ROCHESTER, Minn. – Minnesota State Moorhead swimming & diving embarked on the first day of the annual Rochester Invitational on Thursday. Moorhead sits in sixth place as a team with 248 points. 
 
The Dragon 200-yard medley relay squad of Kelsey Jackson, Rose Urick, Ruth Pavelski and Sophia Verke would kick things off with an eighth-place finish, marking a time of 1:47.45. Verke clocked a 23.77 50-yard freestyle split. In the 500-yard freestyle, freshman Turin Johnson would win the C-final with a mark of 5:19.57, just outside the top ten in program history. 
 
Fernanda Leon would place second overall in the 200-yard IM, earning a finals mark of 2:09.04. Leon would win preliminary action in the morning with a mark of 2:08.69. Jackson would place fifth in the C-final of the same event with an overall time of 2:16.75. 
 
Verke and Maggie Moore would place first and second respectively in the 50-yard freestyle consolation final. Verke swam a 24.77 while Moore turned in a 24.36. In preliminary action. Verke would clock a 24.40 to narrowly miss the championship final. Joanna Phillips would win the D-final of the same event with a time of 25.29. Tresa Baumgard placed fourth in the same heat behind a time of 25.48. 
 
Pavelski would see a runner-up finish in the 100-yard fly, touching the wall at 59.42 while Cami Mayo placed eighth in the same race (1:00.69). Pavelski swam a 58.97 in the preliminary heats. 
 
In 3-meter diving, Isabelle Johnson would lead the Dragons with an 11-dive score of 355.75 to finish 10^th. Zoe Bjerke would place 12^th with an overall score of 354.75 while Kennedy Olson placed 16^th with a score of 305.80. 
 
To conclude day one, the Dragon team of Verke, Leon, Pavelski and Moore would place sixth overall in the 800-yard freestyle relay. The quartet clocked a cumulative time of 7:56.74 led by a 1:57.40 split from Verke. The Dragon team of Johnson, Jackson, Anika Grunenwald and Phillips would earn 15^th-place marks with a time of 8:15.04. 
 
The Rochester Invitational is set for its second day on Friday beginning at 9 a.m.