JACKRABBITS CLOSE HOME SLATE WITH DUALS

Friday, January 17

Brookings, S.D.

3 p.m.

South Dakota State University

St. Cloud State

1/16/2025 1:58:00 PM | Men's Swimming and Diving, Women's Swimming and Diving

2024-25 SDSU WOMEN'S SEASON BESTS 2024-25 SDSU MEN'S SEASON BESTS

The South Dakota State swimming and diving teams close out the home portion of their schedule this weekend with duals at the Stanley J. Marshall Center Pool.

The Jackrabbit men will be in action twice, hosting St. Cloud State at 3 p.m. Friday and Summit League rival South Dakota at 10 a.m. Saturday. SDSU and USD also will compete in a women's dual at 10 a.m. Saturday, with Senior Day recognition for the Jackrabbits beginning at 9:45 a.m. To accommodate additional athletic events being held on Saturday, fans attending Saturday's swim meet are asked to park in the lots to the east or west of Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium.

The meets will be available for viewing through the Summit League Network powered by Midco Sports Plus (subscription required). Live results for both meets will be posted on the Meet Mobile app.

SDSU enters the week with a 3-2 overall record in men's duals, including a 1-1 mark against Summit League opponents. The Jackrabbits posted a 159-75 victory at Augustana on Jan. 10 in their first competition of the calendar year.

On the women's side, the Jackrabbits hold a 2-5 overall record, including 1-1 in league action. SDSU dropped a 125-118.5 decision at Augustana last week.

SCHOOL RECORDS FALL: Three members of the South Dakota State men's swimming and diving team set new school records during competition at the Tommie Invitational Nov. 21-23 in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Senior Sam Johnson was the first to clock a record time, posting a mark of 4 minutes, 29.95 seconds in the finals of the 200-yard freestyle on the opening day of the meet. That bettered the mark of 4:30.74 set last season by teammate Jack Ellison.

Two more records fell the following day with Braxton McGrath and Cody Vertin doing the honors. A junior from Amana, Iowa, McGrath broke his own record in the 100-yard butterfly twice on the same day. In the Nov. 22 morning prelims, he clocked a then-record time of 48.51 seconds to lower his own standard by .07 seconds. During the evening finals, McGrath trimmed another .36 seconds off his earlier mark for a winning time of 48.15 seconds.

Vertin, a sophomore from Brookings, turned in his record-setting performance in the 400 individual medley during the morning preliminaries with a top time of 3 minutes, 57.01 seconds. He fell slightly off that pace during the evening's final, but still managed to win the event in 3:57.40.

NEW POOL RECORDS: The Jackrabbit men's and women's squads have combined to establish five new facility records at the Stanley J. Marshall Center Pool during the 2024-25 season. Four of the new standards have been set in relays — three by the men and one by the women:

Men's 200 Medley Relay – Liam Murray, Austin Smith, Nik Keuser and Aiden Carstensen, vs. Iowa Central (Nov. 15, 2024);
Men's 400 Medley Relay – Aiden Carstensen, Cody Vertin, Braxton McGrath and Sam Johnson, vs. Omaha (Dec. 6, 2024);
Men's 800 Freestyle Relay – Sam Johnson, Zavier Kranz, Kolden Kringen and Denilson Cyprianos, vs. Iowa Central (Nov. 15, 2024);
Women's 800 Freestyle Relay – Sara Juez, Hannah Miller, Emma Schultz andGigi Hioki, vs. Iowa Central (Nov. 15, 2024).

Sam Johnson has set the lone individual pool record this season with a 200-yard freestyle time of 1 minute, 41.81 seconds in the Nov. 15 dual versus Iowa Central.

CASTRO SETS NCAA ZONE MARK: Jackrabbit women's diver Anna Mei Castro established an NCAA Zones-qualifying mark with a winning score of 282.00 points on the 3-meter board en route to winning the event at the Tommie Invitational Nov. 22 in St. Paul, Minnesota.

A sophomore from Barcelona, Spain, Castro bettered the qualifying standard by two points. The Zone D diving meet is set for March 10-12 in Iowa City, Iowa.

PEAK PERFORMERS: South Dakota State's Gigi Hioki was honored Tuesday as the Summit League Peak Women's Swimmer of the Week after continuing her winning ways in the Jackrabbits' first competition of the calendar year.

A sophomore from Honolulu, Hawaii, Hioki won a pair of individual events and contributed to a relay victory in a Jan. 10 dual at Augustana. She claimed the 200-yard freestyle in a time of 1 minute, 53.03 seconds, followed by a victory in the 500 freestyle with a time of 5:10.44.

To close the meet, Hioki swam the leadoff leg for the Jackrabbits' winning 400 freestyle relay, which combined for a time of 3.31.75.

Hioki has won the 200 freestyle in five of seven competitions this season and has swam to victory in the 500 freestyle in four of seven starts.

The award was the second of the 2024-25 season for Hioki, who previously earned the recognition on Oct. 22.

Meanwhile, Anna Mei Castro has been selected as the Summit League Peak Women's Diver of the Week on two occasions so far this season.

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.

Castro was honored again after winning 1-meter diving competition in a Dec. 6 home dual against Omaha with a season-best score of 230.48. She also posted a runner-up finish on the 3-meter board with a mark of 236.35 over six dives.

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 17^th 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 15^th-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.

A LOOK AHEAD: The Jackrabbits are scheduled to wrap up regular season competition at the two-day Coyote Invite Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 at the Midco Aquatic Center in Sioux Falls.

-GoJacks.com-