Summit League – Men and Women
- Wednesday, February 17 – Saturday, February 20
- IUPUI Natatorium, Indianapolis, IN (Eastern Time Zone)
- Defending Champion: Denver women & Denver men (results)
- Live results
- Championship Central
University of Denver men and women ended their respective meets on a high note, each notching their third consecutive wins. While there were no surprises on the men’s side, the women’s meet had some drama on Day Four; University of South Dakota women edged meet hosts IUPUI by one point to finish third overall.
Denver’s Maddie Myers began with a meet record in the 1650 free, going 16:20.04 to win by nearly 8 seconds. Second place went to Pioneer Tyra Rooney in 16:26.93 while teammate Clara Jenck picked up third in 16:37.53.
Dylan Bunch also led a 1-2-3 Denver sweep in the 1650. The two-time defending champion broke the meet record with 14:54.73. Teammates Scott Bergstrom (15:13.69) and Alex Walton (15.25.44) took second and third.
Megan McCormick of Denver crushed the field to win the 200 back; her 1:54.47 was the top time by four seconds and only 1.6 off the Summit League mark. Teammate Lexi Malazdrewicz touched in 1:58.34, three seconds ahead of bronze medalist Alexis Bullard of IUPUI (2:01.17).
Defending champion Anton Loncar of Denver earned his second straight title in the men’s 200 back, going 1:42.31. Loncar was just off the Summit League record he had set in prelims, 1:41.39, but still more than three seconds ahead of teammate Jared Smith, who placed second with 1:45.45. Ian Ford of South Dakota came in third in 1:50.13.
Denver’s Johanna Roas successfully defended her 100 free title; this time she broke the meet record with 48.88. Teammates Lauren Moden and Zoe Huddleston rounded out the all-Pioneer podium, touching in 50.12 and 50.16, respectively.
Ray Dornman of Denver was another repeat winner; he broke the meet record in 2015 with his 43.49 and took it down even further this year, going 43.08 to win the final. Teammate Kyle Robrock was runner-up with 43.58. Ben Bolinske of South Dakota State and Lennart Kuester of IUPUI tied for third with 44.53.
Amanda Sanders led a 1-2-3 Pioneer sweep of the 200 breast. After two consecutive years of finishing as runner-up, Sanders climbed atop the podium this year with a 2:09.69 win, 7 seconds ahead of teammates Bailey Andison (2:16.56) and Maddie Eyolfson (2:17.29).
IUPUI’s Jonathan Stoller put up an incredible finish to out-touch defending champion Tim Cottam of Denver, 1:58.61 to 1:58.80. Stoller came back from .9 down at the 150 to get the win. South Dakota State’s Wyatt Rumrill finished third in 2:01.31. Stoller became the second Jaguar in history to win a Summit League totle, and the first since 2004.
Heidi Bradley of Denver was the 200 fly champion, beating defending champion Grace Sommerville by more than two seconds. Bradley touched in 1:59.21, while teammate Sommerville went 2:01.36 for second. Morgan Stepp of Omaha came in third with 2:01.84.
400 IM champion Kyle Ewoldt of Denver took home another gold medal, this time in the men’s 200 fly. Ewoldt stopped the clock at 1:47.26, just ahead of teammate Ben Ussery (1:47.63). Western Illinois’ Chris Neaveill held off Denver’s Bergstrom for third, 1:48.57 to 1:48.67.
Greysen Hertting of South Dakota won the 3-meter diving title with 294.10 points. Second was Melissa Berger of IUPUI (268.05); Olivia Olesiak of South Dakota State came in third (251.15).
Denver women won the 400 free relay to cap the meet; they touched in 3:22.76 ahead of IUPUI and SDSU. It was Denver (2:57.31), IUPUI (2:58.55) and SDSU (2:59.62) on the men’s side as well.
Final Women’s Scores
- University of Denver 1066
- South Dakota State University 534.5
- The University of South Dakota 490
- IUPUI Jaguars 489
- University of Nebraska Omaha 424
- Eastern Illinois University 213.5
- Western Illinois University 169
Final Men’s Scores
- University of Denver 975.5
- IUPUI Jaguars 642.5
- South Dakota State University 529.5
- Western Illinois University 443
- The University of South Dakota 417
- Eastern Illinois University 229.5
Denver should challenge themselves and join a competitive conference!
You’re right, Denver’s Swim Team doe not belong in the Summit League. The thing about college conferences though is you can’t pick and choose what individual sports team goes in what conference. The rest of Denver’s team such as Basketball and Soccer fit very well in the Summit League. Not only that, sports such as Basketball generate more interest than swimming (unfortunate but true). While its unfortunate to see a battle for second type conference meet, there is currently very little that can be done to put Denver in a more competitive conference.
What about fellow colorado rival Air Force? Most of there sports from what I know is in the Mountain West but Men’s Swimming is in the Western Athletic Conference?