Stella Anderson Moye-

This past weekend, the Gustavus Swim and Dive team traveled to Minneapolis to compete in the 2025 MIAC Championship meet. The men’s and women’s teams both won the title last year and repeated the feat this year, making history as the first time in the program that both teams took home the title two consecutive years.

The Gustavus Men’s team led the meet with a final score of 879, finishing 137 points ahead of the second-place team, Saint Johns University. The men swept first place in the 200 Medley Relay, 400 Medley Relay, 200 IM, 100 fly, 100 Breast, 200 Breast, and 200 Fly. Peyton Richardson, 5th year, earned his second consecutive title of MIAC Male swimmer of the year, after swiping 3 individual wins in the 200 IM, 100 Fly, and 200 Fly, earning the NCAA B cut in the 100 Fly. Braden Ripken, a sophomore, also earned an individual victory and NCAA B cut in the 100 Breast and swam to take 3rd in the 50 free and 6th in the 100 free. Ripken will compete at the NCAA Division 3 national championship. Nyden Hill, senior, Brandon Wilcek, junior, and Aiden Carlson, sophomore, followed Ripken to the wall in the 100 Breast, touching in at 2nd, 4th, and 5th. Another standout performance came from freshman Jacob Robischon, finishing 2nd in the 200 fly, 4th in the 200 IM, and 5th in the 400 IM. These outstanding swims earned him the title of the MIAC Male Rookie of the Year. Teammates Ben Kell, sophomore, and Logan Cyr, sophomore, also helped rack up points in the 400 IM, Cyr taking second and Kell right behind him in 3rd. The pair repeated the same placement in the 200 back, with Matthew Lillejord, sophomore, finishing 4th behind them. Lillejord also took home 2nd place in the 100 back, with Kell finishing 7th, and Will Sarkinen, junior, finishing 8th. The 200 Free was also a strong event for the Gustie Men, with Aiden Shermak, sophomore, Logan Braley, junior, Landon Vaupel, sophomore, and Brendan Collins, sophomore, taking 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th. The men’s relays won the 200 Medley and 400 Medley and took second place in the 200 free relay and 800 free relay.

The Gustavus Women’s team also showcased another dominant year, swimming in close competition with Macalaster until the very last day, where Gustavus won the meet by a 20-point edge, finishing with 699 points. The meet opened strong, with the women taking 1st in the 200 Free Relay and 800 Free relay, finishing 2nd in the 400 Free Relay and the 200 Medley, and 3rd in the 400 Medley Relay. On top of making history for the first time, the program’s men and women’s team have both repeated a championship title, Geneva Fackler, freshman, also made history in the program by winning awards of both MIAC Women’s Rookie of the Year and MIAC Women’s Athlete of the Year after claiming victory in the 200 free, 500 free and 1650 free. Her time of 5:04.74 in the 500 is the program’s first-year record. Teammate Teresa Gatti, a freshman, also took 9th in that event, as well as in the mile, with senior Sydney Prowse touching in at 18:59.71 to take 12th. Marit Isaacson, senior, swam a victorious meet as well, claiming 1st in the 200 IM, 2nd in the 400 IM, and 3rd in the 100 free. Katelyn Siers, freshman, was right behind her, finishing 4th in the 100 free, 5th in the 50 free, and 3rd in the 100 back. Stella Anderson Moye, sophomore, took 4th in the 200 free, with teammate Caitlyn Otto, freshman, finishing right behind her in 5th. Lindsay Sundby, junior, took 4th in the 100 Breast and 6th in the 200 Breast. Gabbi Stoudt, junior, took 4th on 1-meter diving and is set to compete in the NCAA diving regionals meet.

This is the 6th consecutive title for the Men, and 27th championship title overall in the program. It is the first time the women have won back to back since 2015, and marks the 12th championship title for the women. The rich culture of the team that promotes hard work, dedication, excellence and most of all love of the sport is no doubt behind the success of the program. The foundation for a dynasty has been built and the limits of the team are yet to be seen. Go Gusties!