Upcoming Event: Men's Swimming and Diving versus Augustana on October 10, 2025 at 1 p.m.
/
1 p.m.
Men's Swimming and Diving
vs Augustana
South Dakota State University Athletics
Friday, January 10
Sioux Falls, S.D.
4:30 p.m.
South Dakota State University
at
Augustana
JACKS OPEN SECOND HALF WITH DUAL AT AUGIE
1/9/2025 11:00:00 PM | Men's Swimming and Diving, Women's Swimming and Diving
The South Dakota State men's and women's swimming and diving teams begin the second half of their 2024-25 season with dual action Friday at Augustana.
Diving events are slated for a 4:30 p.m. start at Midco Aquatic Center in Sioux Falls, followed by swimming events at approximately 6 p.m. The Jackrabbits enter the nonconference matchups with a 2-2 dual record in the men's division and a 2-4 overall dual mark on the women's side. Live results of Friday's meet will be available through the Meet Mobile app.
SDSU last competed Dec. 6, when the Jackrabbits were swept in home dual competition by Summit League rival Omaha. The Mavericks scored a 177.5-122.5 victory in the women's dual, while notching a 151.5-144.5 win in the men's competition. The Jackrabbits have spent the last week training in Arizona.
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.
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 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.
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 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.
A LOOK AHEAD: The Jackrabbit men are scheduled to be in dual action twice next weekend, hosting St. Cloud State at 3 p.m. on Jan. 17 and South Dakota at 10 a.m. on Jan. 18. The competition against South Dakota also will feature a women's dual in what will be the final home competition of the season for both Jackrabbit squads.
Diving events are slated for a 4:30 p.m. start at Midco Aquatic Center in Sioux Falls, followed by swimming events at approximately 6 p.m. The Jackrabbits enter the nonconference matchups with a 2-2 dual record in the men's division and a 2-4 overall dual mark on the women's side. Live results of Friday's meet will be available through the Meet Mobile app.
SDSU last competed Dec. 6, when the Jackrabbits were swept in home dual competition by Summit League rival Omaha. The Mavericks scored a 177.5-122.5 victory in the women's dual, while notching a 151.5-144.5 win in the men's competition. The Jackrabbits have spent the last week training in Arizona.
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.
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 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.
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 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.
A LOOK AHEAD: The Jackrabbit men are scheduled to be in dual action twice next weekend, hosting St. Cloud State at 3 p.m. on Jan. 17 and South Dakota at 10 a.m. on Jan. 18. The competition against South Dakota also will feature a women's dual in what will be the final home competition of the season for both Jackrabbit squads.
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