BISMARCK, N.D. – The No. 16 University of Sioux Falls had an individual champion in Elizabeth Spaans, three "B" standards in the 50 free and placed two squads in the top five of the 200 medley relay which helped the Cougars build a first-day lead in team points (191) at the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Championship which opened on Wednesday (Feb. 12) at the BSC Aquatic & Wellness Center in Bismarck, N.D. 

USF Head Coach Chris Hamstra was pleased with his team's resilient effort and ability to race fast in the finals but knows improvement will be needed as the championships continue.

"I feel that we swam well and showed a lot of resiliency," said Hamstra. "We didn't really swim well this morning but came back with a lot of focus and effort tonight. I was most impressed by our ability to come out tonight and race fast," he said.

With 191 team points, USF leads defending champion St. Cloud State which had 149 followed by Minnesota State with 131. Also in the team race, Augustana was fourth with 126 with host school Mary at 92 for fifth; MSU Moorhead, sixth, 55; Northern State, seventh, 16; and SMSU, eighth, 15.

 

Spaans, a sophomore from Brandon, S.D., became USF's first champion of the meet by clocking a 2:05.47 to win the 200 IM. Spaans just finished short of the B standard by .11 as she won her first NSIC individual title. Spaans earned All-NSIC honors with freshman Makenzy Kennedy, who finished third in 2:08.13. Junior Chantal Kasch won the "B" final and finished ninth with a clocking of 2:08.42 in the 200 IM while sophomore Ella Johnson was 15th overall with a 2:10.94 clocking.

In the 50 free, the Cougars placed two in the top six and had four in the top-13.  Three USF swimmers posted "B" standards and were among 10 performers in the race to meet that standard. Junior Jenna Krahn finished second with a "B" standard of 23.47 and earned All-NSIC honors. In sixth was freshman Ursula Demarquet, who had a clocking of 23.90 which was a "B" standard. Senior Kyjana Webber was 10th with a "B" standard of 23.94 while senior Leah Eagleton was 13th in 24.37.

In the final event of the night, USF placed two relays in the top five. The "A" squad of Spaans, Kasch, Johnson and Krahn was second in 1:43.61 as they were just edged out by SCSU, which set an NSIC record in 1:42.45. USF also claimed fifth in 1:46.72 with a team of Bario, Abigail Ford, Kennedy and Webber.

USF also placed four in the top-eight of the 1,000 free. In the race, junior Evelyn VanDeMark was fourth in 10:31.50 while junior Nina Groene took sixth in 10:34.55 and Giulia Fazza Marcon was eighth in 10:40.19.

The NSIC Championships resume on Thursday morning with trials at 10 am and finals at 5:30 pm.