ABERDEEN, SD - The 2023-24 season is now in full swing for the University of Mary Swimming & Diving team. With the season-opening weekend in Aberdeen in the books, the Marauders weekend was highlighted by five first-place finishes as three relay teams took gold and
Victoria Murillo won two individual events.
The Marauders kicked off the weekend with a solid showing in the relay portion of the event, taking first place in three of the races Friday night. The relay races also featured Southwest Minnesota State, Concordia-St. Paul, and the host Northern State.
The Marauders earned gold in the first event of the evening, the 3x100-yard butterfly relay.
Jordn Wolsky,
Maria Strong, and
Victoria Murillo all had excellent legs in the event to take first with an overall time of 3:02.99 and 14 points for a strong opener.
The Marauders later earned their second first-place finish in 500 Yard Freestyle Relay.
Camille Merimee,
Michaela Desmond,
Allie Elliott, and Murillo combined for a 4:51.71 finish and 14 more team points.
UMary then finished strong in the closing event of the evening, bookending the 400 Yard Freestyle Relay with their third first-place finish. Murillo, Merimee,
Madeline Desmond, and Strong finished over 5 seconds ahead of the runner-up with a time of 3:44.39.
The Marauders also had a solid race in the 200 Yard Freestyle Relay, finishing second with a time of 1:43.91, which was just 0.65 seconds behind NSU's winning quartet.
SMSU finished Friday with the highest overall score of 106 points, followed by NSU with 104, UMary with 88, and then CSP with 86 points.
The second portion of the meet began early Sunday morning for UMary, Northern State, and Concordia – St. Paul. The team of
Michaela Desmond,
Elise Altringer,
Jordn Wolsky, and
Allie Elliott took second in the 200 Yard Medley Relay (1:59.14), the first event of the day.
Shortly after,
Victoria Murillo won a tight race in the 200 free, edging two close runner-ups with a winning time of 1:56.51. Murillo later turned in an impressive performance in the 500 free, winning the event in 5:16.74.
Jordn Wolsky had a solid day in the individual races, taking second in the 200 IM (2:17.63) and later third in the 100 backstroke (1:02.54).
The Desmond sisters each showed good signs for both of their seasons with a pair of second-place finishes.
Michaela Desmond narrowly missed gold in the 100 free (57.61) while
Madeline Desmond ground out a 1:01.14 time for runner-up in the 100 butterfly.
Camille Merimee blazed for third-place time of 26.03 in the 50 free, and later took fifth in the 100 free with a solid time of 58.44.
In the second to last event of the afternoon,
Elise Altringer took second runner-up in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:16.12. The freshman from Minot also took fifth in the 200 free (2:08.15).
In the final event of the day, the team of
Madeline Desmond, Murillo, Brackin, and Strong finished third in the 400 Yard Freestyle Relay with a time of 3:53.04.
OTHER TOP FINISHES
Allie Elliott took fourth in the 200 free (2:07.27).
Maria Strong took fourth in the 100 backstroke (1:03.07).
Mariapocs Ruiz Martinez took fifth in the 500 free (5:57.55).
Mikayla Brackin took fifth in the 100 breaststroke (1:16.59).
The calculated dual meet scores gave UMary 88.0 points to Northern State's 105.0, and then 92.50 against Concordia - St. Paul's 117.50.
UP NEXT
UMary Swimming will be diving right back into the pool next Saturday, September 30. The Marauders will square off against the University of Jamestown beginning at 11 a.m. from Jamestown, ND.
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