Men splash into second at St. John’s

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Staff Reports

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. — The South Dakota State men’s swimming and diving team finished second out of four teams Saturday at the St. John’s University December Invitational.

The host won the event with 827 points, followed by SDSU with 693. North Dakota finished third with 289 points with Wisconsin-River Falls fourth with 220.

SDSU started the day in the 200 medley relay event, where the ‘A’ team of Mark Garrigues, Chad Thomsen, Josh Mueller and Mario Polito just missed the first-place spot and came in second with a time of 1 minute, 41.02 seconds (Garrigues, Thomsen, Mueller and Polito).

During the 200 freestyle event the Jacks captured the top two spots with Garrigues leading the way. Garrigues finished with a time of 1:48.45 while Polito was right behind at 1:48.51. Just lanes away, Josh Mueller grabbed the fourth-place spot (1:51.73) and Colby Lee came in fifth (1:53.10).

The Jacks went into the 100 backstroke with the men taking four places in a row. Justin Manning posted a time of 59.03 seconds, which clinched his third place spot. Josh Mueller was next with a :59.83, Bryce Sinclair grabbed the last top-five spot with a :59:89 and Brad Peters posted a 1:01.16 time.

When Chad Thomsen and Cade Roberts hit the pool for the 100 breaststroke, they snatched the top two spots in the event. Thomsen posted a :58.89 for his top spot while Roberts finished in 1:05.06.

Another event winner was Colby Lee in the 200 butterfly, after he swam his best time of the season (2:07.68). Cade Roberts was next in the pool to take on the 200 I.M. opponents along with teammate, Ryan Willett. Roberts grabbed second with a 2:05.55 and Willett posted a 2:12.28 for fifth.

Speeding things up a bit Mario Polito finished in second (:22.35) in the 50 freestyle, while teammate Hadleigh Tyler grabbed the final top-five spot with a time of :23.02. On to the 100 freestyle Politio had an intense race with Josh Swenson of St. John’s. Polito came in a tick behind when he posted a third-place time of 49.78 seconds, while Swenson posted a time of 49.77. Joey Chapman of St. John’s won the race in 49.56 seconds.

In the 200 breaststroke, Chad Thomsen won the event with 2:10.05 while Cade Roberts landed second with a 2:18.43 finish. Ryan Willett battled his way into the top-five with a time of 2:25.96 to land fifth.

Garrigues flew past the competition in the 200 backstroke and posted a solid 2:03.72 time for first in the event and with that time he posted the season best for the Jacks, as well. Garrigues later won his third event of the day, capturing the 400 individual medley in 4:25.63, with Mueller placing second in 4:27.35.

Mueller came into a comfortable first (5:03.70) in the 500 freestyle while teammate Colby Lee came in next with a time of 5:08.27. Ryan Willett and Kyle Milleman finished in the top-five with Willet finishing in fourth (5:11.80) and Milleman landing in fifth (5:30.65).

Thomsen was successful in yet another event when he captured the top spot in the 100 butterfly with a time of :54.24. Mario Politio snatched up sixth (:58.23), Bryce Sinclair finished in seventh (:58.42) and Hadleigh Tyler placed eighth (1:01.88).

For the final event of the day the Jacks came in second in the 200 freestyle relay as the team of Sinclair, Peters, Tyler and Polito recorded a time of 1:30.93.

The men will be at home Dec. 9 to host a dual against the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. The event is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m.