2024 SUMMIT LEAGUE SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Wednesday, February 21 – Saturday, February 24, 2024
- Minneapolis, Minn.
- Jean J. Freeman Aquatic Center
- SCY (25 yards)
- Teams: Denver, Eastern Illinois, Omaha, South Dakota, South Dakota State, St. Thomas, Lindenwood, Southern Indiana
- Defending Champion: Denver women (10x), Denver men (2x) – [results]
- Meet Central
- Live Results
- Live Stream ($)
The Denver Pioneers kicked off the Summit League Championships on a good note on Wednesday night, taking the early lead in the team races as the men eye a three-peat and the women aim to make it 11 in a row.
Women’s Recap
The Denver women comfortably topped the field in the 200 medley relay in a time of 1:39.09, as Ali Beay (25.05), Jessica Maeda (27.32), Inés Marin (24.54) and Erika Remington (22.18) essentially matched what the team went en route to last year’s title (1:39.16).
South Dakota were the runners-up in 1:40.56, highlighted by a blistering 22.06 anchor leg from Emily Kahn, while Omaha rounded out the podium in 1:41.87 as Lindenwood (1:42.32) was locked out of the podium.
It was a similar story in the 800 free relay, as Marin (1:48.91), Kali Metuzals (1:48.39), Sabrina Rachjaibun (1:50.53) and Maeda (1:50.39) propelled Denver to a decisive win in a time of 7:18.22, just shy of their winning time from last year with three of the same four members (7:17.17).
South Dakota leaned on a 1:49.99 lead-off from Gabrielle Ahrendt to hold off Lindenwood for 2nd, as the Coyotes finished in 7:22.52 to top the Lions (7:23.96) with no other teams under 7:30.
Team Standings
- Denver, 80
- South Dakota, 68
- Nebraska Omaha / Lindenwood, 62
- –
- South Dakota State, 54
- St. Thomas, 52
- Southern Indiana, 48
- EIU, 46
Men’s Recap
The men’s competition kicked off with the 1-meter diving event, where Denver’s Zyad Morsy emerged victorious with a final score of 343.30, toppling defending champion David Molina-Fregenal (294.35) of Lindenwood by a wide margin.
Last year, Molina-Fregenal edged out Morsy by less than two points to win the event.
The 200 medley relay saw Lindenwood defend its title in a close battle with South Dakota, as Piotr Kowalczyk (21.71), Johan Cue Carrillo (23.74), Elliott Irwin (20.23) and Patryk Winiatowski (19.36) combined for a time of 1:25.04, coming within earshot of Denver’s Summit League Record of 1:24.87 from 2020.
The key split for the Lions was Irwin’s fly leg, as he was the only swimmer in the field sub-21 and he put the team in the lead by half a second after they trailed by a similar margin when he dove in.
The Coyotes finished a close 2nd in 1:25.36, with Adam Fisher posting the fastest back split in the field at 21.61 and Zachary Kopp anchoring in a sizzling 19.17.
Denver was 3rd in 1:26.74 with a notable 19.14 anchor from Donat Fabian.
In the 800 free relay, Denver cruised to a title defense by over six seconds in 6:27.79, with strong splits across the board from Kieran Watson (1:36.89), Dylan Wright (1:36.45), Dylan Mes (1:37.29) and Marco Nosack (1:37.09). Compared to last season’s 6:29.88 showing, Wright was a big difference maker, splitting a full second faster.
Lindenwood was a distant runner-up in 6:33.85, with their top split coming from Matheo Mateos-Mongelos on the lead-off leg at 1:37.81. Mateos notably represented Paraguay at the World Championships in Doha earlier this month.
Third-place South Dakota State (6:36.26) also had a sub-1:38 lead-off from Samuel Johnson (1:37.67).
Team Standings
- Denver, 121
- Lindenwood, 116
- South Dakota, 76
- Nebraska Omaha, 73
- South Dakota State, 58
- St. Thomas, 54
- Southern Indiana, 46
- EIU, 24