Sam Rauchwarter’s two first-place finishes in the 100 and 200 freestyle races highlighted the St. Thomas swimming and diving teams’ victories Saturday.

The men, who were in first place after Friday, maintained their lead going into Saturday’s events, accumulating 1,212.5 points over the weekend. Other teams competing in the meet were Luther, Hamline, Wisconsin- Eau Claire, Macalester and St. Mary’s.

The women finished ahead of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. The Tommie women finished with 1,000 points.

Notable performances

The 4×100 medley relay set a new pool and meet record Friday night. Junior Hayley Trace was a part of the winning group, and she said she was pleased with her team’s performance all weekend.

“We had a lot of time drops, both men and women,” Trace said. “It’s good to see many different members from the team having success.”

The men’s diving team had a successful weekend, finishing first in the 3-meter with 62 points. Ryan Panure, Nick Johnson, Gus Jones and Jacob McEwing all finished in the top five individually. Johnson, Panure, and Jones all finished in the top four for the 1-meter event.

Freshman Michael Lanz set a personal record in the men’s 200 butterfly. He also swam in the 100 butterfly and 800-meter relay. He said he thought the team came together as one unit this weekend.

“We definitely swam as a family,” Lanz said. “It was great to see everyone improving.”

Lanz said he was satisfied with his performance, and that he can use it as a benchmark.

“It gives me something to build on and strive for throughout the rest of the season,” Lanz said. “We still have a lot of training left and areas we can improve upon.”

Another winner for the men’s team was Ben Henrickson in the 50 freestyle.

Coach Tom Hodgson said he was proud of his team’s effort.

“I was pleased with the way our team fought all weekend,” Hodgson said. “We got tired by the end of the meet, but they continued to compete.”

Some winning performances for the women were sophomore Mariann Kukielka taking first in the 100 butterfly, sophomore Emily Punyko in the 100 breaststroke, and Elise Guenther in the 500 freestyle.

Even though the team had a lot of success, Hodgson knows there’s room to improve.

“We have a training philosophy that we stick to,” Hodgson said. “We certainly haven’t mastered our details yet, but we continue to improve every week.”

“Knowing that you can swim competitively for two straight days is definitely a confidence booster,” Trace said. “It gives our team good energy moving forward in the season.”

The team will host St. John’s and St. Ben’s Saturday, Dec. 15, before taking a short break for the holidays.

Kyle Jonas can be reached at jona7984@sthomas.edu.