Swim & Dive Welcomes Hamline & Minnesota-Morris to Campus Saturday

By: Ryan Klinkner, SJU Director of Athletic Communications and Jordan Modjeski, SJU Assistant Director of Athletic Communications

Saint John’s swimming and diving hosts Hamline and Minnesota-Morris for a season-opening triangular at 1 p.m. (diving at 11 a.m.) this Saturday, Oct. 18, on the Warner Palaestra Pool in Collegeville. – Live Video

DIVER OF THE WEEK: Junior Cody Watts (St. Cloud, Minn./Tech) was named the MIAC Men’s Diver of the Week for the third time of his profession on Tuesday (Oct. 14). He gained the 11-diver variations of each the 1- (335.05) and 3-meter (302.25) boards final Saturday (Oct. 11) at Hamline’s Diving Invitational in St. Paul.

A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: The Saint John’s swimming and diving group is coming off one among its finest seasons in twenty years a yr in the past.

The Johnnies captured 9 MIAC titles in 2024-25, almost doubling 2023-24’s 5. SJU completed second of six groups on the MIAC Championships, its third second-place end in 4 seasons.

Nationally, Saint John’s ranked thirty sixth—one of the best nationwide rating since 2004-05 (twenty second). SJU collected three All-America honors, its most since 2010-11 (six).

But, with 5 graduating All-MIAC performers, the pool contained in the Warner Palaestra will characteristic loads of new faces as SJU appears to construct off that success. 

Diving Prowess

Junior Cody Watts (St. Cloud, Minn./Tech) returns to guide the Johnnie diving corps after taking part finally season’s NCAA Diving Regional. He completed tenth within the 1-meter dive (392.50) and Fifteenth on the 3-meter board (361.95). He collected his second All-MIAC honor with a third-place rating within the 1-meter dive on the MIAC Championships for the second yr in a row. Watts has already been named the MIAC Diver of the Week (his third profession honor) after successful the 11-diver variations of each the 1- (335.05) and 3-meter (302.25) boards final Saturday (Oct. 11) at Hamline’s Diving Invitational in St. Paul.

Watts will look to switch Eli Grabinski ’25 on the rostrum after Grabinski earned a pair of All-America honors on the 2025 NCAA Division III Championships. He completed eighth within the 1-meter dive with a rating of 463.70 to turn out to be the primary Johnnie diver to complete within the high eight at nationals since 2021 J-Club Hall of Honor inductee John Deters ’92 in 1992 (fifth within the 3-meter dive and eighth on the 1-meter board). A 3-time MIAC Men’s Diver of the Year, Grabinski was a four-time MIAC champion – successful thrice within the 3-meter dive (together with in 2024) and as soon as on the 1-meter board – an eight-time All-MIAC honoree and took part on the NCAA Regional all 4 seasons.

Joining Watts on the boards this season is senior Tim Rotter (Blaine, Minn.), sophomore Henry Hilgendorf (Owatonna, Minn.) and freshman Austin Durfee (West Valley City, Utah/Kearns). Rotter completed fifth on each the 1- (383.35) and 3-meter (386.95) dives finally season’s MIAC meet, whereas Hilgendorf was seventh on every. Sophomore Nate Krotzer (Blaine, Minn./Spring Lake Park), who historically swims backstroke for the Johnnies, scored 4 factors with a Thirteenth-place end on the 1-meter on the convention championship.

Rewarding Relays

The Johnnies took dwelling first in three of 5 relays on the 2025 convention meet. SJU touched the wall first within the 200-yard (1:22.21), 400-yard (3:03.22) and 800-yard (6:46.79) freestyle relays. SJU completed second within the 200 medley (1:32.63) – behind Gustavus Adolphus’ 1:31.17 – and the 400 medley (3:23.50) – trailing GAC’s 3:20.82.

Two with Titles

A pair of senior Johnnies, Carsten Reuter (St. Cloud, Minn./Tech) and Brayden Slavik (Green Isle, Minn./Chaska), every gained particular person MIAC championships in 2025. Reuter gained the 50-yard freestyle (20.56) and is a three-time MIAC champion and 11-time All-MIAC honoree. His championship time of 20.56 ranks second on this system all-time record behind nationwide champion Matt Zelen ’99. 

Slavik, in the meantime, is the reigning MIAC Swimmer of the Year after Gustavus fifth-year Peyton Richardson, who shared the award with Slavik after incomes essentially the most particular person factors on the 2025 convention meet, graduated. Slavik broke three program information, together with two of his personal, to win the 400-yard particular person medley (4:00.12), 500-yard freestyle (4:29.49) and 1,650-yard freestyle (15:32.98).  

 

The titles within the 400-yard particular person medley and 1,650-yard freestyle have been the second-consecutive for Slavik, who additionally served as the primary leg of the Johnnies’ 800-yard freestyle relay that broke the college file with a time of 6:46.79 to win this system’s first MIAC championship within the occasion. He enters this season as a six-time MIAC champion (5 particular person and one relay) and 10-time All-MIAC honoree (high three on the convention meet).  

Slavik earned All-America honorable point out honors with a Fifteenth-place end within the 1,650-yard freestyle – this system’s first within the occasion – on the 2025 NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving Championships.

Upperclassman Leadership

Sixteen returning upperclassmen mixed for 227 particular person factors for SJU final season. In whole, the group has scored 530 factors of their careers. Reuter, Slavik and Watts earned 5 All-MIAC honors and 4 championships. Reuter, Slavik and senior Clay Megaw (Monticello, Minn.) all swam on at the least one among SJU’s 5 All-MIAC relays. Megaw completed sixth within the 100-yard breaststroke (58.34) and ninth within the 200-yard model (2:10.58) on the 2025 convention meet. He at the moment owns the fourth quickest instances in SJU historical past in each occasions.  

Freshman Points

A trio of sophomores scored factors for SJU on the MIAC Championships as freshmen in 2025. Riley Yerks (Hutchinson, Minn.) took eleventh within the 200-yard backstroke (2:02.59) for six factors. Jason Jones (Monticello, Minn.) mixed for 13 whole, taking seventh within the 200-yard breaststroke (2:12.99), twelfth within the 100-yard breaststroke (1:00.37) and sixteenth within the 200-yard particular person medley (2:02.90). Krotzer scored eight, 4 every within the 1- (175.45) and 3-meter (236.05) dives.

SJU’s 2025-26 Schedule

The Johnnies open the season Saturday, Oct. 18, in a triangular with Hamline and Minnesota-Morris in one among two dwelling meets within the Warner Palaestra Pool. SJU then travels for 4 twin meets: Macalester (Oct. 25), St. Olaf (Nov. 1), Wisconsin-La Crosse (Nov. 8) and Division II St. Cloud State (Nov. 8.). The group competes on the Rochester Invitational – hosted by St. Cloud State – of their remaining meet of 2025 from Dec. 4-6. SJU begins 2026 on the Luther Sprint Invitational (Jan. 10) earlier than touring to Gustavus Adolphus for a twin on Jan. 17. The dual-meet schedule is capped by Senior Day towards Carleton on Jan. 24. Two extra highway meets, together with a diving invitational, lead as much as the 2026 MIAC Championships on Feb. 11-14 on the University of Minnesota’s Jean Freeman Aquatic Center in Minneapolis.

The 2026 NCAA Division III Championships are scheduled for March 18-21 on the IUPUI Natatorium in Indianapolis, Ind.