Minette leads Storm through day two of A-R-C Championships

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa - Both of the Simpson men and women's swimming and diving teams have wrapped up two of three days of competition at the American Rivers Conference Championships, highlighted by Kate Minette winning the 50 and 200 yard freestyles.

Minette dominated her speciality, finishing first in the prelims to break her own conference championship record in a time of 24.67. Minette then claimed the gold in a time of 24.81 in the final, also faster than her previous record of 25.04. Minette also won the 200 yard freestyle, a step up from her normal 50 and 100 yard distances. In the prelims, Minette qualified in second with a time of 2:02.54. She then took another gold medal in the final, recording a career-best time of 2:01.35, just .14 seconds away from the school record.

Katie Oosterhuis broke the 26 second barrier in both the prelims and final, swimming a career-best 25.70. Overall, the Storm women had four swimmers in the top 12 of the 50 meter freestyle, the most of any school. The Storm 200 yard freestyle relay team composed of Oosterhuis, Emma Haynes, Breana Hinson, and Minette also had a great performance, placing fourth in a school record 1:42.93. The time broke the previous school record that was set 22 years ago in 2001. All four swimmers went under 27 seconds on each of their legs, with Minette clocking a blistering 24.07 on the anchor leg.

The relays were a bright spot, with the 200 yard medley relay team going under two minutes in a time of 1:59.90. Oosterhuis, Haynes, and Minette were joined by Maude Steinbeck to become only the ninth time in team history that broke the two-minute barrier.

In the 500 yard freestyle, Katelyn Smith (5:49.04) and Steinbeck (5:50.25) both set career-bests. Smith then added to it with a season-best 2:06.49 in the 200 freestyle prelims, just .08 seconds off her career-best, before taking sixth in the final. Haynes also placed seventh in the 200 yard individual medley with a career-best time of 2:24.97 in the finals, shaving multiple seconds off her career-best and placed the same in the 100 yard breaststroke in a career-best 1:14.53.

On the men's side, the relays continued to be successful, as the men's 800 yard freestyle team of Adrell Mulgrew-Truitt, Gabe Bruns, Christopher Olds, and Jay Ceperley clocked a time of 7:47.53, setting a new school record. Olds and Bruns broke two minutes for each of their respective 200 yard legs and also beat the barrier in the normal 200 yard individual freestyle, swimming each leg faster as the day progresed. Additionally, the same quartet for the 800 yard freestyle relay, albeit in a different swim order, set a new season-best in the 200 yard medley relay with a time of 1:49.27.

Ceperley placed in the top 10 in the 50 meter freestyle, swimming under 23 seconds in both the prelims and the final, including a career-best time of 22.86 in the final. Ceperley also added a top 10 finish in the 100 yard butterfly, around half a second behind his career-best in a time of 56.40 in the finals. Bruns narrowly missed out on qualifying for the final, but also swam a career-best 23.80 in the event. Olds had the best swim of his career in the 500 yard freestyle, breaking his earlier career-best by about 20 seconds by recording a mark of 5:21.42. 

Up Next

The Storm conclude its season tomorrow on the final day of the A-R-C Championships. Minette heads the races to watch, as she looks to win her third gold medal with a win in the 100 yard freestyle. Minette currently has the school record and fastest time of the season across the conference in the event.