Kaia Anderson, contributor

On Nov. 8, the Augsburg University swim and dive team competed against Hamline and Gustavus at the Vic Gustafson Pool. The Augsburg team had four competing members: Kaia Anderson, Danielle Hobbs, Grace Langowski, and Katie Brown. 

The meet kicked off with the first round of diving from the three-meter board, where Brown scored 62.10 points. Round two was the one-meter event, where she scored 268.70 points, landing her in 3rd place. Despite a wonderful end, she had a rocky start when she collided with the bottom of the pool, leaving her with minor surface-level scrapes down her face. When asked about the misstep, Brown said “Once I collided with the bottom of the pool, I got so much more worried about my performance in the meet. But, with the support of the other divers and my team, I was able to let loose a lot more and actually really enjoy the meet!”

After diving, it was time for the swimming categories to begin. Anderson, Langowski, and Hobbs competed in the 200-yard medley relay. They finished in 10th with a time of 2:19.10. Due to a missing teammate, a Gustavus swimmer swam the third length of the relay.

Hobbs finished the 200-yard freestyle event in 9th place with a 2:20.94. Anderson swam a 1:24.88 in the 100-yard backstroke, putting her 20th overall. Both girls swam in the 50-yard freestyle event. Hobbs finished with a 30.63 and Anderson with a 34.46. Anderson’s next event was the 100-yard freestyle, where she finished in 23rd with a 1:15.72. During the 500-yard freestyle, Hobbs finished in 10th with a 6:08.52. The last event was the 200-yard freestyle relay. Unfortunately, Langowski had fallen sick, leaving Augsburg down by two swimmers. Stepping up to fill a spot was Augsburg’s diver Katie Brown, who had until Saturday never swum competitively. Hobbs, Anderson, Brown, and another Gustavus swimmer placed 11th with a 2:08.57. When asked, Brown said, “I was super nervous at first, but then after getting hyped up by my teammates and coach, I felt so much better. Also, having other teams cheer for me was quite touching […] they knew this was my first time ever doing this.”

Overall, Augsburg placed 3rd with 152 points. Head coach, Zach Wood, had much to say about the meet. “I thought our meet at Gustavus went fairly well. It offered us another chance at visiting a strong competitor and testing ourselves. We’re at the point in the season where we’re swimming races for the third or fourth time, so we can start comparing to historical results and analyzing how we’d like to adjust our mental approach and race strategy. I came away with a lot of insight for what our highest training priorities are for the rest of the semester.”

The Augsburg swim and dive team will be competing again at the Wildbear Invitational this week, Nov. 20-22.