Blog #14
Hello Johnnie Swim and Dive Fans and Alumni! We have had a great start to the season so far! I just talked with another coach who reminded me we are currently 1/3 of the way to NCAAs this year already! Times flies when the season is going so well! A recap as to where we are so far, and a few thoughts on the season:
We are currently 5-0 on the season so far, with convincing wins over St. Olaf, Macalester, University of Minnesota Morris, and Hamline. As it has been the last few years, the early part of our season is typically the lighter portion of the schedule. Not to take anything away from St. Olaf and Macalester as both of those schools have improved dramatically over the past year. I look forward to seeing what both of those teams bring to the MIAC Championships this year as it seems like they are better than they have been the last few years.
The upcoming weeks will tell us a lot about where our team is really at for this season. We have an invite against Gustavus (Macalester and Morningside as well) which will be the first real test for the team this year, and then the Mid-Season Invite at the Rochester Rec Center. Gustavus will be a good meet for us to see how our team stacks up against the best team in the conference the last few years. I expect our guys to step up and swim well, but I think it will be a very good meet. Lastly, for the semester we’ll head to Rochester for a Mid-Season Invite. We do a partial rest for this meet and we throw on some tech suits so guys will certainly swim fast at this meet. With great competition like St. Cloud State, UW-La Crosse and UW-Eau Claire, we should find our team in a great meet before the end of the semester.
This team is in position to do some great things at the end of the year as well. In looking at how the conference stacks up, we feel very good about our opportunities at the end of the season. I would encourage you to follow our team on social media (@SJUSwimandDive) if you do that sort of thing, otherwise, check out www.gojohnnies.com once in a while to see how the team is doing. We will have some great meets in January as we prepare for the MIAC Championships in February. MIACs will take place on February 19 – 22, 2025 at the U of M. We would really love to have a great crowd of Johnnie fans at the meet if you are able to make it.
Lastly, as my November blog, I’d like to take a minute to give thanks. I feel so blessed to be able to do what I do, and truly appreciate all the people that work so hard to make sure that this program is supported, and our guys have what they need in order to be successful. Our alumni have been so wonderful and supportive of this team and helped us raise money to buy the tech suits our guys need to compete at the highest level. It’s been great to see alumni showing up to our home meets throughout the year, and special thanks to Dirk Westveer for coming and talking to the team before our first home meet. If anyone else would be interested in talking with the team, we would love to have you come and do a pep talk to the boys before a home meet. Reach out and let me know you are interested, and we can find a date that works for you. Lastly, I’m so thankful to my family and especially my wife Becca who literally makes it possible for me to have this job. She works doubly hard during the season as I’m basically an absent father during the season. I am so thankful of all the supportive people of me and this program and want to simply give thanks this November to all who support this program. We are so appreciative of you all and all that you do for this program.
Look forward to seeing you at a meet soon!
Hello Johnnie Swim and Dive fans and alumni, I hope you are all doing well! The season has started and we are well into our training for the 2024-2025 season. The guys are working hard and preparing for our first meet on October 18th against University of Minnesota Morris.
This coming weekend (Friday Oct 11 and Saturday Oct 12) is the annual Red vs. Blue Intersquad meet. The CSB and SJU teams are divided into two, a red team and a blue team; this is always a close and fun meet, if you are in the area and would like to come and cheer on the teams the meet starts at 5:00 PM on Friday, and 11:00 AM on Saturday.
I would like to thank all the alumni who came to the annual gathering/meet. It’s always great to see so many former swimmers and divers back in Collegeville. We had a great brunch at the reef and then a fun swim and dive meet, where surprisingly the won again in convincing fashion! 😊 After the meet we had a great gathering at Bad Habit Brewing.
The weekend after the alumni meet we had another great get together as Luke Vestrum was inducted into the J-Club Hall of Honor. Another great showing of Luke’s family and former swimmers came to celebrate over that weekend as well! We are so proud of Luke and all he has done for Saint Johns swimming and diving! A big congratulations to Luke for his amazing accomplishments as a Johnnie swimmer and alum!
After this weekend’s alumni meet we begin our actual competition with Minnesota Morris. They are a new team (started in 2022) and will be a good warmup for the guys as they then get into the meat of our conference schedule. We will follow up UMM with Macalester in St. Paul, St. Olaf (going to be a tough meet) in Collegeville, and Hamline in St. Paul.
A new tradition that I would like to start this year is having alumni come to our home meets to be an honorary captain for the meet. This would entail coming to the meet and giving a “pump-up” speech just prior to the start of the meet. This is a great way for alumni to connect with our current team, and to give new energy and excitement to our pre-meet talks. Our home meets are the following dates:
vs. UMM Saturday, October 19th @ 1:00 PM
vs. St. Olaf Saturday, November 1st @ 1:00 PM
vs. St. Cloud State, Saturday, January 18th @ 1:00 PM
vs. Gustavus, Saturday February 1st @ 1:00 PM
If you would be interested and available for any of these weekends we would love to connect with you. You can reach me at bgill@csbsju.edu or call or text 920-277-6571.
In the meantime, enjoy the beautiful fall weather, and we look forward to seeing you at the pool soon!
Hey Johnnie Swim and Dive fans and alumni, I hope you are all doing well! We are ramping up and excited as the new school year starts and the swim season is just around the corner! Practices will start in 11 days, and our guys are chomping at the bit to get the season started and begin their quest for a MIAC Championship. We have another large roster of 32 men on our team this season and our expectation is that we will be very competitive in the conference and hopefully onto NCAAs as well. There are a few things I wanted to share with you before the start of our season.
