MOORHEAD, Minn. — The Minnesota State University Moorhead women's swimming and diving team will compete in two events this week. The Dragons will face Minnesota State, Mankato in a dual at 5 p.m. on Friday in Mankato, Minn., and will compete at the Gustavus Adolphus Invite on Saturday in St. Peter, Minn.
The Dragons are 6-4 in dual meets this season.
"This is going to be another great test for our team with two tough meets this weekend," MSUM head coach
Todd Peters said. "Friday night we go head-to-head against Mankato and it is always the toughest dual meet each year. We've developed a great rivalry and we know going into the meet each year, being the favorite to win doesn't mean you are assured of a sure thing. The past three contests have gone to the underdog team with the home pool advantage being the deciding factor each time. Unfortunately for us, Mankato has the home pool and is a favorite to win the meet after they outscored us last weekend. We are definitely going after the meet, but we know we need a combination of a few people stepping up and performing beyond expectations along with the Mavericks giving us an opening."
Saturday's meet will feature several teams and allows for unlimited scoring, giving several Dragons the chance to contribute.
"Saturday's invitational meet at Gustavus is great because there is unlimited scoring for each team in every event," Peters said. " We have great depth and the ability for every person on our team to score points. It helps all the athletes to know they can contribute regardless of how fast they are on our team. We can also put a large group in the mile and up to eight relays in each relay event. We will be going after the relays and then spreading our team out among all the events to maximize our scoring ability. A tough weekend like this with back-to-back meets and the swimmers competing in a total of nine events while the divers will compete on both boards each day will give us a good indication of how well we can handle the Rochester meet coming up two weeks later."
MSUM is coming off of a third-place finish at the St. Thomas Invite, where the Dragons won five events. Junior
Erin Sullivan and sophomore
Taylor Beynon each recorded two wins for the Dragons, and both were joined by freshman
Leticia Rodovalho and
Breah Anderson on the winning 400 medley relay team. Rodovalho added a second in 200 while Anderson added a runner-up finish in the 100 free.
Todd Peters is in his 20th season as the Dragon swimming and diving coach.
About Minnesota State
The Mavericks are 0-1 in duals this season, with their loss coming to Division I South Dakota. They finished second at the St. Thomas Invite last weekend when they won four events.
Freshman Jaycee Klein won the 3-meter diving while junior Chelsea Calhoon won the 200 IM and senior Cheyenne Rova won the 100 free. The Mavericks' 200 free relay also was victorious.
More about MSUM
—Sophomore
Taylor Beynon leads MSUM with 269.45 points scored
—Junior
Erin Sullivan leads MSUM with 10 wins and is second in points scored (265.25)
—Rounding out the top five in points are freshman
Breah Anderson (third, 224), freshman
Leticia Rodovalho (fourth, 218) and senior
Ashley Higgins (126.05)
—Eight different Dragons have won at least two wins and 15 different athletes have won events
—Freshman Téa Nyland has six wins, second-best on the team
MSUM Rankings
National Rankings (top 30)
1,650 free: 22.
Taylor Beynon (18:16.43)
100 back: 8.
Erin Sullivan (57.30)
200 back: 12.
Erin Sullivan (2:05.10)
400 IM: 22.
Taylor Beynon (4:38.53)
NSIC Rankings (top eight)
50 free: 4.
Breah Anderson, 24.41; 6.
Ashley Higgins, 24.60
100 free: 3.
Breah Anderson, 53.15
500 free: 8.
Taylor Beynon, 5:21.54
1,000 free: 6.
Taylor Beynon, 10:58.30
1,650 free: 2.
Taylor Beynon, 18:16.43
100 back: 1.
Erin Sullivan, 57.25
200 back: 1.
Erin Sullivan, 2:05.10
100 breast: 3.
Taylor Beynon, 1:08.92; 8.
Shae Bodrero, 1:09.96
200 breast: 4.
Taylor Beynon, 2:29.63; 7. Tea Nyland, 2:33.83; 8.
Shae Bodrero, 2:33.89
100 butterfly: 3.
Erin Sullivan, 58.90; 7.
Leticia Rodovalho, 59.85
200 butterfly: 3. Rodovalho, 2:11.03
200 IM: 5. Beynon, 2:11.93
400 IM: 2. Beynon, 4:38.53
