SIOUX FALLS — Sophomore All-American
Cassie Wright of the University of Sioux Falls Swimming Team was named the "Swimmer of the Meet" after breaking three meet records and recording four overall victories at the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Swimming and Diving Championships which concluded Saturday (Feb. 16) at the Midco Aquatic Center on Saturday. With Wright leading the way, USF earned a second straight third-place finish in the team points race with 605.5 at the NSIC Swimming Championships.
In rallying to take third place, the Cougars broke four NSIC meet records, recorded seven NCAA 'B' cuts, one NCAA 'A' cut, set five school records and six swimmers posted personal best results. Wright broke the meet records in all three of her
St. Cloud State captured the NSIC title with a combined 950.5 points and followed closely by Minnesota State with 902.5 points.
"We are so excited about our performance this weekend," said USF Head Swimming Coach
Chris Hamstra. "This is the second straight year finishing third and scoring more points than last year. We had a major obstacle to overcome (200 medley relay disqualified), but all the credit goes to these amazing women. This team's resiliency and ability to give all of themselves in the pool and for each other led to a truly thrilling NSIC Championships."
Wright, a sophomore from Christchurch, New Zealand, set an NSIC Championship and school record with a clocking of 1:59.75 to win the 200 backstroke. Wright's time ranks eighth in Division II and was almost two seconds faster (2:01.46) than the second place finisher, Kelly Leanard (MSU).
During the four days of the championships, Wright put together a memorable, if not historical performance, as she also set NSIC Championship records in the 100 backstroke (53.80) and 100 IM (57.72), swam the lead-off leg off the winning 400 relay, and was second in the 50 freestyle. Additionally, Wright led the 400 freestyle relay team of
Elizabeth Spaans,
Jenna Krahn and
Giulia Marcon to a second-place finish of 3:27.26. USF was just edged out by SCSU's relay team that captured the title in a meet record clocking of 3:24.58.
Spaans also was fourth in the 100 IM with a 58.85 clocking, while teammates
Keelin O'Connor took 11th (1:00.73) and Kasch finished 19th (1:02.69).
In the 1650 freestyle, sophomore
Nina Groene was third with a clocking of 17:22.84.USF also placed two others in the top 10 as Alexandra Sanchez-Clark was eighth (17:56.69) and
Evelyn VanDeMark, 10th (18:16.67).
In the 100 freestyle, Marcon was sixth in 52.15 while Krahn took ninth at 51.97 and Johnson,10th at 52.61 clip.
Chantal Kasch claimed seventh in the 200 breaststroke after a 2:23.16 clocking. In that same race, MSU's Lily Borgenheimer recorded an NSIC meet record of 2:12.78, edging NSU All-American Hannah Kastigar, who also broke the old meet record of 2:17.68, with a 2:13.30 clocking.