Our Meet schedule can be found here: SJU Swim and Dive Meet Schedule, if you can make it to a meet please stop by down on the pool deck and say hi. Our biggest meets of the year are the Rochester Invite and of course MIACs. These are the two meets that we will have big competition, prelims/finals, and tapers preparing us to swim at our peak. These are some of the best times to watch the Johnnies compete at their best against some of the best competitors in the state.
Mark your calendar for Thursday, September 12th as that is the date of this years Go Johnnies Challenge. This is our annual team fundraising event. This event makes such a difference to our team. We would not be able to offer the experience that we do to our athletes without this fundraiser. If you are able to donate, please follow this link: Go Johnnies Challenge. All donations go directly to the swim and dive team and help purchase team tech suits for our conference team as well as crucial training equipment to help our team continue to push for a MIAC Championship.
The annual alumni meet is Saturday, September 28th at 3:00 pm. We will host a luncheon for anyone that would like to meet the current team. This is a great opportunity to sit and chat with some of the guys on the team and tell them what it was like for you as a member of Johnnie Swim and Dive. 😊 Brunch/Lunch with the current team and head coach Ben Gill will be at SJU Refectory from 1-2 pm Alumni will pay at the door, and cost is $15. Please note that brunch/lunch is served until 1:30 pm, though alumni will gather in The Refectory until about 2 p.m. with the current team. Feel free to arrive before 1 p.m. if you would like more time to eat with food service concluding at 1:30 pm. Swim/Dive Meet (SJU Pool in Warner Palestra): 2 p.m. The meet will feature short events and fun relays for everyone. Swimming isn’t required, but socializing is highly encouraged. After the meet we will have an alumni gathering somewhere in St. Joe for drinks and socialization.
We have a Johnnie swimmer being inducted into the J-club Hall of Honor this fall. Luke Vestrum is being honored as part of the newest class to be inducted into the Hall of Honor. Saturday, October 5th will be the date of the banquet (Homecoming football game as well during the day, if you need another excuse to come back to campus 😊). If you would like to come to the event you can find more information and a registration link here: Hall of Honor. This is always a great event and a great opportunity to support some of the best athletes in all sports to come through Saint Johns.
Our annual Intersquad Red vs. Blue is a two-day meet at the Palestra on Friday, October 11 (5:00 pm), and Saturday, October 12 (11:00 am). While this is not an official meet, it does kick off our competition season and is always a lot of fun for those who are a part of the teams. Come and cheer for the teams and watch the guys as prepare for the start of the competition season the following week.
If you are interested in ordering some Johnnie Swim and Dive apparel/swag for yourself we have two different options. There is a team store which has the typical apparel you are welcome to order and have delivered to your home. For the team store, follow this link here: Team Store. The team store is only open for two weeks (September 9 – September 23), so order now! If you are looking for something different or can’t make the order in time, there is a 24/7 store as well where you can get SJU Swim and Dive customized apparel and stuff. Follow this link here: 24/7 Store. If you have any questions, feel free to let me know!
Lastly, if you don’t follow us already, check out our social media pages for more up to date information about the team as the season progresses. You can follow us on Instagram or Facebook @SJUSwimandDive. We look forward to seeing you around the pool deck during this upcoming season!
Coach Gill
As we begin the 2024 – 2025 school year and look ahead to the upcoming swim season I am filled once again with hope and excitement! We are bringing in a strong freshman class that should be able to help fill in holes left by our graduating seniors, and the other class are all looking stronger than ever. It is my hope that this will be the year that SJU finally gets over the hump at takes home the team conference championship. I believe we have the talent necessary, we simply need to put the work in and prepare ourselves properly.
The incoming freshman will add great depth to our team and should turn into some strong players either by the end of this season or into the years to come. Jack Hovda (Sartell, MN) anchors our incoming class as a sprint freestyler/mid-distance freestyler. Followed closely by Riley Yerks (Hutchinson, MN) a strong IM/Freestyle swimmer and Jason Jones (Monticello, MN) a breastroke specialists. We should once again have a team in the mid-30’s for size which should create some good competition for our MIAC roster spots.
From last years MIAC run we are returning Carter Larson (2 x Champion in the 100 and 200 Freestyle), Brayden Slavik (2 x Champion in the 400 IM and 1650 Free) and Eli Grabinski (1m Dive Champion) all as seniors looking to build on their swims and dives from last year. With most of our teams point scorers from MIACs returning again this year, we are excited to build on the success we have had the last few years and put it all together for a great championship run this year. 😊 I know that our guys have been working hard this off-season and we look forward to the challenge this year brings to our team!
Lastly, I always like to mention a few important dates for alumni and supporters of our program coming in early September. Our annual CSB/SJU alumni meet is going to be Saturday, September 28th. We will once again do a pre-meet luncheon for alumni to participate in and get to know some of the guys on the team. Please look for an RSVP for that in the coming weeks. The swim meet will again take place in the afternoon, followed by a social for alumni afterwards.
We will also have our annual Go Johnnie Challenge coming in early September. I can not tell you how important this annual fundraiser is to our team. Our team simply could not be as competitive as we are without your support. If you have not donated in the past, please consider donating this year! Your help allows our guys to compete at the highest level and allows our team to focus on what’s important, the growth and development of these young men. As always we appreciate your support.
We hope to see you at a meet during year, or at the MIAC Championships! We appreciate all you have done to support and lift up SJU Swim and Dive.
