SIOUX FALLS—The University of Sioux Falls Swimming Team will look to build off of their solid 2-1 start to the season as they travel to face city rival Augustana on Friday, Nov. 9 in a 5 p.m. dual meet.
 
In their last competition against MSU Moorhead, USF captured the first place spot in all 14 of the swimming events in the 179-111 victory.
 
The Cougars, directed head coach Chris Hamstra, opened up their 2018 season by dominating the U-Mary, 164-112 at the Midco Aquatic Center in Sioux Falls. At that meet, USF won 13-of-16 events and set two school records. USF then traveled to the NSIC preseason favorite Minnesota State and fell, 161-136, but won the swimming portion of the meet.
 
USF, which was picked to finish fourth in the NSIC Coaches Preseason Poll, have had a solid start in their third year as a program. Through three dual competitions, USF has met a "B" national qualifying mark (Cassie Wright), and set four records while impressively winning 35-of-48 events across three dual competitions.
 
USF Swimmers off to a strong start
Already this season, sophomore All-American Cassie Wright has captured the school record in the 100 breaststroke (1:05.33), the 200 back (2:05.70) by more than nine seconds, and the 200 IM (2:08.45). Wright set the 200 IM school record against U-Mary after posting a time of 2:11.08, but quickly passed that time in the meet against MSU. Most recently against MSUM, Wright finished with a B cut time in the 100 backstroke with a 56.50 clocking in which she beat the second place finisher by more than four seconds.
 
Wright, who has won eight individual events in three meets, ranks first in NSIC in the 100 breaststroke, first in the 200 individual medley and second in the 200 backstroke.
 
Freshman Ella Johnson finished with the top time in the 100 butterfly (58.51), as well as the 200 butterfly (2:08.68) against MSUM. Johnson also played a crucial role in both relays, swimming the first leg of the 400 free relay and getting USF off to a first place lead. She also picked up two individual wins against MSU as she had a 2:08.32 clocking in the 200 butterfly for a pool record. She also won the 100 butterfly in 58.26. So far on the season, Johnson has accumulated four total individual victories, with the other two wins coming against U-Mary in the 200 butterfly (2:08.62) and the 100 butterfly (58.95).
 
Sophomore Chantal Kasch recorded the top time against U-Mary in the 200 breaststroke (2:24.06), which lowered her own school record. Kasch has also posted second place finishes in the 100 breaststroke (1:06.55) against U-Mary, and both the 100 breaststroke in 1:07.47 and the 200 breaststroke in 2:27.72 against MSU. Kasch was a three-event winner against MSUM as she also captured two individual events of her own in the 100 breaststroke (1:07.77) and 200 breaststroke (2:25.85).
 
Sophomore Giulia Marcon continued her solid start to the season by capturing individual titles in the 200 free (1:57.84) and the 500 free (5:20.89) against MSUM. Marcon, who had won five events in the first two duals, ranks second, fourth and fifth in the 200, 100 and 50 freestyle, respectively in the NSIC.
 
Wright captures second NSIC Swimmer of the Week honor
Following the meet against MSU, Wright of Christchurch, New Zealand, earned her second NSIC Swimmer of the Week honor and the USF program has three total (Ingelin Lima, Nov. 21, 2017; Wright, Feb. 6, 2018) in three years in the league.
 
Coo Tracks
A year ago, the Cougars finished a program-best third at the NSIC Championships, recording three event championships and earned eight All-NSIC honors. Cassie Wright recorded the first-ever USF individual title in winning the 100 back. The Cougars also registered relay wins in the 200 medley and 200 free.

USF sent six swimmers to the NCAA DII Championships last March including Wright, Marcon, Kasch, Maike Doerr, Ingelin Lima and Kyjanna Webber.

At the 2017-18 NCAA DII Championships, USF finished in the top-25 nationally. USF was 21st (51 points), which was the top finish by an NSIC squad and best in program history.

Leading the way was Wright, who had a program-best performance at the NCAA Championships. She earned All-American honors with a second-place finish in the 200 backstroke and third place in the 100 backstroke, becoming USF's first-ever swimmer with top three finishes at nationals. USF's 200 medley relay took 10th and the 400 medley relay was 15th. Four team members were selected Academic All-NSIC.
 
Series History
                    Vs Augustana—USF leads 2-0
In the first meeting between the two programs, USF emerged with a 136-125 victory and this year's contest figures to be as tight. In her freshman season, Maike Doerr was key for the Cougars' victory winning three events: 100 and 200 fly and 200 freestyle. Ingelin Lima swept the freestyle sprints, winning the 50 and 100 freestyle with Kyjana Webber taking second in both. In the second matchup ever between USF and Augustana, the Cougars remained unbeaten against their crosstown rival with a 148-114 win.
 
Following their meet with Augustana, USF will compete in the Rochester Invitational which will be hosted by St. Cloud State on Nov. 30-Dec. 2 at the Rochester (Minn.) Recreation Center.