WEST FARGO, N.D. – The second day of the 2021 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Women's Swimming & Diving Championship concluded on Thursday night with Southwest Minnesota State remaining in eighth place with a total of 68 points at the nine-team championship.
The four-day championship is being hosted by MSU Moorhead inside the Hulbert Aquatic Center.
A total of six event finals took place on Thursday night with Minnesota State leading the championship through 10 events with 496 points. Two-time defending champion St. Cloud State moved into second place with 424.5 points, followed by Sioux Falls in third place with 369.5 points. SMSU trails seventh place MSU Moorhead by 30 points and sixth place Northern State by 32 points.
SMSU had numerous individuals and two relay teams compete in the prelims and finals on Thursday.
Natalie Bohnert had a strong day advancing to the 'A' finals of the 100-yard butterfly for the first time in her career with a morning prelim time of 58.0. She finished eighth place in the finals with a time of 58.32 to earn SMSU 11 points.
Annika Freiburger advanced to the 'B' final in the 400-yard IM and placed 12
th overall at 4:42.82 to score the Mustangs five points, while
Abbie Christensen competed in the 'C' final in the 400-yard IM and finished in 25
th with a time of 5:00.60.
SMSU's 200-yard freestyle team of
Addi Schroeder,
Maija Geier,
Gabriela Reis and
MacKenzie Kallevig earned 12 points with a school-record time of 1:41.24 to finish in 11th place. SMSU's other relay team in the race was disqualified.
The 400-yard medley 'A' relay team of Christensen,
Kendyl Near, Bohnert and Kallevig finished 12
th at 4:06.51 and recorded 10 team points, while the 'B' team of Geier,
Emily Ratajczak, Freiburger and
Addi Schroeder touched the wall at 4:14.88 to place 15
th and earn four points.
Day three of the championship on Friday will have prelims starting at 10 a.m. with finals at 5:30 p.m. Friday's action will have the 500 Freestyle, 100 Backstroke, 100 Breaststroke, 200 Butterfly and 800 Freestyle Relay.
The top three finalists in each individual event and top two finalists in each relay event will be recognized as NSIC All-Conference during the meet.