The start of the 2022 - 2023 season: the fall is always such an exciting time here at Saint John’s. Student are starting to come back to campus, we are at the start of anther school year which also means that we are going to be starting another swim and dive season. This year promises to be another exciting season as we prepare our guys to be ready to compete with the best the MIAC has to offer.
The off-season has been a good one, with another good class coming to join the Johnnies this fall. We have several standout incoming guys joining our team, including a few that should vie for MIAC titles in their respective events right away within their freshman year! We are also excited to have a strong team coming back as well; this will be the first year as a coach that I have a more balanced team of upperclassmen and underclassmen. Our team should now be at about 40 guys in total, once again being one of, if not the, largest team in the history of Saint John’s Swimming and Diving. With this large team comes great competition, which add excitement and intrigue to the MIAC roster, and it makes everyone on the team better by knowing they have to give their best in order to be a part of our MIAC team at the end of the season.
Our MIAC Champions of last year, Eli Grabinski and Joe Koller, are both coming back for another season – Joe is going into his senior year and Eli will be a sophomore. Eli will have to contend with his brother Jack, who will be back for his senior season on the boards, as well as Connor Reed (2nd place finisher from last years MIACs). There is a very real possibility that our divers will go 1, 2, 3 on both boards at MIACs this year. The dominance of SJU Diving will be real this year. 😊 Joe will be back to defend his MIAC Championships in both backstroke events as well, though he’ll have to do it with a shortened season as he is studying abroad this fall. We will also be returning several other strong finishers from our team last year including Ethan Huber (senior captain top 8 finisher in the IMs and Breaststroke), Carter Larson (sophomore top 8 finisher in 200 – 1650 free), Liam Noble (sophomore top 5 finisher in backstroke and sprint free events), and Colby Kern (sophomore top 8 finisher in the sprint frees and fly events). All in all, we will be returning all 27 All-MIAC honorees from last season to this year’s team, meaning, if everything goes right, this year should be another incredible season for SJU Swim and Dive.
I should also mention that we will be having our annual Go Johnnies Challenge again this year in the fall. The Go Johnnies Challenge will be on Thursday, September 8th. The Go Johnnies Challenge is the athletics department annual fundraising campaign, where all the sports raise money to help each of the individual teams. You can donate online by going to: https://www.givecampus.com/schools/SaintJohnsUniversity/2022-go-johnnies-challenge. We have already had alum Scott Welle offer a match $1 for $1 up to $5000 for anyone that donates to swimming and diving meaning your donation will go further! We truly need your help, any and all donations help our team stay competitive and allows us to travel to more competitive meets (such as the Rochester Invite in December) and buy the latest tech suits for our MIAC roster, keeping all our guys competitive at the end of the season. Your support means so much to our team and allow us to be the best that we can be.
This is going to be another great year for Johnnie Swimming and Diving, I believe our strongest team yet that I have coached here at SJU, and our best opportunity to get over the hump and win a MIAC team championship, but we need your support! Come to our meets, meet our current guys and find out how amazing these guys are not only in the pool but well beyond as well.
What an incredible season. In so many ways this has been one of the best years for Johnnie Swimming and Diving. We started out the year celebrating our 50th anniversary and reconnecting with alumni after a long hiatus from COVID. And then to finish our season with a 2nd place MIAC team finish scoring the most points we have ever scored at the MIAC Championship. It has been a year of great growth for our swim and dive team, and we are so proud of where we have been and where we are going.
It felt so good to be back at the University of Minnesota for our championship meet this year. While the meet had a different feel without St. Thomas in the mix, our guys clearly stepped up and took advantage of the opportunity. We scored 731 points as a team this year at the MIAC Championships, for context the next highest point total of a Johnnie Swim and Dive team at MIACs was 678.5 in 2003. We had 27 All-MIAC honorees this year (1 – 3 individual or relay), the most in team history, and another 13 honorable mentions (4-6 individual, 4th place relay). The next most was 2003 or 2004, both years SJU had 24 All-MIAC honorees. We had two individual champions, who won a combined four events at MIACs as well: Joe Koller (JR) won the 100 and 200 Backstroke, and Eli Grabinski (FR) won 1m and 3m diving. Eli was also named Diver of the Year. Connor Reed (JR) was second on both 1m and 3m dive this year as well, meaning our divers went 1-2 on both boards, led by our new diving coach Elise Morell, who was named Diving Coach of the Year.
Both Connor and Eli qualified for NCAA Regionals this year as well. Eli ended up 10th in the Region on 3m, and 18th on 1m, and Connor ended up 18th on 1m and 22nd on 3m. Eli joined us late (starting school in January) and Connor was studying abroad in the fall, meaning they both did what they did this year with about one month of training for the season. They are incredible athletes, and we are so proud of what they did this year and what they can achieve next.
We also had multiple team records and top 5 all time performances. Joe Koller broke the team record in the 100 Back (50.88) and the 200 Back (1:51.44), previously held by Braden McCormack (100 Back) and Joe Alvarez (200 Back). We also broke the team record in the 400 Medley Relay (Koller, Fleischhacker, Heer, Noble) with a time of 3:27.37, previously held by McCormack, Duxbury, Alvarez, and Knaak. On top of the team records we had several athletes join the All-Time top 5 list for the team and Freshman. On the All-Time Top 5 list we had Carter Larson join the 200 Free (4th), 500 Free (4th), 1000 Free (3rd) and the 1650 Free (3rd). The 200 Free Relay: Kern, Noble, Larson, and Brinkman is 3rd All-Time, the 800 Free Relay of Larson, Thayer, Kern, and Huber is 4th All-Time, and the 200 Medley Relay of Koller, Fleischhacker, Kern, and Noble is 5th All-Time. We also had many additions to our All-Time Freshman top 5 record board as well: Liam Noble is 5th in the 50 Free, 5th in the 100 Free, Carter Larson is 1st in the 200 Free, 1st in the 500 Free, 1st in the 1000 Free, and 1st in the 1650 Free. AJ East is 3rd in the 100 Fly, and Connor Thayer is 4th in the 500 Free.
