JACKRABBITS CLIPPED BY OMAHA IN MEN'S DUAL

Friday, December 6

Brookings, S.D.

4 p.m.

South Dakota State University

144.5

151.5

Omaha

Photo by: SDSU Athletics

12/6/2024 9:44:00 PM | Men's Swimming and Diving

COMPLETE RESULTS

Jack Ellison and Cody Vertin were each two-time individual winners for South Dakota State, but Omaha came up with the decisive relay victory to pull out a 151.5-144.5 dual win in men's swimming and diving action Friday afternoon at the Marshall Center Pool.

SDSU had its dual record even at 2-2 for the season and 1-1 against Summit League opponents.

The Jackrabbits started strong, establishing a pool record in the opening event of the meet and sweeping the top three spots in the 1,000-yard freestyle. The pool record came in the 400 medley relay as the quartet of Aiden Carstensen, Vertin, Braxton McGrath and Sam Johnson combined for a winning time of 3 minutes, 24.63 seconds. That eclipsed the previous facility standard of 3:27.21 set by SDSU's Daniel Jacobson, Wyatt Rumrill, Garth Wadsworth and Ben Bolinske in January 2016.

In fact, SDSU's B relay team of Denilson Cyprianos, Nik Keuser, Austin Smith and Zavier Kranz also bettered the previous mark with a time of 3:25.20 to place second.

Ellison, a junior from Omaha, swept the distance freestyle events, clocking winning times of 9:53.28 in the 1,000 and 4:45.96 in the 500. Kolden Kringen was second in the 1,000 freestyle, 10:10.57, with Collin Schock completing the Jackrabbit sweep in 10:15.15. Kringen added a third-place finish in the 500 with a time of 4:51.23.

After Omaha took the lead on the team scoreboard midway through the dual, Vertin and Austin Smith sparked a Jackrabbit comeback. A sophomore from Brookings, Vertin won both the 200 breaststroke (2:05.22) and the 200 individual medley (1:55.38). Earlier in the meet, Vertin placed second behind freshman teammate and Omaha native Nik Keuser in the 100 breaststroke. Keuser won the event in 57.58 seconds, followed by Vertin in 58.21 seconds.

Meanwhile, Smith claimed the 100 butterfly (50.89 seconds) and placed second in the 200 IM (1:56.52) as the Jackrabbits regained the team lead by two points heading into the final event of the dual, the 200 freestyle relay.

The Mavericks built enough of a lead on the leadoff leg of the relay to hold off the Jackrabbit quartet of Charles Sieglaff, Aiden Carstensen, Liam Murry and Sam Johnson by .45 seconds (1:23.65 to 1:24.10).

UP NEXT
Friday's dual marked SDSU's final competition before a month-long holiday break. The Jackrabbits are scheduled to return to competition Jan. 11 against Augustana at the Midco Aquatic Center in Sioux Falls.

-GoJacks.com-