Courtesy: Minnesota Athletics
MINNEAPOLIS – The men’s and women’s swim and dive teams return to action this week for the annual Minnesota Invite, hosted by the University of Minnesota Recreation and Wellness.
Beginning on Nov. 29 and running through Dec. 2, the Minnesota Invite is one of the most prestigious invites in the country and features some of the country’s top teams.
The event begins on Wednesday evening at 6 p.m., while the following days will have 10 a.m. swimming prelims and 1 p.m. diving prelims with 6 p.m. finals for both. All session and single-session tickets are on sale now.
Live results can be found on GopherSports.com and the Meet Mobile App (subscription required), and a live stream is available on YouTube.
Complete information on the Invite, including a daily schedule, can be found on the event’s homepage.
On the men’s side, this year’s field will include three teams ranked in the Top-25 in the latest CSCAA poll, including No. 4 Cal, No. 18 Arizona and No. 21 Pittsburg. The Gophers are also receiving votes in the latest poll. The women’s side features No. 13 Cal along with the No. 25-ranked Gophers. Arizona is also receiving votes on the women’s side.
Ball State and Harvard round out the six-team field of competitors.
At this point in the season, the ‘U’ has only competed in dual meets. The women are 5-1 with victories over Nebraska, South Dakota, SMU, St. Thomas and South Dakota State. Their only loss of the season came to No. 12 Wisconsin. The men are 3-2 for the season, picking up wins against South Dakota, St. Thomas and South Dakota State, while falling to No. 20 Wisconsin and receiving votes, SMU.
The women are led by senior captain Megan Van Berkom, who has already hit NCAA ‘B’ cuts twice in both the 200 fly (1:57.50, 1:58.66) and the 400 IM (4:13.06, 4:15.63). The Chatham, Ill. native has 11 individual victories so far this year and has yet to finish an individual race lower than second place. She currently holds the team’s top time in six individual events.
Van Berkom is one of three women to hold the top spot on the team in multiple events. Freshman Katie McCarthy has the current team-bests in the 500 free (4:51.38), 1000 free (9:58.64) and 200 back (2:01.19). Sophomore diver, Vivi Del Angel, is leading the team in both the 1-meter (324.95) and 3-meter (353.25) dives, hitting the qualifying mark in both events.
Hannah Cornish (50 free), Mina Kaljevic (100 free), Paula Rodriguez Rivero (100 back) and Ava Yablonski (100 fly) also rank first in their respective events.
The men’s squad is led so far this season by two-time Big Ten Freshman of the Week, Davide Harabagiu. A native of Rome, Italy, Harabagiu has collected six individual wins, along with four relay victories to date. The newcomer holds the team’s best times in the 50 free (20.06) and 100 free (43.96), along with an NCAA ‘B’ cut time of 46.11 in the 100 fly.
Junior swimmer Bar Soloveychik and two-time Big Ten Diver of the Week, YuTong Wang, join Harabagiu as the only other men to hold the team’s top spot in multiple events. Soloveychik posted the best times so far in the 200 free (1:36.78) and 1000 free (9:04.03), while freshman diver, Wang, has hit qualifying marks in both the 1-meter (379.15) and 3-meter (433.30) to lead the team.
Other men’s top times belong to Chris Nagy (500 free), Casey Stowe (100 back), Desmon Sachtjen (200 back), Joe Rudd (100 breast), Neil Simpson (200 breast), Kaiser Neverman (200 fly), Alberto Hernandez (200 IM) and William Christenson (400 IM).