We just recently also finished our team banquet. Each year at our team banquet we award a few team awards for those who achieved greatness throughout the season. Our Rookie of the Year this year was Liam Noble, a standout first year sprinter. Our most improved athlete was Rafael Rios, a sophomore who made incredible strides in his technique and saw it pay off with huge time drops at the end of the season. Our MVP was Joe Koller, a junior with a record setting season no doubt, breaking the first team record in 6 years. Finally, our Johnnie of the Year award: we renamed this award in honor of the original team captain, Steve Smith. Steve set the standard for what it means to be part of the Johnnie Swim and Dive team. Our Steve Smith Johnnie of the Year was Ethan Huber, a junior who led our team in and out
of the pool. We are so proud of all of our guys, but these four clearly went above and beyond in what they accomplished and deserved recognition.
All that is to say, we had an amazing season. I’m proud of what we accomplished, but I know we are hungry for more. I look forward to watching our younger classes continue to grow as athletes and young men, and I’m sure that we are just beginning what will be a great continue sustained success for many years to come. We are excited for the future, but proud of what we accomplished this year. All of you had an impact on our team this year, and our guys know that the success that they had this year is in part due to those who came before them. I hope that we can see you at an alumni meet next fall, or cheering in the stands for Johnnie Swim and Dive in the near future. Go Johnnies!
Well, we’re almost there. The end of the season is approaching fast. We are breaking into two groups of swimmers for the end of the season, those who taper for the Minnesota Challenge Meet, and those who will go onto MIACs. Because we have such a highly competitive team this year we added an additional competition: the best performer from the Minnesota Challenge will join the MIAC team in the final open roster spot. The hope is that this will bring out the best of all those who are swimming at the Minnesota Challenge, and give us the best option going into MIACs. This weekend (Feb 4 – 5) is the Minnesota Challenge. It’s being swum at the U of M and beings at 6:00 pm on Friday if you are interested in coming on down, we would love to see lots of Johnnie fans to cheer us on for the final meet of the season before conference.
The second half of the season is always a bull rush to the finish. With several of our more challenging duals of the season it certainly saw higher levels of competition and some very fast swims. We had a dual against St. Cloud State for the first time in about 10 years. While it was a lopsided event, there were lots of good swims and it was great to see our guys step up and push themselves against Division II level talent. We followed that up with our dual against Carleton, whom we were able to beat 178-118. They are the clear third place team in the conference right now, so to be able to step up and handle business against them was a great sign for where our guys were at. Finally, we had our last dual of the season against Gustavus. While it was lopsided loss (86 – 201), there was several positive takeaways. We didn’t have any divers at the meet, and they counted all their divers’ points in the meet. And almost every single race was a close race to the finish. The highlight was the 200 Free Relay in which we out touched Gustavus with a final time of 1:25.63. For some context, that time would have been about the same as our 200 Free Relay at MIACs for the three previous years. Knowing that we have a taper coming off that yet, it is our hope that we can qualify a relay for NCAAs. While NCAAs is ridiculously competitive these days, I believe we are in position to make a run at it, and hopefully put some individuals and relays in position to qualify!
Looking ahead to MIACs, I think it’s going to be a two-dog race between us and Gustavus. When pointing the meet out it looks like it’s with about 30 points, so one relay DQ could change the whole outlook of the meet! We have several guys in position to make a run at MIAC Champion in several events including the 200 IM, the 50 Free, the 200 Free, the 100 Back, the 200 Back, and the 100 Free. Not to mention that if we swim well on relays we could be looking at a sweep of the freestyle relays. We are excited to see what we can do and hope that we will be able to see you all there! With it coming down to being a close meet between us and Gustavus we really hope that we have a large cheering crowd for us at the U. The U of M will allow spectators, but be aware tickets need to purchased online and they will require masks for all visitors to the pool. I will send out a link next week with information on how to get tickets or to purchase the live stream.
This has been an incredibly successful season to this point, but we are most looking forward to a positive finish at MIACs. Our guys have been building toward this meet for the whole season. This weekend will fill in the final spot on our roster and then it will be the big push to the end. I can’t thank all of you enough for all the support you have given us this season. We really would not have been successful without all of your support! Help us make a push to end the 50th anniversary season with a MIAC Championship for the Johnnies. Hope to see you there!
Go Johnnies!
Blog #8
Well, we’re almost there. The end of the season is approaching fast. We are breaking into two groups of swimmers for the end of the season, those who taper for the Minnesota Challenge Meet, and those who will go onto MIACs. Because we have such a highly competitive team this year we added an additional competition: the best performer from the Minnesota Challenge will join the MIAC team in the final open roster spot. The hope is that this will bring out the best of all those who are swimming at the Minnesota Challenge, and give us the best option going into MIACs. This weekend (Feb 4 – 5) is the Minnesota Challenge. It’s being swum at the U of M and beings at 6:00 pm on Friday if you are interested in coming on down, we would love to see lots of Johnnie fans to cheer us on for the final meet of the season before conference.
