide who participated in the benefit to raise money and awareness for cancer survivors and research.

“The Hour of Power is a great event for an even better cause. Our team looks forward to it every year,” Senior Management Major Zach Nachtsheim said.

Now in it’s sixth year, the program has raised over 265,000 dollars for the Ted Mullin Fund for Pediatric Sarcoma Research at the Comer Children’s Hospital at the University of Chicago.

“For sixty minutes straight we go all out. It’s a hard practice and the way we get through it is realizing what it’s for and that we’re all in this together,” Senior Sociology and Anthropology Major Melissa Aune said.

Team members carried their momentum and enthusiasm into the weekend for their first conference meet against St. Olaf College.

“St. Olaf is obviously one of our biggest rivalries, and we prepared for that by getting pumped up throughout the week. During the meet we focused on being happy and crazy and loud and having fun,” Aune said.

The energy paid off for the Gustie Women, who notched a 161-139 win over the Oles. Three Gusties snagged four individual first place finishes in the victory, with Sophomore Accounting Major Alissa Tinklenberg taking first in the 200 backstroke and 500 free, First-Year Jennifer Strom winning the 100m breaststroke and Junior Nursing Major Kelsey Lucia winning the 50 free.

The 200 free relay team of Tinklenberg, Lucia, First-Year Katie Olson and Junior English Major Sarah Hund set a pool record with a time of 1:38.01. The women divers swept the podium during the meet, grabbing top three finishes in both the one-meter and three-meter events.

“I’m really proud of how we performed as a team,” Aune said. “Everyone stepped up and swam to inspire.”

Despite a strong effort, the Gustie men weren’t able to keep up to St. Olaf, falling short by a score of 176-112. Fourteen Gustavus swimmers finished in the top three during the individual races, but it wasn’t enough to top the Oles who grabbed the top spot in each individual race.

Sophomore Ross Larson and First-year Zac Solis were top performers for Gustavus. Larson placed second in the 200 free and third in the 200 backstroke and 500 free. Solis finished second in the 200 backstroke and third in the 100 backstroke and 50 free.

Gustavus Men’s lone victory of the night went to the 200-free relay team, who came in first with a time of 1:28.36.

Sophomore divers Sam Hanson and Computer Science Major Michael Patterson took the top two spots in both diving events with Hanson tallying a score of 209.25 on the one-meter and a 215.15 on the three-meter and Patterson scoring 207.25 on the one-meter and 173.00 on the three-meter.

“Even though we lost the meet this past Saturday, the team had an amazing performance,” Nachtsheim said.

“St Olaf has been our biggest rival for countless years and this dual meet is one of the most electrifying meets anyone on this team has been part of. The team can’t wait to race them again at the conference meet at the end of the season,” Nachtsheim said.

The Gustavus swimming and diving teams will take to the pool at home again on Saturday, Nov. 19 when they host Saint John’s, Saint Ben’s and MSU-Mankato.