The South Dakota State men's and women's swimming and diving teams return to the water Friday afternoon by hosting Iowa Central in dual competition.
Start time has been pushed back a half hour to 4:30 p.m. at the Marshall Center Pool. The meet was rescheduled from its original Oct. 19 date due to repairs at the Jackrabbits' home facility.
Video streaming of Friday's dual will be through the Summit League Network powered by Midco Sports Plus (subscription required). Live results will be available via the Meet Mobile app.
SDSU enters the combined meet with a 1-3 dual record on the women's side and a 1-1 mark in the men's division. The Jackrabbit women dropped a 170-72 decision to Nebraska in their first home competition of the season on Nov. 8, while the SDSU men will be making their home debut. The Jackrabbit men's squad is 1-1 on the dual ledger after splitting a tri-dual against St. Thomas (W, 151-147) and Minnesota (L, 49-251) on Oct. 18.
HIOKI LEADS JACKRABBIT WOMEN: Sophomore Gigi Hioki has paced the South Dakota State women's squad in the opening weeks of the 2024-25 season.
A sophomore from Liberty Lake, Washington, Hioki claimed the 200-yard freestyle for the third time in four starts this season during the Jackrabbits' Nov. 8 home-opening dual against Nebraska. She clocked a season-best time of 1 minute, 52.55 seconds, besting her next-closest competitor by nearly two seconds.
Hioki also has posted the team's fastest times in the 100 freestyle (:52.51) and 500 freestyle (5:07.63) so far this season.
VERTIN PACES MEN IN MINNESOTA: Sophomore Cody Vertin was victorious in the 200-yard breaststroke and added runner-up finishes in the 200 and 400 individual medleys to lead the South Dakota State men's swimming and diving during competition Nov. 1-2 at the Huskies Invite in Rochester, Minnesota.
A Brookings native, Vertin clocked a winning time of 2 minutes, 7.44 seconds in the 200 breaststroke after opening Day 2 of the three-team with a runner-up time of 1:54.40 in the 200 IM. Vertin opened the meet with a runner-up time of 4:09.17 in the 400 individual medley.
PEAK PERFORMERS: South Dakota State's Gigi Hioki was honored Oct. 22 as the Summit League Peak Women's Swimmer of the Week.
A sophomore from Liberty Lake, Washington, Hioki paced the Jackrabbits in all three of her individual races in an Oct. 18 tri-dual against Minnesota and league foe St. Thomas. She placed third overall in both the 200-yard freestyle (1 minute, 52.69 seconds) and 500 freestyle (5:09.64). She also finished fifth overall in the 100 freestyle with a time of 52.51 seconds.
Hioki lowered her times in all three of her events, including dropping nearly 10 seconds in the 500 freestyle from her season debut at Iowa State on Oct. 10. In addition, she anchored the Jackrabbits' 400 freestyle relay that finished fifth in 3:32.54.
The previous week, on Oct. 15, the Jackrabbits' Anna Mei Castro was selected as the Summit League Peak Women's Diver of the Week.
A sophomore from Barcelona, Spain, Castro led SDSU's diving crew in a season-opening dual at Iowa State on Oct. 10. She was runner-up on the 3-meter board with a score of 234.07 over six dives and also placed fourth in the 1-meter competition with 225.82 points.
PRESEASON POLLS: The South Dakota State men's swimming and diving team has been picked to finish second in the 2024-25 Summit League standings and the women's squad has been tabbed to place third in preseason polls announced in early October.
The Jackrabbit men totaled 31 points to finish behind defending champion Denver with 36 points and six first-place votes. South Dakota received the other first-place vote and placed third in the poll, which was conducted among the league's seven head coaches.
SDSU finished fourth in the league standings a season ago.
In the women's division, SDSU collected 26 points to stand behind Denver (36 points) and South Dakota (31 points). The defending champion Pioneers received six first-place votes to take the top spot, with USD gaining the other first-place vote.
The Jackrabbits placed fifth out of eight teams at last season's league championships.
Four Jackrabbits were named swimmers and divers to watch for the upcoming season. Representing the SDSU men were Denilson Cyprianos and Reece Reid, while Gigi Hioki and Anna Mei Castro were nominated on the women's side.
Cyprianos, a graduate student from Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, is the school record holder in the 200-yard backstroke (1:44.03) and was runner-up in the event at the 2024 Summit League Championships. He also recorded sixth-place individual finishes in the 200 and 500 freestyle events at the league meet.
Cyprianos went on to represent his home country in the 200-meter backstroke at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.
Reid, a sophomore from Keller, Texas, placed 17th in 3-meter diving at the 2024 Summit League Championships.
A sophomore from Liberty Lake, Washington, Hioki excelled in the freestyle events for the Jackrabbit women last season, placing seventh in both the 200 and 1,650 freestyle at the league championships.
Castro, a sophomore from Barcelona, Spain, recorded a ninth-place finish in 1-meter diving at the 2024 Summit League Championships and added a 15th-place effort on the 3-meter board.
COACH HUMPHREY: Doug Humphrey is in his eighth season as head coach of the South Dakota State men's and women's swimming and diving teams.
Through his first seven seasons, Humphrey has guided the Jackrabbits to top-three team finishes at the Summit League Championships five times in the men's division and three times on the women's side. Both squads recorded runner-up finishes at the league meet during the pandemic-altered 2020-21 season.
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.
UP NEXT: The Jackrabbits move on to compete in the St. Thomas Invite Nov. 21-23 in St. Paul, Minnesota. The three-day meet will feature preliminaries at 10 a.m. each day, followed by event finals at 5:30 p.m.