The second half of the season is always a bull rush to the finish. With several of our more challenging duals of the season it certainly saw higher levels of competition and some very fast swims. We had a dual against St. Cloud State for the first time in about 10 years. While it was a lopsided event, there were lots of good swims and it was great to see our guys step up and push themselves against Division II level talent. We followed that up with our dual against Carleton, whom we were able to beat 178-118. They are the clear third place team in the conference right now, so to be able to step up and handle business against them was a great sign for where our guys were at. Finally, we had our last dual of the season against Gustavus. While it was lopsided loss (86 – 201), there was several positive takeaways. We didn’t have any divers at the meet, and they counted all their divers’ points in the meet. And almost every single race was a close race to the finish. The highlight was the 200 Free Relay in which we out touched Gustavus with a final time of 1:25.63. For some context, that time would have been about the same as our 200 Free Relay at MIACs for the three previous years. Knowing that we have a taper coming off that yet, it is our hope that we can qualify a relay for NCAAs. While NCAAs is ridiculously competitive these days, I believe we are in position to make a run at it, and hopefully put some individuals and relays in position to qualify!
Looking ahead to MIACs, I think it’s going to be a two-dog race between us and Gustavus. When pointing the meet out it looks like it’s with about 30 points, so one relay DQ could change the whole outlook of the meet! We have several guys in position to make a run at MIAC Champion in several events including the 200 IM, the 50 Free, the 200 Free, the 100 Back, the 200 Back, and the 100 Free. Not to mention that if we swim well on relays we could be looking at a sweep of the freestyle relays. We are excited to see what we can do and hope that we will be able to see you all there! With it coming down to being a close meet between us and Gustavus we really hope that we have a large cheering crowd for us at the U. The U of M will allow spectators, but be aware tickets need to purchased online and they will require masks for all visitors to the pool. I will send out a link next week with information on how to get tickets or to purchase the live stream.
This has been an incredibly successful season to this point, but we are most looking forward to a positive finish at MIACs. Our guys have been building toward this meet for the whole season. This weekend will fill in the final spot on our roster and then it will be the big push to the end. I can’t thank all of you enough for all the support you have given us this season. We really would not have been successful without all of your support! Help us make a push to end the 50th anniversary season with a MIAC Championship for the Johnnies. Hope to see you there!
Go Johnnies!
As we finish the fall semester, get through finals, and finish our mid-season taper meet, this seems like a good time to reflect on how we have done to this point and to think about what we are preparing to do with the end of the season. It has been an exciting first half of the season, with lots of positives and lots of things to work on yet.
Our mid-season taper meet was in Rochester at the Rec Center against DI, DII, and highly ranked DIII teams. Nebraska-Omaha started a DI men’s team this year and has the looks of a team that will do very well in the years to come as a mid-major DI team. The usual suspects of UWL, UWEC, and St. Cloud were also in the mix at Rochester, as well as our least favorite rival, St. Thomas. In looking at their performances at the mid-season meet, I’d say they should have stayed a DIII team, as we ended up beating them at the meet (in total point) as well as in a few relays. While each teams makes different use of the mid-season meet, it’s typically a predictor of how the season is going and what to expect at the end. If we had one more year of competition against St. Thomas, I’m quite certain we could have taken them down at MIACs, which would have been satisfying; but I digress.
Overall the team performed really well at the mid-season meet. Based on the swimcloud.com website we had 77 lifetime best swims (of 118 total) at the meet. Not bad for the midpoint of the season. Some of the highlights included a team record in the 200 Backstroke by Joe Koller (Junior), a time of 1:54.24, shaving 1/100 of a second off the record by Jose Alverez. Following that were a slew of swims that were just off the SJU Top Five All Time List, including all the relays, and some swim by first years that made the freshman All-Time top 5 list: Liam Noble’s 100 Free of 46.67 is 5th all time, Carter Larson’s 200 Free of 1:45.07 is 4th all time, and Carter’s 500 Free of 4:48.53 is 3rd all time. There were countless other swims that were just off our top 5 lists that I’m sure with some good training in January will be taken down at MIACs. As a team we finished 5th behind the two WIAC schools, St. Cloud State (DII) and Omaha (DI); however, I will note we did beat St. Thomas in the final meet scores, something our guys were very proud of. 😊 All in all, it was a phenomenal meet that I believe is going to set us up for some great success at the end of the season.
As we look ahead to January our competition level continues to be high. We will dual the two MIAC teams that will be our greatest competition; Carleton and Gustavus. We will dual St. Cloud State which will be a tough meet, but certainly a learning opportunity for our guys. And We will host an invite for the first time in a few years, bringing St. Olaf, Gustavus and others to our campus for a fun meet in early January. Given the way the conference plays out these days on the men’s side, with St. Thomas leaving and St. Olaf on the decline, it is clear: the conference championship goes through Gustavus. While our dual meet should tell us a bit about how they are constituted, their depth (which is lost by the limited MIAC Roster) will push the outcome of the dual meet. I believe we are in good position to challenge Gustavus for a MIAC crown. When using a meet simulator with current times from the season the MIAC championships is within 20 points. While these are not always accurate (especially with mid-season times which can bend one way or another based on how teams swim), it energizes me to know that we are close. It has been my goal to push this team over the top to a conference championship since I got here, and this year it feels closer than ever before.
Looking ahead, we would love your support at our meets down the stretch and specifically at MIACs. It would be great to be able to walk in MIACs and have a huge section of Johnnie fans cheering on the guys as they push for that ever-elusive MIAC Championship. Hope to see you all at a few meets. In the meantime, enjoy the holidays with your family and friends. Go Johnnies!
