Brady Boie – Sports Editor
The Gustavus Women’s Swimming and Diving team capped off one of their most successful seasons in recent memory this last weekend in Greensboro, North Carolina at the NCAA Division III championships. The Gusties brought four women – Sophomore Marit Isaacson, Junior Lucy Peterson, and Seniors Ellen Hofstede and Abby Yartz, to compete at nationals in numerous relays and individual events. The women qualified for their 200 freestyle relay at the MIAC championship meet, which opened the door for them to swim all five relays at the national meet. Peterson and Hofstede also achieved NCAA B Cuts at the MIAC championship meet in individual races, Hofstede qualified in the 100 butterfly and both Gusties snagged B Cuts in the 50 freestyle. These cuts allowed Hofstede and Peterson to swim individual races at nationals once their relay had qualified.
“I think the [B Cut rule] is a good thing. If a group of teammates is able to work together and achieve a national-qualifying time, they should also be rewarded as individuals for their own efforts,” Assistant Coach Alex Lindstrom said.
Even before the Gusties touched down in Greensboro, the season had been a smashing success. The women placed second at the MIAC Championship meet and were only fifteen points short of an outright victory against rival St. Catherines. Peterson was impressed with the effort and grit the Gusties showed at this meet.
“I thought we performed extremely well… that was the closest we had been to a MIAC championship in so many years… watching all of the individual swims and seeing everyone drop so much time was the thing I was the most proud of,” Peterson said.
As one would expect, these great performances were highlighted by the four qualifying women. Hofstede took first in the 50 and 100 freestyle and finished second in the 100 butterfly. Peterson took second in the 100 freestyle and added a seventh-place finish in the 200 freestyle. Isaacson finished in the top three in all of her individual events, and Yartz found herself on the podium twice. With the help of some additional teammates, the Gusties were able to take home victories in three of the five relay events and achieve a qualifying time in the 200 freestyle relay. While the women were obviously thrilled with the results, they were especially grateful for another opportunity to swim at nationals with the same group of women who had qualified the year before.
“Qualifying for nationals was not the expectation given how two of the people’s seasons had gone… it was really special to go with the four of us again because two of them are seniors and this will be the last year with the four of us. It was a great way to close out the season,” Isaacson said.
The women continued to exceed expectations at the nationals meet. The Gusties placed higher than expected in all of their relay swims and made it back to the finals sessions in multiple events. Their best performance was in the 200 freestyle relay, where they finished at the top of the consolation final.
“We did a lot better than we expected. We moved up in placing from where we were originally seeded, which is pretty hard to do at nationals. We made it back to finals in both the 200 freestyle relay and the 400 freestyle relay and we were not expected to make it back in either,” Isaacson said.
Both Isaacson and Peterson shared a great appreciation for their awesome seasons and are already looking ahead to next season with the hopes of bringing a MIAC championship back to Gustavus.
“Having another shot at winning [the] MIAC next year would be amazing. We will continue to improve next year as well,” Peterson said.
This sentiment was echoed by Isaacson, who still has two years left of swimming in her college career.
“Time has really flown by, but I am excited to see what the next few years have in store. An obvious team goal for us is to win the MIAC championship. A personal goal of mine is to set the school record in the 200 freestyle. I was one-hundredth of a second away from getting that this year, so I would like to have that by the time I leave,” Isaacson said.
While there’s no telling what the future can hold for the women’s swim team, we can rest assured that the Gustie women will continue to exceed expectations and move forward in a positive direction.