Johnnie Swim & Dive Begins Stretch of Twin Meets Saturday at Macalester

By: Ryan Klinkner, SJU Director of Athletic Communications

The Johnnie swimming and diving workforce travels to face Macalester for a 1 p.m. twin meet this Saturday, Oct. 25, in St. Paul. – Live Video

A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John’s opened its season with a first-place end out of three groups final Saturday (Oct. 18) within the Warner Palaestra Pool. The Johnnies received 14 occasions – all however two within the meet – and recorded 33 top-three finishes on the day for 822 factors. Minnesota-Morris completed second with 602 factors and Hamline was third with 393.

Three of SJU’s particular person wins got here from senior All-American Brayden Slavik (Green Isle, Minn./Chaska), who touched the wall first within the 100- (52.43) and 200-yard (1:57.13) backstrokes and 200-yard particular person medley (1:58.25). 

Two different seniors, Clay Megaw (Monticello, Minn.) and Carsten Reuter (St. Cloud, Minn./Tech), every received a pair of particular person occasions. Megaw recorded the highest time within the 100- (1:02.58) and 200-yard (2:20.04) breaststrokes, whereas Reuter took first within the  50- (21.54) and 100-yard (49.38) freestyles.

Junior Trevor Barton (Buffalo, Minn.) took first within the 1,000-yard freestyle (10:40.03) and three freshmen stood atop the rostrum at their first collegiate meet: Lincoln Cochran (Helena, Mont./Capital) in th e200-yard butterfly (2:15.47); David Lammers (Willmar, Minn.) within the 100-yard butterfly (56.77); and Braydon Ohrtman (Highlands Ranch, Colo.) within the 200-yard freestyle (1:51.49).

The Johnnies’ 200-yard medley relay (Slavik, Megaw, Lammers, Schulze) claimed first place with a time of 1:40.12.

On the boards, junior Cody Watts (St. Cloud, Minn./Tech) swept the competitors, ending first on each the 1- and 3-meter dives. Watts totaled a 240.45 on the 1-meter and a 216.15 on the 3-meter. Senior Tim Rotter (Blaine, Minn.) completed third on the 1-meter (198.99) and fourth on the 3-meter (176.60), whereas sophomore Henry Hilgendorf (Owatonna, Minn.) was third on the 3-meter (185.90) and fourth on the 1-meter (182.25) to spherical out the highest finishers of the Johnnie diving contingent.

MIAC ATHLETES OF THE WEEK: Slavik and Watts have been named the MIAC Men’s Swimming and Diving Athletes of the Week, respectively, on Tuesday (Oct. 21) for his or her performances over the weekend. The honor was the seventh of Slavik’s profession and the fourth – and second-consecutive – for Watts.

The reigning MIAC Swimmer of the Year and a 2024 All-American (honorable point out with a Fifteenth-place end within the 1,650-yard freestyle), 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) on the 2024 MIAC Championships. He is a six-time MIAC champion (5 particular person and one relay) and 10-time All-MIAC honoree (high three on the convention meet).  

A College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) Scholar All-America second-team honoree final season, Watts participated on the NCAA Regional, the place 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 12 months in a row.

LAST YEAR’S DUAL MEET: SJU received 10 of the 13 occasions in a 151.5-89.5 victory at Macalester final Oct. 26 (2024) in St. Paul. The guests recorded 24 top-three performances on the day as three Johnnies received two occasions every.

SJU swept the top-three occasions within the 1,000-yard freestyle, led by Slavik with considered one of his two first-place occasions on the afternoon. He additionally tied with the Scots’ Kean Pajarillaga for the title within the 100-yard backstroke (53.81). 

Carter Larson ’25 took first within the 200- (1:45.78) and 500-yard (4:58.44) freestyles, and Eli Grabinski ’25 received each the 1- (287.70) and 3-meter (305.50) occasions.

Colby Kern ’25 and Langston Philion ’25 received the 100-yard freestyle (48.66) and 100-yard butterfly (53.66), respectively, and Reuter led the best way within the 50-yard freestyle (22.06).

SJU’s 200-yard freestyle relay (Kern, Liam Noble, Jackson Hovda, Larson) positioned first, whereas the 200-yard medley relay (Slavik, Megaw, Philion, Reuter) took second (1:39.97).