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the SJU Swim and Dive program. We are so proud of our history, and so happy that we had a chance to celebrate this historic moment with many of the alumni, family, and friends of the program in early October. If you were not able to make the event, let’s just say it was a wonderful afternoon of swimming, diving, stories, and fun for Homecoming weekend. We started the day with a great alumni swim and dive, which included a great group of alumni who honestly put together some great races! I couldn’t believe how many alumni have still got it in the water! Maybe next year we’ll have to add some longer events to make it fair! 😊After the swim meet we had a banquet to celebrate and recognize the original team, which was wonderful to see. I was amazed by how many were able to make it back for the event, and even more amazed by all the stories of perseverance, dedication, and grit that led to the creation of SJU Swim and Dive. It really speaks to the legacy that has been handed down from generation to generation: there is never a question that when the moment is tough, a Johnnie will step up. We are so proud of all our alumni and especially thankful to the original team for all they did to allow us the opportunities that we have today.
As the season has progressed, we have seen more and more positive performances in the pool, leading me to believe that we are just starting to understand what we can do as a team. It’s exciting that we have a young group of guys (most of our team is sophomores and freshman) that believe in themselves and all they can do. Already to this point we’ve had two athletes of the weeks in the MIAC (both first years) which suggests that the future of our team is very bright. Colby Kern was the first Johnnie of the week with his stellar performances at the St. Kate’s Pentathlon, and Carter Larson was the athlete of the week this past week, with great performances at our home dual meet against Macalester. We will have some of our toughest competition coming up in the next few months though as the season gets going including several top 25 ranked teams, which will be our true test. UW-Eau Claire is our next meet and they have a great deal of depth as well as national talent. It will be a great test for our guys to see if they can step up in the moments that count. In January we will also have meets against Division 2 ranked team St. Cloud State, as well as our primary rivals in the MIAC Carleton and Gustavus. I look forward to watching our team develop over the coming months. I’m certain that tough competition breeds tough athletes. If we want to be the best, we must continue to compete against the best.
I’d also like to take a minute here to thank family, friends, and alumni who donated to our program this year, specifically to the Go Johnnie Challenge in September. We are so thankful to have so many wonderful supporters, we simply would not be the team we are, or be able to offer the experiences we do to so many young men without your support. It means so much to our team, and to me to see such an outpouring of generosity to our team. If you have not given and would like to, please don’t hesitate to reach out for more information.
Lastly, please consider coming and watching the Johnnie’s compete this year. We have a midseason taper meet at the Rochester Aquatic Center, which should be a great meet, with some fast swims (hopefully some team records fall), and January will be packed with home meets that will have great competition. It has been fun to have fans in the stands again for home meets and we hope to see you at one this winter! It’s so wonderful to be able to celebrate 50 years of history with the Johnnie Swim and Dive program, but I can tell you we are just as excited about what the next 50 years will be for our athletes.
The end of the season is upon us, and we made it! It has been a crazy year to say the least, and yet we look forward to having a final taper meet to our season and putting a cap on what has been a challenging year for our team. Our guys are excited to be able to taper down for a meet against multiple opponents for the first time this season. We will end our season at the Gustavus pool swimming against GAC as well as St. Thomas and Hamline. While the season has been broken apart and the training in earnest didn’t begin until January, we are looking very strong and I fully expect to be able to end on a high note as a team and with some great individual efforts.
We had our first competition this season in early February against St. Thomas. We swam well but it was obvious we had a bit of rust in our competition. We looked forward to building on that meet the following weekend against Hamline, however, we couldn’t compete that weekend due to a power outage on campus. So, facing yet another adverse situation our guys stepped up and swam against Gustavus the following weekend. While this is clearly one of the deepest and fastest Gustavus team’s I’ve seen, we swam well and had a lot of great swims.
Our divers, while because of the pandemic have basically run separate from the swim team, have also had some success. Jack Grabinski and Connor Reed (sophomores) went 1 and 2 respectively against Gustavus on February 27, posting some great scores, including Jack’s lifetime and second best in the history of St. John’s 11 dive 3m score of 542.06. While he still has a ways to go to catch John Deters (about 50 points) it has been amazing to watch Jack develop over the last two seasons. Both Jack and Connor have posted Regional Qualifying score this year and last, and Jack qualified for NCAAs as a freshman last year (and most certainly would have qualified against this year) but had the opportunity ripped away by the pandemic. I look forward to having NCAAs again next year and giving Jack (and Connor) a chance to compete at the national stage.
As our swimmers prepare for this weekend down at Gustavus we are hopeful for some great swims. Ethan Huber (sophomore) is eyeing up the 200 Free team record and NCAA qualifying times, and our relays (specifically the freestyle relays) are prepared to throw down some great swims as well! The guys are both pumped and thankful that they have had an opportunity (however small) to compete and give their best efforts. I look forward to a lot of great swims and hopefully some momentum as we go into next season.
Given all the adversity this season has thrown at our team, we are more than anything happy to be able to compete. Our seniors have shown incredible leadership over this season and we are incredibly proud of all three of them (Eli Greenblat, Joseph Schwamm, and Mick Olson). They have helped lead our team through these tough times and shown the younger guys that even when things don’t go the way that you thought they would, giving you best effort never has to change. We create our experiences through our attitude; stepping up when times are tough is what Johnnies do. I’m so proud of all our guys have accomplished this season and look forward to seeing what they can do this weekend to cap it all off.
