SIOUX FALLS – For the second time this season, University of Sioux Falls Swimming showed its continued growth as a program, defeating an established Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference power in the swimming portion of a dual meet, only to fall short when diving points were factored into the final team scores. On Saturday afternoon, the Cougars dropped a 153-141 decision to Minnesota State despite winning the 14 swimming events by a 141-121 margin.
 
In just their second year of competition, USF has built a contender in the NSIC and on Saturday they showed it by winning nine of the 14 swimming events against MSU. Headlining the Cougars' success were freshmen Cassie Wright and Giulia Marcon, who joined the USF Swimming program at semester after completing their prep careers in their respective home countries of New Zealand and Brazil.
 
Wright and Marcon each captured two individual titles while Wright swam legs on USF's two winning relays and was joined by Marcon in the dominant 200-yard freestyle relay victory by the Cougars. As the final event of the meet, the 200 free relay was a rematch of the most thrilling finish at the 2017 NSIC Championships when Minnesota State edged out the Cougars by 0.01 seconds. This time, USF's combination of Wright (24.54-second split), Jenna Krahn (24.37), Marcon (24.63) and Ingelin Lima (24.46) posted a 1:38.00 time to win by nearly three seconds over the top MSU foursome.
 
Bookending the meet with relay victories, USF edged out MSU for the 200 medley relay title with a winning time of 1:48.67. Wright opened the backstroke with a 26.70-second split and Chantal Kasch followed with a 31.58-second split in the breaststroke. Maike Doerr turned in a 25.99-second time in the butterfly and Lima closed with a 24.64-second split in the freestyle to secure the victory.
 
USF's success wasn't limited to the relay events as they won the next four individual events and five of the first six individual races before the first diving intermission. Evelyn VanDeMark started off the Cougars' successful run of event wins, keeping a steady pace to win the 1,000-yard freestyle in 10:55.15. Alex Sanchez Clark added three more points for USF with a third-place finish at 11:03.60.
 
Following VanDeMark's win, Marcon made her collegiate debut in dominant fashion as she led a trio of Cougars to top-five finishes in the 200 free. Marcon won by more than a second with a time of 1:55.85 while Krahn took third at 1:58.61 and Sydney Saddoris placed fifth in 2:01.83.
 
In event no. 4, Wright made her first individual appearance as a USF Cougar, winning the 50 back in 26.25. Gigi Bario placed third in the event with a 28.18-second time, adding three more points for the Cougars. In the 50 breaststroke, Kasch edged out four Maverick swimmers for the event title, winning in 31.51 seconds.
 
USF's winning streak was snapped in the sixth event, but Maiek Doerr and VanDeMark still scored for the Cougars in the 100 butterfly. Doerr was runner-up in 58.55 seconds and VanDeMark placed fifth at 1:03.34. In the final event before the one-meter diving competition, USF flexed its muscles in the freestyle sprints with a 1-2-3 finish in the 50 free.
 
Krahn earned the victory in 24.59 seconds and Marcon followed in 24.81 seconds. Sophomore Kyjana Webber made her season debut with a third-place finish in 25.08 seconds. Nina Groene turned in the fifth-fastest time at 26.16 seconds, but only three swimmers from each team can score in an event.
 
After the first diving competition, which added 16 points to Minnesota State's team score, the Cougars placed three in the top five of the 100 free. Krahn took second at 54.01 seconds, Lima placed fourth in 55.19 seconds, and Groene was fifth in 57.63.
 
Wright completed the backstroke sweep by cruising to a two-second win in the 100 back with a 57.23-second victory. Bario added points to the Cougar total with a fourth-place time of 1:01.05. Kasch logged her second top-two individual finish by placing second in the 100 breaststroke with a runner-up time of 1:09.26.
 
With another dominant victory, Marcon showcased her versatility in as a freestyler, winning the the 500 free by five seconds at 5:19.40. VanDeMark was the second swimmer to touch, turning in a time of 5:24.43, which was nearly four seconds ahead of the first MSU swimmer. Sanchez Clark added two more points for USF in the event, finishing fourth at 5:29.60.
 
Doerr capped off a productive day with consecutive runner-up finishes to wrap up the individual events. She was second in the 50 fly at 26.23 seconds, just 0.09 behind the winner, while Bario was fourth at 27.65 seconds. Doerr then turned in the second-fastest time in the 200 individual medley with a runner-up mark of 2:14.14 and Kasch placed fifth in 2:20.27.
 
The Cougars will return to action on Feb. 2 and 3 at the USD Coyote Invitational, which will be held in Sioux Falls at the Midco Aquatic Center.