Women's swimming and diving wins NSIC championship title for second consecutive year
The women’s swimming and diving team crushed the competition at the NSIC championships for the second year in a row with a total of 948.5 points, beating out second-place Minnesota State University by 83 points.
The championships were held at the Midco Aquatic Center from Wednesday, Feb. 14 to Saturday, Feb. 17. After four days of intense competition, the Vikings emerged victorious with 11 championship wins, eight all-conference wins and nine broken records.
Sophomore Bryn Greenwaldt, who qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials prior to the competition, walked away with the title of 2024 NSIC Swimmer of the Year, six champion titles and four broken records.
Individually, she finished first place in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 22.83, the 100-yard backstroke with an NSIC record-breaking time of 53.52 and the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 51.15, racking up 60 points for the three races alone.
“It was an incredible end to the conference meet and season, and it was so cool to see the hard work pay off in such an explosive way,” Greenwaldt said.
Freshman Avery Lommel was awarded the title of 2024 NSIC Diver of the Year and the champion title for two school-record-breaking dives: the 3-meter dive with a score of 454.75 and the 1-meter dive for 424.75. In both cases, Lommel beat out the competition by over 25 points, earning the Vikings 20 points for each dive.
“I am so grateful for the support from my team and coach. I don’t think I would be where I am without them,” Lommel said.
Starting strong
On day one, junior Makoa Montgomery, freshman Gracin Larson, junior Nesrine Jelliti and junior Angelina Chan swam to second place in the 200 medley relay with a final time of 1:41.71. Montgomery swam the fastest in the last 50-yards with a time of 22.47.
Montgomery earned a second-place finish in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 23.51, only 0.68 seconds behind Greenwaldt’s championship win.
Montgomery said the 50-yard freestyle is both her favorite and least favorite because of how “technically challenging it can be.”
Montgomery also said she enjoys swimming most because of the friendships she has formed with some international students on the team, like Jelliti and Chan.
“Swimming is something that brings people together,” Montgomery said. “They are probably not necessarily people I would’ve met outside of swimming, and it’s nice to have swimming as a shared goal [while] learning so much about them as people and their cultures.”
Day one also included a second-place finish by junior Meesha Montgomery in the 200 IM and a championship win of the 800-yard freestyle relay by sophomore Maija Kangas, senior Anna Tindall, freshman Sofia Hein and junior Amaya Street.
Continuing success
Shattering the NSIC record by 1.5 seconds for the 400-yard medley relay, Greenwaldt, Jelliti, Chan and Meesha Montgomery finished in first with a time of 3:43.68 on day two.
Meesha Montgomery said getting up on the block was the most anxious part of the meet.
“We’ve trained the whole season for this. We all know we are ready,” Meesha Montgomery said. “The room was electric with noise and emotions… But as soon as the starter says, ‘Take your mark,’ that’s when you’re like, ‘OK, I have to really dial in on what I am about to do.’”
On day three, following Greenwaldt's record-breaking 100-yard backstroke victory, Jelliti claimed a gold medal for her own record-breaking swim in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:02.78, crushing her own school record.
Chan, swimming alongside Jelliti, placed second with her time of 1:03.71. Together, Jelliti and Chan earned the Vikings 37 points in the 100-yard breaststroke alone.
Chan said she felt very happy about the way she performed in the 100-yard breaststroke.
“I feel really happy, especially because [Jelliti] came in first place, and I was really happy we got to share first and second place together. I didn’t go in expecting to do that well,” Chan said.
In the evening, Greenwaldt, Chan, Meesha Montgomery and Makoa Montgomery broke another NSIC record with a time of 1:31.69. Each swimmer finished her own segment of the 200-yard freestyle relay under 23.15, a time that no one else among the 23 other relay teams managed to beat.
Kangas swam a 5:03.88 race in the 500-yard freestyle to earn her a spot in the top three. As well as her third-place achievement in the pool, she was also awarded the Elite 18 Award, which celebrates both her accomplishments in the pool and in the classroom.
Ending with championship wins
The final day of the championships began with a championship win by Meesha Montgomery in the 100-yard IM with her time of 56.93. Alongside her swam Chan, claiming third place with 57.52.
Greenwaldt won what would be her final individual race in the 100-yard freestyle early in the evening, alongside Street, who claimed third place in the same race with a final time of 51.85.
Jelliti raced to third place in the 200-yard breaststroke, breaking the school record with a time of 2:20.85, only 1.25 seconds behind the University of Sioux Falls champion of the race.
The day ended with Lommel’s record-breaking 1-meter dive and Greenwaldt, Street, Makoa Montgomery and Meesha Montgomery breaking the final record for the Vikings at the NSIC championships. Collectively, they swam a time of 3:24.02, emerging champions of the 400-yard freestyle relay.
In conjunction with Greenwaldt and Lommel’s swimmer and diver of the year awards, Shelby Bartlett, the Vikings’ head diving coach, claimed the final victory of the multi-day meet after being awarded 2024 NSIC Diving Coach of the Year.
The Vikings have already begun practicing for the 2024 Division II NCAA Women’s Swimming and Diving Nationals tournament in Geneva, Ohio, from March 12-16.
“Coming off of conference, we have to jump right back into training, lifting two to three days a week and swimming six, so that we can…be fully rested and ready to go for NCAAs,” Greenwaldt said.