If you would like to watch the end of season swim meet, and cheer on the Johnnies during their taper meet, please check out this link:
And here we go. I apologize to those who look for more regular blog entries from the swim and dive team. It has been the most bizarre year of my coaching career by far to this point, and we haven’t even begun to actually compete! After a rocky false start to the fall our season was brought to a halt at the end of October as the CSB/SJU campus’s were moved to online courses for the last part of the semester. Our guys trained hard for the month and a half we had at the beginning of the year, but much of the training was lost as pools were unavailable across the entire state in Minnesota. Even if guys went home they had no opportunities to swim or workout unless they had something available at home. As much as we could we continued to stay connected through regular Zoom calls and team meetings, however uncertainty begin to make many of our guys doubt if there would be any season at all.
While the break was not what we had planned or wanted, it gave us time to plan and put together safety protocols for when things opened back up. And that we did! The second half of the season, or the actual season, begin in early January and our guys were prepared to be safe in and out of the pool and train our very best with the time that we have. Our guys came back in early January and did our “training trip” here at the Warner Palaestra. While we all remember Dorothy telling us there is no place like home, and there is deep love for the Palaestra, training trip isn’t quite the same when it’s 10 degrees outside instead of 85, and there wasn’t a beach to go sit on in-between practices. Regardless, our guys persisted and had a great training session to start up the second half of the season. It was inspiring as a coach to see guys who hadn’t touched a pool in almost two months get in and grind out some of the toughest practices of the season with only a week’s worth of training. The Johnnies stepped up big to prepare of the season they had, regardless of what they wanted.
Everything has been condensed this second half of the season. Our training really started in earnest around the second week in January with our season tentatively ending in the beginning of march, and we will be competing in three dual meets in February with a TBD taper meet at the end of the season. Many of the teams in the MIAC have decided not to participate this season due to COVID leaving us with only three teams in the conference to compete against. Regardless, we are excited to have the opportunity to stand across the pool from another team and give our best effort in each race we have a chance to swim.
What has been most amazing to me as a coach, has been the incredible will to be successful that our guys have shown over the last month. It would be easy to mail it in given that our season is cut in half and so many of our guys didn’t feel like they were going to have a chance to get into full swimming shape in the short amount of time, but they have done anything but that to this point. The drive to do their best has shown through in all our guys, and I’m excited to see how they compete in the coming weeks. Most impressive has been our seniors. Their final season has been shredded by COVID but they have pressed on. Eli Greenblat, Joseph Schwamm, and Mick Olson have all been shining examples of Johnnies willing to do whatever they can to help the team succeed.
Tomorrow will be our first meet of the season against another opponent. And while there is nothing I would like to do more than to defeat the Tommies as they leave the conference to move to Division I, I think at this point the real goal is to just compete, and to enjoy the competitive moments that we have as a team. We need to enjoy these fleeting competitive moments as a team that we enjoy for a few years in college, as they too often go underappreciated until they are gone.
Well this has been an odd spring to say the least. With the rise of the coronavirus and the closing of just about everything this spring, we have come upon a new normal for at least a bit. Zoom calls have replaced our in-person meetings and we have all been forced off our beloved St John’s campus for what we can only hope is a short while. We are hopeful that you and your family are all well in these tough times.
We are thankful that most of our swim and dive season stayed in-tac and we were able to compete at the MIAC Championships before everything was cancelled. Our guys performed well at MIACs this year with a third-place team finish. We had 11 total All-MIAC performances, including a MIAC Champion in 3m diving (Jack Grabinski). Ethan Huber posted two All-Time Top Freshman swims in the 200 and the 500 Free (and made the top 5 list on the 200 Back), as well as Mitchell Dockendorf posting the 3rd All-Time Top 100 Breaststroke swim. But it was truly a banner year for the diving program at SJU. We had three outstanding freshman divers come in and make an impact on the team right away. As a group they posted 11 of the potential 20 All-Time Top Freshman performances in the diving events (1m and 3m both 6 and 11 dives). Freshman Jack Grabinkski had an All-Time Top Diving score in each of the diving events, including the second best 11 dive 3m score in school history (behind only National Champion diver John Deters). Coach Jon Hazen was named diving coach of the year, and Jack Grabinski was named co-diver of the year.
Jack and fellow freshman Connor Reed both went on to qualify for and compete at the NCAA Regional Championships held at Denison University. Jack went on to qualify for NCAA National Championships which were set to be held at Greensboro, NC, but unfortunately was not given the chance to compete after the cancellation of the championships due to the coronavirus. Because athletes were not given the chance to compete the CSCAA honored all athletes that qualified with All-American status. As a result, Jack becomes our first All-American at Saint John’s swim and dive since 2011. We are certainly disappointed that he didn’t get a chance to compete, but thankful that Jack is only a freshman and will have several more opportunities to qualify and compete in the future.
Because students were sent home in March, we also didn’t have an opportunity to close out the season with a team banquet. As a team we did a zoom meeting in April at which time team awards were given out. We awarded four total team awards, Rookie of the Year, Most Improved, The Johnnie Award, and the MVP. Our Rookie of the Year went to Jack Grabinski for his incredible accomplishments in diving this year. Our Most Improved was Trevor Nelson, a sophomore who made great gains in his backstroke events to help the team at MIACs. The Johnnie Award goes to the guy on the team who made an impact as a leader in and out of the pool, someone who represents Johnnie swimming and diving in a positive way carrying on traditions and lifting up his teammates to be more successful; the Johnnie Award winner was Beau Brinkman. Finally, our MVP goes to the guy who scores the most points for the team and whom we would not have the success we did without, Mitchell Dockendorf. We also named our captains for the upcoming year: Eli Greenblat and Joseph Schwamm, but of whom are excited about the team and helping to lead into the next season.
