JACKS FACE BUSY WEEKEND IN THE POOL

Friday, October 15

Brookings, S.D.

5 p.m.

South Dakota State University

Iowa State

10/14/2021 10:14:00 PM | Men's Swimming and Diving, Women's Swimming and Diving

WOMEN'S DUALS: Iowa State at South Dakota State

When	Friday, Oct. 15 \| 5 p.m.
Where	Marshall Center Pool \| Brookings, South Dakota
TV	None
Results	GoJacks.com
Meet Notes	South Dakota State \| Iowa State \| The Summit League
Social Media	Twitter \| Instagram

MEN'S AND WOMEN'S DUALS: South Dakota State at Iowa Central/vs. Barton (Kan.)

When	Saturday, Oct. 16 \| 1 p.m.
Where	Fort Dodge Senior High School \| Fort Dodge, Iowa
TV	None
Results	To be determined
Meet Notes	South Dakota State \| The Summit League
Social Media	Twitter \| Instagram

The South Dakota State University women's swimming and diving team faces a busy weekend with a pair of competitions over a two-day span.

The Jackrabbits, 1-1 in duals, are scheduled to host Iowa State at 5 p.m. Friday at the Marshall Center Pool before traveling to Fort Dodge, Iowa, for a double dual with Iowa Central and Barton (Kan.).

South Dakota State's men's squad also will make the trip to Fort Dodge on Saturday to face Iowa Central and Barton. Start time for that competition for both teams is 1 p.m. at Fort Dodge High School.

The Jackrabbit men are 1-0 in duals so far this season.

LAST TIME OUT: The Jackrabbits opened the home season by sweeping home duals from Augustana Oct. 8.

Men's Recap
Freshman Austin Smith won two event titles in his collegiate debut and Gavin Wheeler added a pair of victories to help propel the South Dakota State men's swimming and diving team to a 196-98 victory over Augustana.

Smith clocked a winning time of 53.28 seconds in the 100-yard backstroke for his first event title, then closed the individual portion of the meet with a victory in the 200 individual medley with a time of 1 minute, 58.68 seconds.

Wheeler swam his way to victories in the breaststroke events, winning the 100 in 59.80 seconds and the 200 in 2:12.28. He also swam on the winning 200 medley relay as a member of the Jackrabbits' B relay team. The quartet of Caleb Harthoorn, Wheeler, Naested Smit and Rafael Negri edged the SDSU A squad by .37 seconds in the opening event of the meet.

Five other Jackrabbits claimed individual event titles on the night, including Charles Sieglaff in the 50 freestyle (:21.83) and Alex Kraft in the 100 freestyle (:48.09). Damon Venner added a victory in the 500 freestyle, out-touching Augustana's Brady Monson by .19 seconds with a winning time of 4:58.10.

In the diving events, reigning Summit League Men's Diver of the Year Zach Boyd posted a score of 306.30 points to win the 3-meter competition, while teammate Spencer Fritze earned a win on the 1-meter board with a score of 278.40.

The team of Negri, Seiglaff, Kraft and Justin Wallar closed the dual with a winning time of 3:12.27 in the 400 freestyle relay.

Women's Recap
Elisabeth Timmer and Emma Walz each established new pool records in helping lead the South Dakota State women's swimming and diving team to a 178-116 victory over Augustana in the Jackrabbits' home-opening dual.

A junior from Savaneta, Aruba, Timmer set a new Marshall Center Pool women's standard in the 50-yard freestyle, clocking a winning time of 23.92 seconds. That broke the previous mark of 23.97 seconds set by North Dakota's Carissa Gormally in 2009.

Timmer also claimed two other individual events and opened the meet by swimming on the Jackrabbits' winning 200 medley relay. She won the 200 freestyle in 1 minute, 55.84 seconds and closed her night by cruising to victory in the 100 butterfly with a time of 58.90 seconds.

The 200 medley relay quartet of Kelsey Kocon, Morgan Nelson, Timmer and Emma Bachelder posted a winning time of 1:48.80.

Bachelder added individual wins in the 100 freestyle (:54.20) and 100 breaststroke (1:07.78) and also teamed with Kocon, Grace Witherspoon and Walz for a winning time of 3:38.34 in the 400 freestyle relay.

Walz's record-setting performance came in the 200 backstroke, turning in a time of 2:05.71 to better the previous mark of 2:06.14 by Nebraska's Hayley Martin in 2012.

The Jackrabbits' Sianne Downes edged Walz by one one-hundredth of a second to win the 100 backstroke in 58.27 seconds. Downes was runner-up in the 200 back behind Walz with a time of 2:09.09, with Walz also taking second in the 50 freestyle behind Timmer in 25.17 seconds.

Abbi Rouse swept the diving events for SDSU, winning the 1-meter competition with a score of 221.16 and claiming the 3-meter title with 223.80 points.

In all, the Jackrabbits won 12 of the 16 events. Samantha Frigard added an event title in the 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:30.30.

ATHLETES OF THE WEEK: Through the first two weeks of the 2021-22 season, three Jackrabbits have been honored as Summit League athletes of the week for swimming and diving.

To kick off the season, Aleni Stoakes was honored as the first TicketSmarter Summit League Women's Diver of the Week. A junior from Lincoln, Nebraska, Stoakes posted scores of 200.78 on the 1-meter board and 181.57 in 3-meter competition at a season-opening dual Oct. 2 at Nebraska.

A week later, Erik Thompson was selected as TicketSmarter Summit League Men's Diver of the Week after a pair of runner-up finishes. An all-Summit League performer a year ago and a junior from Prior Lake, Minnesota, Thompson placed second with a score of 261.15 points in the 1-meter competition and 268.13 on the 3-meter board.

