WEST FARGO, N.D. – The third day of the 2021 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Women's Swimming & Diving Championship concluded on Friday night with Natalie Bohnert highlighting the day in the pool for Southwest Minnesota State placing second in the 100-yard backstroke in earning All-NSIC honors for the third time in her career.
 
Bohnert helped the Mustangs earn 39 points on the day and remain in eighth place with a total of 107 points at the nine-team championship.
 
The four-day championship is being hosted by MSU Moorhead inside the Hulbert Aquatic Center and concludes on Saturday.
 
Another big highlight on the day for the SMSU program was senior Gabriela Reis earning the NSIC Elite 18 award. The NSIC Elite 18 Award is presented to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade-point average participating at the finals site for each of the NSIC's 18 Championships.
 
A total of five event finals took place on Friday night with Minnesota State leading the championship through 15 events with 706 points. Two-time defending champion St. Cloud State moved into second place with 591.5 points, followed by Sioux Falls in third place with 556.5 points.
 
Bohnert, who earned All-NSIC honors last season in the 100-yard and 200-yard backstroke, advanced to the 'A' finals of the 100-yard event with the second fastest time at 56.94 in the morning prelims. She recorded a faster time in the finals at 56.84 to earn SMSU 17 points.
 
Also on Friday, MacKenzie Kallevig advanced to the 'B' final in the 500-yard freestyle with a prelim time of 5:23.67 and placed 13th overall at 5:20.36 to score the Mustangs four points. Kendyl Near finished 23^rd in the 100-yard breaststroke with a 'C' final time of 1:10.17.
 
SMSU's 800-yard freestyle 'A' team of Bohnert, Addi Schroeder, Annika Freiburger and Kallevig closed with a time of 8:05.61 to finish 10^th and give the team 14 points, while the 'B' team of Near, Emma Polchow, Megan Anspach and Reis earned four team points with a time of 8:27.43 to place 15^th.
 
The final day of the championship on Saturday will have prelims starting at 10 a.m. with finals at 5:30 p.m. Saturday's action will have the 100 IM, 100 Free, 200 Back, 200 Breast, 1650 Freestyle. 3-M Dive and 400 Free 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.