As we look to next year, the future is bright for Johnnie swim and dive. We have a good incoming class of freshman that will look to make their mark on our program and continue the traditions of success. But with the coronavirus still looming for the foreseeable future, we cannot be sure what this next season will bring. We hope to be back in the water in the fall and competing as we always have, but there are still too many unknowns to predict what the swim and dive season will look like this fall/winter. What we do know is that SJU Swim and Dive will continue to gain strength and strive to be better than we were each and every day.
I would like to end this blog by saying that we are looking forward to hosting an Alumni meet this fall if it is possible. We couldn’t host one this spring because of the coronavirus but hope that we can host something this fall. This upcoming season will be the 50th anniversary of the swim and dive team at St John’s, and we would love to be able to connect our guys on the current team with all who have come before them. I will be sending out more information over the summer about the event, but we tentatively have it planned for October 10th. We hope to see you all there.
Go Johnnies!
Well we have reached the end of the first semester and a little bit beyond the halfway point of the swim and dive season. This year we approached our midseason meet a little different applying a shave and taper to the midseason to see what we could achieve. Our midseason meet this year was at the Rochester Invite with high levels of competition including St. Thomas, St. Cloud State, UWL, and UWEC to name a few. We did very well, placing fourth at the meet, but perhaps more importantly getting some tapered swims under our belt preparing us for the feeling of swimming fast at the end of the season. If there is one thing that we don’t have enough opportunities to do in our sport, it’s competing at our peak abilities, which typically happens once a year. The goal of our midseason taper is then to double the number of opportunities we have to swim at our peak, allowing for more tapered swims and events, and potentially better swims at the end of the season.
We had lots of great swims including many lifetime bests. As a team we had 65 season best swims (nearly 100% of the swims we had were season bests). Some of the highlights include Ethan Huber making an impact on the freshman top five times list notching two all time top freshman swims: 3rd on the 200 Free list (1:45.40) and 5th on the 400 IM list (4:19.00). These swims knocked Kip Winden off the 200 Free top 5 and Torri Ahlberg off the 400 IM top five. While both were solid swims, it is my belief that Ethan will continue to improve in those events for the end of the season and could expect to move up on both those lists yet again. Mitchell Dockendorf had a huge swim in the 100 Breaststroke, notching an all-time Johnnies top five swim with a time of 58.44 (knocking off teammate Eli Greenblat from the list). While not his typical event, he is trying something new, and finding some immediate success. I’m also sure that he has more to figure out in this event and could drop more time at the end of the season.
Our divers also had a great meet, with Jack Grabinski leading the way with two 2nd place finishes in the diving events. It should be noted that Jack lost by only a small margin on each board and it was to a multiple-time All American Diver from UWEC. He was in great competition and is certainly continuing to build on what he has already accomplished with this season.
With the first half of the season done, now we turn our attention to training trip. This year we will be traveling to the Florida Keys. We will spend 7 days in the warmth of the keys focusing on preparing ourselves for the end of the season. With a large group heading down to Florida, we expect to build on the swims that we have had to this point of the season and continue to grow stronger and faster in January.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone in the Johnnie Swim and Dive family. I hope to see you all at the pool in January.
Welcome to the first post in SJU Swim and Dive blog! We are starting a new tradition with the 2019-2020 season! This is an exciting time to be a part of the SJU Swim and Dive team. The season is well underway already with an early start this year in September. I hope to continue to write and update the blog monthly with news and information about our team’s progress towards MIACs in February.
With a large freshman class this year, we’ve added depth in many events, while also adding talent in areas that were lacking in the past. This will certainly add to our ability to score at MIACs but will also put pressure on the upperclassmen to continue perform at their best. Young talent brings with it new expectations and goals for individuals and the team. I am excited to see these young athletes grow and fully expect to be contending with Gustavus and St Thomas for a conference championship in the years to come. While it is always good to infuse talent into a team and continue to grow, the leadership at the top always makes the difference. We have four seniors this year coming back and they all will make a big impact in the pool and in the attitude we take into practice and into meets. Our team captains, Mitch Dockendorf and Ryan Pauley both understand the importance of focusing on team culture to help our young team develop into champions. As a new coach this year it is great to have captains and a senior class that understands the importance of team culture and is willing to work to make sure that Johnnie swim and dive traditions are passed on while also pushing the team achieve more in and out of the classroom.
Thus far our early season competitions have gone very well. We have had guys step up in some of their main events, and we’ve had others that have stepped up to swim some off events. As a team we are undefeated, competing against Hamline, Macalester, and St. Mary’s. Many of our swimmers have stepped up to swim events they normally wouldn’t which has been good to see and allowed for individual growth and, ultimately, will help our team develop strengths in areas we weren’t expecting. Our divers have especially stepped up, most notably freshman Jack Grabinski who has already notched one regional qualifying score, setting himself up for a run at nationals this spring. This coming weekend will be the biggest test of the season thus far, with a dual meet against St. Thomas. We look forward to the challenge their team brings and hope that you will come to cheer us on!
Finally, I’d like to mention that we will be hosting an Alumni gathering for the swim and dive team on Saturday, March 14, 2020. This will be a chance to come and meet the current team, connect with old teammates, and have a bit of fun reliving the glory days in Warner Palaestra pool! More information to come, but we’d love to see you all there!
I am excited to starts a new avenue of communication with the Johnnie swim and dive community and hope to see you all at the pool soon!
Go Johnnies!