MOORHEAD, Minn. – The Minnesota State University Moorhead Dragon swimming & diving team shone in Alex Nemzek Fieldhouse as they hosted the Dragon Invite. In the two-day event the Dragons took first out of four teams with 1,071 total points.  

Northern State University took second in the meet with 624 total points. The University of Minnesota Morris came in No. 3 with 445 points followed by Concordia College with 409 points.

On Friday, Jan. 20, the Dragons won seven out of nine events, including both relays and diving events.

The 200yd medley relay team of Amanda Walters, Claire Anderson, Megan Rieland and Rachel Walsh took first place with a time of 1:53.84. The Dragons also took first in the 200yd freestyle relay. The team of Jenna Thompson, Susie Kitzman, Rachel Walsh and Megan Rieland won with a time of 1:40.67.

The 200yd freestyle relay "B" team of Amanda Walters, Jessica Doar, Claire Anderson and Angelee Hale came in second with a time of 1:45.17.

Amanda Bean won 200yd backstroke in a come from behind win with a time of 2:16.42. This is a lifetime best finish for Bean.

Jessica Doar and Laura Goll took the one and two spots in the 1650yd Freestyle. They finished with times of 18:29.43 and 19:18.23, respectively.

Senior standout Claire Anderson continued to shine, winning the 200yd butterfly with a time of 2:15.36.

On Saturday, Jan. 21, the Dragons continued their success. They won all three relays for the day, the 400yd freestyle, the 800yd freestyle and the 400yd medley, which gave them a sweep in the relays for the weekend.

The 400yd freestyle relay team finished with a time of 3:47.56 and members were Thompson, Kitzman, Walsh and Rieland. Thopmson and Walsh along with Doar and Hale were members of the first place 800yd freestyle relay team with a time of 8:19.21

The last relay victory the Dragons took was the 400yd medley relay. Hale, Kitzman, Walters and Anderson finished with a time of 4:12.86.

The Dragons were successful in many individual events as well. Anderson and Doar each grabbed another first place finish in the 100yd breaststroke with a 1:11.73 and the 200yd freestyle with a time of 2:02.20, respectively.

Other individual first place finishers were Thompson (50yd freestyle), Kitzman (100yd freestyle), Hale (500yd freestyle) and Rieland (50yd butterfly).

DRAGON DIVERS
On Friday, Sophomore Shayna Dugger took the top spot on the one-meter board with 233.10 points followed be teammate Kelsey Jandro, also a sophomore, with 212.10 points. On the three-meter board the Dragon divers flip-flopped. Jandro took first with 240.30 points and Dugger came in a close second with 237.90 points.

On Saturday, Dugger and Jandro repeated Friday and finished one and two on both boards. Dugger won the one-meter with 387.25 points and Jandro was on top in the three-meter board with 387.50 points.

The next competition for the Dragon swimmers and divers will be the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference meet Feb. 15-18 in San Antonio, Texas, followed by the Last Chance Meet on Feb. 19 also in San Antonio.