St. John’s swim and dive break meet records in preseason meets

The St. John’s swimming and diving season is underway after two preseason meets: the alumni meet and a two-day intersquad meet. They will have their first regular season meet on Oct. 18 against Hamline and Minnesota-Morris. Senior Brayden Slavik said the good start at the preseason meets could be an indication of the season to come.

“At our intersquad meet we had a lot of meet records broken, and even though some people didn’t break records they were still throwing down fast times so that’s good to see,” Slavik said. “I think the season is going to go well because the times are fast early on.”

Head coach Ben Gill reiterated how well the team has begun, attributing it to the team’s conditioning.

“The guys have come into season in good shape and are doing great stuff this early in the season. We are chomping at the bit to get into actual competition,” Gill said.

The team has 16 upperclassmen returning and welcoming in eight first-years. Slavik said that many of these first-years have shown signs of a promising collegiate career.

“The freshmen this year, compared to a couple years ago, are coming in more excited to swim and throwing down really fast times, and this will make our relays extremely good at MIACs,” Slavik said.

Slavik said that the team has changed practices this year to emulate their meets, with swimmers and divers focusing on their events. The main events for swimming and diving are freestyle, breaststroke, backstroke, individual medley, fly and diving. These fast times include meet records at the intersquad meet. In his senior season, Slavik said he wants to become a role model and a leader for the team.

“I want to step up as a leader more. I am more of a quiet person, so I want to get the team going, get them amped. A goal I have for myself is to make it back to nationals and get top 8 in my event,” Slavik said.

Last season, the Johnnies finished second in the MIAC Championships, only losing to Gustavus whom they had beaten earlier in the season for the first time in 27 years. Slavik said that the team looks forward to tough competition.

“The Gustavus meet is one we look forward to because Gustavus is a powerhouse in the MIAC, good to get some really good competition and
the Rochester meet because we go up against a few D-I and D-II schools, so it is good to [get] more competition,” Slavik said.

Gill said he is optimistic about the team’s success while building off last season.

“We are excited to see what we can do, while we graduated a large and talented class last year, we have some great first years joining our team this year and look forward to seeing what we can achieve. Our goal is to push ourselves to be our best and be as competitive as we can be,” Gill said.

With a young team, many first-years will have the chance to compete at high levels. Gill said that growth is one of the most important factors to the team’s success and that the teams look for competition as a way to push the new swimmers and divers.

“Can we continue to push ourselves and grow as the season develops, we are a young team and so staying focused and continuing to improve throughout the season will be an important factor in our success this year,” Gill said.

The Johnnies will have their first meet home in Collegeville on Oct. 18 at 1 p.m. against Hamline and Minnesota-Morris.