Minnesota Morris ended a busy day of action on Saturday with a fourth-place finish at the Dragon Invite, topping a Division II and a Division III opponent in the process.
WEST FARGO, N.D.– The University of Minnesota Morris women’s swimming & diving team ended the two-day Dragon Invite in fourth place with 482 points, finishing ahead of NCAA Division II foe Concordia University-St. Paul and Division III opponent Concordia University-Moorhead. The three teams in front of the Cougars at the meet were all Division II programs.
The day began with the 200 Freestyle, where Minnesota Morris had three point-scorers. Paige Haugen was 11th in 2:13.61, Lilly Radintz was next up in 12th in 2:14.04, and Jalissa Johnson was 16th in 2:18.51. The 100 Backstroke followed, with four Cougars earning points. Morgan Ball was 11th in 1:09.74, Abby Doyle was 13th in 1:12.87, Anna Fairbanks ended in 14th in 1:20.08, and Paulina Bekkum took 15th in 1:25.80.
The next two events produced a pair of top-seven finishes for Minnesota Morris. Jalissa Johnson was seventh in the 100 Breaststroke in 1:27.62, leading up to a sixth-place finish from Liesl Smee in the 200 Butterfly in 2:44.16.
Jenna Gutterman had one of the best performances in school history in the 1000 Freestyle, finishing fourth in the event and turning in the fourth-fastest time ever for a Cougar with a time of 11:35.83. Haugen was also ninth in the event in 12:43.77. Following that distance race, a sprint event followed as Radintz took 15th in the 50 Freestyle (27.43) and Carolyn Curtis touched the wall in 16th place (27.52).
The 200 IM was a busy event for Minnesota Morris as the Cougars had four point-scorers. Gutterman was ninth in 2:29.16, followed by Smee in 13th place (2:35.98), Ball in 14th (2:38.28), and Hannah Wellens in 15th place (2:47.69).
Gutterman raced into the UMN Morris record book again in the 500 Freestyle, touching the wall in 5:37.82 for the sixth-fastest time in program history, finishing sixth in the race. Haugen was 13th in that event, clocking a 6:04.79.
A series of sprint events followed. In the 50 Backstroke, Ball was 13th in 32.08 seconds and Doyle was 16th in 35.02 seconds. Haugen led the way for the Cougar in the 50 Breaststroke, ending in 35.66 seconds. Jalissa Johnson was 11th in 40.19 seconds and Victoria Johnson finished 14th in 52.70 seconds. The 50 Butterfly followed, with Curtis ending in third place (29.59) and Ball taking fourth (29.86). Further down, Smee was ninth (31.69), Radintz finished 11th (32.14), Bekkum took 12th (34.22), and Fairbanks ended in 13th (35.69).
The final two individual events of the day were the 100 Freestyle and the 100 IM. In the 100 Free, Radintz was the 10th-place finisher with a time of 59.36 seconds. In the 100 IM, Gutterman ended in sixth place as she turned in the 11th-best time ever for a Cougar with a 1:09.77. Smee was 13th for the Cougars in 1:14.79 and Wellens was 16th in 1:17.80.
The meet ended with the 800 Freestyle Relay. The Minnesota Morris ‘A’ team of Radintz, Haugen, Ball, and Gutterman turned in an excellent performance of 8:48.70 to finish third in the race. The UMN Morris ‘B’ team of Curtis, Wellens, Jalissa Johnson, and Doyle were seventh in 9:12.21.
Minnesota Morris comes back home to Cougar Pool on Friday for its final home meet of the season. The Cougars host Saint Mary’s College (Neb.) starting at 6 p.m.