Also honored Oct. 12 was Elisabeth Timmer as TicketSmarter Summit League Women's Swimmer of the Week. Timmer received the award after winning four event titles and clocking a new pool record in the Oct. 8 dual against Augustana.

A junior from Savaneta, Aruba, Timmer won the 50-yard freestyle in a pool-record time of 23.92 seconds, bettering a mark that stood for 12 years. She also claimed individual races in the 100 butterfly (58.90 seconds) and 200 freestyle (1:55.84) and was a member of the winning 200 medley relay, teaming with Kelsey Kocon, Morgan Nelson and Emma Bachelder for a time of 1:48.80.

Timmer's award marked the fourth time in her career she has been named Summit League Women's Swimmer of the Week.

ANDERSON COMPETES INTERNATIONALLY: South Dakota State freshman Eric Anderson represented the United States at the FINA?World Cup earlier this month in Europe.

In early October, in Berlin, Germany, Anderson finished 19th in the preliminaries of the 50-meter freestyle with a time of 22.67 seconds. The following week, in Budapest, Hungary, Anderson improved his time to 22.36 seconds en route to an 18th-place showing out of 50 international competitors.

Anderson also competed in the short-course competition in the 100-meter freestyle and 50-meter butterfly, posting respective top times over the two competitions of 49.53 seconds and 25.04 seconds.

A native of Fargo, North Dakota, Anderson was selected for Team USA?based on his performance at the Olympic Swimming Trials this past summer in Omaha, Nebraska. He is expected to rejoin the Jackrabbits this week.

SUMMIT LEAGUE POLLS: The South Dakota State women's swimming and diving team is picked to finish second in the 2021-22 Summit League race and the men's squad has been tabbed third, according to preseason polls announced recently.

The Jackrabbit women are coming off a second-place finish at last season's Summit League Championship and received one first-place vote in this year's survey among the league's six head coaches.

Defending champion Denver received the five other first-place votes to finish with 25 points. SDSU was second with 20 points, followed by South Dakota with 18 points. The remainder of the poll consisted of Omaha (13 points), newcomer St. Thomas (8 points) and Eastern Illinois (6 points).

In the men's division, defending champion South Dakota earned the nod in the top spot with four first-place votes and 23 points. Denver received two first-place votes en route to the second spot with 21 points, with the Jackrabbits third with 16 points.

Omaha (12), St. Thomas (10) and Eastern Illinois (8) rounded out the men's poll.

The Jackrabbit men's squad also placed second at last year's league championships.

In addition, SDSU had a pair of representatives in both divisions on the list of Summit League Swimmers and Divers to Watch. On the women's side, Elisabeth Timmer and Kelsey Kocon were honored.

Timmer, a junior from Savaneta, Aruba, was honored as the Summit League Women's Swimmer of the Week three times last season en route to earning all-league honors in the sprint freestyle events and four relays. She is the school record holder in the 50 freestyle and also is a member of the Jackrabbits' record-setting 200 freestyle relay.

Kocon, a sophomore from St. Michael, Minnesota, was a top performer in the backstroke events last season before being hampered by an injury.

Representing the Jackrabbit men were junior diver Zach Boyd and senior swimmer Alex Kraft. An Omaha native, Boyd was honored as the 2021 Summit League Men's Diver of the Year after winning conference titles on both the 1- and 3-meter boards. He also earned NCAA Zones qualifying scores in both events.

Kraft, a senior from Shakopee, Minnesota, has been a mainstay in the Jackrabbit lineup in the freestyle and breaststroke events throughout his career. He earned all-Summit League recognition as a member of the 800 freestyle relay team last season.

The 2022 Summit League Swimming and Diving Championships are slated for Feb. 16-19 in West Fargo, North Dakota.

HENDRICKS TAKES ON NEW ROLE: Former Jackrabbit swimmer Cassie Hendricks recently was promoted to assistant coach for the South Dakota State men's and women's swimming and diving teams.

A Brookings native, Hendricks served the past two seasons as a graduate assistant coach for the Jackrabbits. She also fills the role of the program's recruiting coordinator.

Hendricks earned all-Summit League honors in 2016 and recorded top-10 times during her Jackrabbit career in the 100 backstroke, 200 backstroke and 50 freestyle.

She also serves as the head coach of the Brookings Swim Club.

COACH HUMPHREY: Doug Humphrey begins his fifth season as head coach of the South Dakota State men's and women's swimming and diving teams.

Last season, the Jackrabbits recorded runner-up finishes at the Summit League Swimming and Diving Championships in both the men's and women's divisions, continuing an upward trend in the standings. SDSU had previously finished third in the men's race in each of Humphrey's previous seasons on deck with the Jackrabbits, along with a pair of third-place performances on the women's side.

Prior to SDSU, Humphrey served as the head women's swimming and diving coach at Northern Iowa for five seasons. His Panther squads showed steady progression in the Missouri Valley Conference, including posting back-to-back third-place finishes at the conference championship his final two seasons in Cedar Falls.

Humphrey served as the assistant swimming coach at the University of Nebraska from 2000-12 under Olympic gold medalist Pablo Morales. He swam for the Huskers from 1991-96 and later served as a graduate assistant coach at his alma mater.

A LOOK AHEAD: The Jackrabbits will be off from competition until resuming action Nov. 5-6 at the USD?Quad Dual. The two-day meet will be held at the Midco Aquatic Center in Sioux Falls.

-GoJacks.com-