SIOUX FALLS, S.D. -- MSU Moorhead swimming & diving continued their strong pace to begin the 2023-24 season across two days at the USF Invite. 

The Dragons were joined by host USF as well as Augustana and Northern State at the quad meet. As a team, MSUM went 2-4 against those schools with a pair of wins over Northern State. 

Day One

MSUM would have a strong first day, headlined by the performances of freshmen Sophia Verke and Ruth Pavelski. Verke would place second in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:57.37, which is now the seventh-fastest time in MSUM history. Pavelski would turn in a blazing time of 1:00.36 in the 100-yard IM as the mark is now the fourth-fastest time in school history. The Sun Prairie, Wisc., native finished fifth overall in the race. The four teams would swim an unconventional 300-yard medley relay on Friday with the team of Kelsey Jackson, Linnea Edgren, Pavelski and Demi-Lee Carlisle finishing fifth with a time of 2:53.47.

Maggie Moore and Lily Lengerich would finish seventh and eighth respectively in Friday's 50-yard freestyle with Moore clocking a 25.47 and Lengerich a 25.79. Cami Mayo would place ninth in the 100-yard fly with a time of 1:01.19 on Friday with Delaney Varney clocking a 1:07.16 in the same race. Verke, Lengerich and Taylor Cook would all swim strong races in the 100-yard freestyle with Verke leading the way with a time of 54.20 to finish fifth. Lengerich (56.25) and Cook (56.31) would finish eighth and ninth respectively. 

Carlisle would would finish fourth in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 1:00.8 with Jackson just behind her at 1:00.87 to finish fifth. Lacie Stark would finish not far behind her two teammates with a mark of 1:01.36 to place seventh. Arina Bratamidjaja would reset her personal-best in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:29.89, which tops her previous best by nearly 10 seconds. Linnea Edgren would register a 1:13.17 in the 100-yard breaststroke to finish ninth while Isabelle Johnson would place fourth in 3M diving with a score of 195.55.

To close day one, MSUM would compete in the 200-yard freestyle relay with the team of Pavelski, Moore, Verke and Carlisle swimming a 1:38.9 to finish third. The team of Stark, Lengerich, Emma Vrieze and Joanna Phillips placed sixth with a mark of 1:43.8.

Day Two

The final day of the meet would open with the 200-yard medley relay as the squad of Stark, Edgren, Pavelski and Carlisle would finish fifth with a time of 1:52.55. Sophia Verke would continue her strong weekend with a 1:58.69 in the 200-yard freestyle to finish fourth. Maggie Moore would place seventh in the same race with a mark of 2:00.44. 

Carlisle and Lengerich would each compete in Saturday's 50-yard freestyle with Carlisle pacing a 25.22 to finish sixth. Lengerich registered an even 26 second mark to finish ninth. Cami Mayo would turn in a strong time in the 400-yard IM with a time of 4:53.67 to finish in the top ten of the event. Mayo would also finish fourth in the 500-yard freestyle later in the day with a time of 5:28.33. Isabelle Johnson would build on her 3M performance from Friday to score a 200.45 in 1M diving, finishing fourth. 

Moore would set a strong time in the 100-yard freestyle once again with a time of 56.06 to finish fifth while Taylor Cook was just behind Moore, finishing sixth with a mark of 56.28. Kelsey Jackson would continue to look strong in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 2:10.07 on Saturday to place fourth. Verke swam in the same race, placing eighth with a 2:14.17 mark. 

To round out the meet, MSUM's 400-yard freestyle relay team of Carlisle, Verke, Pavelski and Moore would finish third with a time of 3:38.09

Up Next

MSUM is back in the pool on November 4 as they travel to face off with Concordia, St. Paul in dual action beginning at 12 p.m.