Meet Results
ABERDEEN, S.D. -- The Minnesota State University Moorhead women's swimming and diving team won 10 events on its way to a 162-98 season-opening dual meet win over Northern State in action Friday night in Aberdeen, S.D.

MSUM (1-0 duals) won its seventh consecutive dual meet, a streak that dates back to the midway point of the 2011-12 season.

The team swam multiple lifetime bests and many of the Dragons were already at or faster than last year's conference times, which is impressive considering the team is getting into some of its toughest training of the year. Times are usually much faster at the conference meet because the team typically rests for three weeks prior to the conference meet.

"It's so great to see the veterans race as well as they have been practicing," MSUM head coach Todd Peters said. " We knew they were ahead of last year, but some of the swims were far beyond what we anticipated."

Junior Megan Sanford won two events for MSUM, which had six other individuals earn wins. The Dragons also won two relays.

Sophomore Annika Bordak had a solid day for the Dragons. She won the 200 backstroke at 2:14.34 and placed second in the 100 butterfly at 1:01.64. Both times were faster than she swam prior to last year's Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference meet.  She also led off the winning 400 medley relay -- which also included senior Kelli Nadeau, junior Susie Kitzman and senior Megan Rieland -- with a strong 1:00.65 time in the 100 backstroke (which was more than three seconds faster than her first meet of time of 1:03.97 a year ago).  The winning 400 medley relay time was 4:08.15.

Bordak also was part of the winning 200 freestyle relay, which won with a time of 1:40.67. That included Kitzman, sophomore Rachel Erickson and Rieland. Bordak's leadoff time of 25.73 was a lifetime-best.

Rieland was part of both winning relays. She anchored the 200 free relay with a time of 24.39 and the 400 medley relay with 55.16, which are both comparable to her conference times. She also swam the 100 backstroke for the first time in her career and nearly won the event with a fast 1:03.45. Her 100 fly time of 1:02.24 was faster than she swam at conference last year.

Junior Megan Sanford won the 1,000 free and the time for her first 500 (5:35) was faster than the 500 she swam at the alumni meet on Sept. 28. She won the 200 breaststroke at 2:33.16 and also swam a lifetime-best of 2:21.19 in the 200 IM.

Freshman Amber Helgoe won her first college event with a time of 26.14 in the 50 Free. Freshman Ashley Higgins broke the magical minute barrier in the 100 freestyle for the first time in her career with a 59.94. Freshman Madison Kuznia had solid swims in the 200 back (2:18.93) and leading off the 400 medley relay with a time of 1:03.89 in the 100 backstroke.  She also swam the 200 fly for the first time in her career.

Senior Angelee Hale won the 200 free at 2:03.12, while sophomore Jackie Woods cruised to a win in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:08.55. Kitzman captured the 100 free with a time of 55.90.

Because the meet was held at the Aberdeen YMCA with a recreation diving board, the divers faced a challenge as the board is two-feet shorter than the standard springboard. The divers had to perform all their dives from a standing position, without an approach.  That made the  dives much more difficult and the divers are forced to perform only easier dives which gives them lower scores.  Despite this, senior Kelsey Jandro had one of the best performances of her career, scoring no less than a 6 on all her dives.  The divers were exhibition in the meet.

MSUM will compete at the triangular with St. Cloud State and Northern Michigan on Oct. 18-19 in Marquette, Mich.

"We are right where we need to be going into next week's meet in Michigan when we will be swimming against St. Cloud Stateand Northern Michigan," Peters said. " We are really excited to see our improvement from last year and to find out how we match up against defending conference champs, St. Cloud.  They are definitely the team to beat this year."