The Minnesota swim and dive teams hosted North Dakota Frid
ay evening and did not hold back, winning all but the men’s 50-yard freestyle where UND took first and second places.
The meet kicked off with an exciting win for the women’s 200 medley relay team of Zoe Avestruz, Lindsey Horejsi, Danielle Nack, and Allison Schumacher. The victory was followed by a second Gophers relay win for the men.
“North Dakota … is a team we know well and we look forward to this meet every year,” said head coach Kelly Kremer. “They’re well-coached and their details are really good, so it was fun to watch the two teams compete.”
The men’s team beat North Dakota 199-96 with fantastic performances in breaststroke and butterfly.
Sophomore Brian Poon was an important asset to the team. He won his first 200 breaststroke of the year and posted a new season best time of 2:02.81. He also managed to take the 200 freestyle by a mere .31 seconds.
“I’m really happy with [my performance],” Poon said. “My breast[stroke] was faster than what I went at [the] Big Ten’s.”
Senior Matt Barnard and sophomore Alan LeBlang were first and second, respectively, on the boards in both the 1-meter and 3-meter events.
The women’s team led North Dakota 203-90 and had strong showings in diving and freestyle.
Sophomore Avestruz stole two wins Friday evening in the 100 backstroke (56.49) and the 100 freestyle (51.30) where she was followed by freshman teammate Horejsi (52.15).
“We had a number of areas where some student athletes who don’t always have an opportunity to shine really had an opportunity to shine today, so it was a great meet for us,” Kremer said.”
Freshman Sarah Bacon and senior Lexi Tenenbaum were competitive in both diving events.
Bacon took first in the 1 meter (317.1), followed by Tenenbaum (312.08). Tenenbaum won the 3 meter (355.2) in front of Bacon (349.95).
“Since we’ve started, everyone is just following the process of just trying to get better meet to meet and really day to day, and it’s coming through,” Kremer said. “When your newcomers start performing this way, it’s a real confidence boost.”
The Gophers will host the Minnesota Invitational next weekend at the Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center.
“We’ll talk about the things that we really have to improve on as we get ready for some championship-type meets,” Kremer said. “We’ll evaluate the meet and then just pick out the details that we can really improve on.”
