BURNSVILLE, Minn. – The Southwest Minnesota State University women's swimming and diving team was selected to finish eighth in the annual Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Preseason Coaches' poll released on Thursday.
 
SMSU is in its third season of competition since reinstating the program in May of 2018. SMSU third-year head coach Marty Wahle has expanded the roster once again this season and has 24 athletes on the roster, including 13 letter winners and 11 newcomers.
 
SMSU earned 20 points in the preseason poll, two points behind seventh place Northern State and four points behind sixth place MSU Moorhead. Minnesota State, the defending league champion, was the top pick in the poll earning 64 points with eight first place votes. St. Cloud State was selected second with 57 points and one first place vote.
 
SMSU junior swimmer Natalie Bohnert, from Petersburg, Ind., and freshman diver, Sarah McDonald, from Prior Lake, Minn., were both named an NSIC "Athlete to Watch" this season. Bohnert earned All-NSIC accolades last season in two events for the second straight season. She placed second in the 100-yard backstroke and finished third in the 200-yard backstroke. McDonald had a strong high school diving career and will compete in both the 1-meter and 3-meter for SMSU this winter.
 
SMSU finished in eighth place at the 2021 NSIC Championship earning 150 points. The Mustangs earned 106 points at its first-ever NSIC Championships in 2020. 
 
SMSU will open the 2021-22 season on Oct. 15 with a triangular at Minnesota State. The Mustangs opener their home dual season on Oct. 22 versus the University of Jamestown (N.D.). 
 
The season will culminate on Feb. 9-12 at the NSIC Championships at the Midco Aquatic Center in Sioux Falls, S.D.