MOORHEAD, Minn. -- The Minnesota State University Moorhead women's swimming and diving team is back in action this weekend with a pair of competitions in Northfield, Minn. The Dragons will compete in a quad with Carleton, St. Olaf and St. Catherine's on Friday night at Carleton College and follow that by competing at the Cows, College and Contentment Classic, which will be held at St. Olaf College in Northfield.
 
Friday's quad begins at 6 p.m. The Dragons finished second at the meet last year.

"Each of the two meets present different challenges," MSUM head coach Todd Peters said. "Friday night is tough because it is a long drive and then a small six-lane pool where over 100 swimmers and 20 divers have to warmup together. St. Olaf is always the toughest team for us to beat at that meet. We are looking to finish first in that meet."

Saturday's meet begins at 11 a.m. and will feature stout competition, including St. Cloud State and Minnesota State, Mankato, a pair of strong Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference foes.

"Saturday is even worse for space as over 300 swimmers cram into six lanes," Peters said. "There can be an hour or more between swims with no place to warm up. The divers face similar conditions as they compete at Carleton College with as many as 40 divers on one of each board. Saturday's meet is not scored so we will trying some people out in different events. We hope to win a few events and place well against conference opponents St Cloud and Mankato."

This weekend's meets will be the first competition for the Dragons since Oct. 18-19.

Last time out: MSUM Competes at Northern Michigan/St. Cloud State Double Dual
MSUM battled a pair of strong programs during a pair of double-dual competitions against St. Cloud State and Northern Michigan on Oct. 18 and 19 in Marquette, Mich. While the Dragons did not win a dual on the weekend, they had several good performances.
 
During the Oct. 18 competition, MSUM's 400 freestyle relay won in exciting fashion in the final event of the evening. The Dragons rallied to win the event, finishing with a winning time of 3:40.02, just .31 seconds ahead of St. Cloud State and .39 seconds ahead of Northern Michigan. It is the first time ever MSUM has beaten those teams in that event. MSUM's relay consisted of sophomore Annika Bordak, junior Susie Kitzman, senior Angelee Hale and senior Megan Rieland.

Rieland had a great evening for MSUM. She was out-touched for second in the 50 free by .01 seconds; she took third with a fast time of 25.33. She also had the fastest relay splits of any of the teams with a 54.14 on the 400 medley relay and 54.03 on the 400 free relay.

During the Oct. 19 competition, Rieland led the way for the Dragons. She captured the 50 freestyle with a time of 25.38, winning the event by .05 seconds. She was second in the 50 butterfly at 27.41, edging St. Cloud State's Meghan Carmichael by just .03 seconds.

The senior from Sauk Centre, Minn., also anchored the 200 freestyle relay which was second at 1:40.53, narrowly losing a highly-competitive race by .15 seconds. The Dragons edged St. Cloud State for second by .14 seconds. MSUM's relay contingent included Bordak, Kitzman, Hale and Rieland.  Senior diver Kelsey Jandro also had a good day. She was second in 1-meter diving at 224.30, ahead of St. Cloud State's Mary Woodson by nearly 10 points. Jandro was third in 3-meter diving with a score of 235.40.