Grinnell College Swimming and Diving Teams Sweep Augustana in Dual Meet

GRINNELL, Iowa — The Grinnell College men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams both earned victories over Augustana College on Friday, October 16th, with several athletes winning multiple events during the dual meet.

The Grinnell women defeated Augustana 168-129, while the men’s team earned a 159-128 victory.

Both teams collected wins in swimming and diving events, with Grinnell taking advantage of strong performances in distance races, individual medleys, and relay competitions.

Grinnell Women Earn 168-129 Victory

The Grinnell women’s team opened the competition with a close victory in the 200-yard medley relay.

The team of Molly Ryan, Cassey Koch, Lisa Katsuta, and Tory Morse finished in 1 minute, 53.42 seconds, narrowly defeating Augustana’s top relay team, which finished in 1:53.52.

The difference between the two teams was just one-tenth of a second.

Grinnell freshman Sarah Schueler turned in one of the top individual performances of the meet, winning three events.

Schueler captured the 200-yard butterfly in 2:17.21, the 200-yard breaststroke in 2:35.63, and the 200-yard individual medley in 2:18.82.

Freshman Kate Callender also earned multiple victories for Grinnell.

Callender won the 1,000-yard freestyle with a time of 11:11.76, finishing more than 10 seconds ahead of teammate Nina Lyons, who placed second in 11:22.17.

Callender returned to win the 500-yard freestyle in 5:25.98, finishing nearly 10 seconds ahead of Augustana’s Mara Walker.

Another strong performance came from freshman Kate DeBoer, who won the 200-yard backstroke in 2:15.74. Augustana’s Natalie Salazar finished second in 2:18.11.

Koch added an individual victory in the 100-yard breaststroke, finishing in 1:11.74, while Katsuta won the 100-yard butterfly in 59.40 seconds.

Grinnell also received important points from its diving team.

Sophomore Alex Kruse swept the women’s diving competitions, winning the three-meter event with 255.00 points and the one-meter event with 266.78 points.

Teammate Norah Nicol finished second in both events, scoring 176.93 points on the three-meter board and 234.00 on the one-meter board.

Augustana also recorded several strong performances during the women’s competition.

Senior Kendle Mihm won both sprint freestyle events, taking the 50-yard freestyle in 25.30 seconds and the 100-yard freestyle in 54.45 seconds.

Sophomore Mya Pheneger won the 200-yard freestyle in 2:01.91, while Salazar captured the 100-yard backstroke in 1:01.88.

Augustana also won the final women’s relay, finishing the 200-yard freestyle relay in 1:41.30. Grinnell placed second in 1:42.35.

Despite those Augustana victories, Grinnell’s depth across the swimming and diving events helped secure the 39-point team victory.

Grinnell Men Win 159-128

The Grinnell men’s team also started with a relay victory.

Evan Ingraham, Jafar Jarrar, Spencer Pfaff, and Aidan Donovan combined to win the 200-yard medley relay in 1:34.33.

Augustana finished second in 1:35.84.

Grinnell junior Evan Feilmeyer led the men’s individual performances with three event victories.

Feilmeyer won the 1,000-yard freestyle in 9:45.81, finishing well ahead of Augustana’s Max Nord, who placed second in 11:29.24.

He also won the 200-yard backstroke in 2:08.05 and the 200-yard individual medley in 2:02.84.

Donovan added two individual victories for Grinnell.

The junior won the 200-yard freestyle in 1:47.16, with teammate Noah Tsukuda taking second in 1:49.45.

Donovan later captured the 100-yard freestyle in 46.71 seconds, edging Augustana’s Teddy McGuire, who finished in 46.98.

Ingraham also turned in a strong performance, winning the 100-yard backstroke in 52.41 seconds and the 100-yard butterfly in 51.78 seconds.

Grinnell freshman Nate Farnham added a victory in the 200-yard butterfly, finishing in 2:01.38. Teammate Keely Yeager placed second in 2:02.78.

Yeager later won the 200-yard breaststroke in 2:15.56, finishing ahead of Augustana’s Alejandro Jacob.

Augustana earned several individual victories of its own.

Junior Matthew Meyer won the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:00.17 before returning to capture the 500-yard freestyle in 5:05.11.

Bjorn Sievert won the 50-yard freestyle in 21.02 seconds, finishing ahead of teammate McGuire, who took second in 21.31.

Augustana freshman John Kucala won the men’s three-meter diving event with 189.23 points, while Grinnell freshman Griffin Zollars finished second with 175.43.

Zollars later claimed first place in the one-meter competition, scoring 193.73 points.

The Grinnell men closed the meet with a victory in the 200-yard freestyle relay.

Donovan, Pfaff, Ingraham, and Jarrar combined for a winning time of 1:25.11. Augustana’s second relay team finished second in 1:31.21.

Strong Performances Across Both Teams

The meet included 32 events, giving athletes from both schools opportunities to compete in sprint races, longer freestyle events, backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, individual medleys, relays, and diving.

Grinnell’s success was highlighted by multiple individual victories from Schueler, Callender, Kruse, Feilmeyer, Donovan, and Ingraham.

Augustana countered with multiple victories from Mihm and Meyer, along with wins in several other individual events and the women’s 200-yard freestyle relay.

The final team scores were:

Women’s Competition
Grinnell College — 168
Augustana College — 129

Men’s Competition
Grinnell College — 159
Augustana College — 128

The victories gave Grinnell College a sweep of the men’s and women’s competitions, with the Pioneers earning a combined 327 points to Augustana’s 257 during Friday’s meet.