Marquette’s First Home Meet is One-Point Loss to Northern Iowa
The first home meet for Marquette’s new women’s swimming and diving program was a dramatic one-point loss Friday to Northern Iowa.
The Golden Eagles dropped a 103-102 decision at the Wellness + Helfaer Recreation Facility. It’s the second meet for the new program after opening on Oct. 2 with a loss at Iowa.
Friday’s meet came down to the final relay, Northern Iowa claiming the 200 freestyle by just over a second to repel the 2-3 finish by Marquette.
Marquette started strong, with Bridget Corro winning the 1000 freestyle in 10:32.04. Enya Linson won the 200 individual medley in 2:09.13, leading a 1-2 with teammate Hannah Quigley. Evelyn Chin followed with a win in the 100 butterfly in 58.11, with Quigley second, and Finley Warren claimed the 100 free in 53.65.
But Northern Iowa finished strong. Sam Oeltjen won the 500 freestyle in 5:13.44, holding off a charge from Marquette’s Kayla Wieckowski by a half-second with Corro third. Neriah Giedrys (1:06.69) and Avery Duerr went 1-2 in the 100 breaststroke, and the 200 freestyle relay’s 11 points for the win sealed the come-from-behind victory for the Panthers.
Northern Iowa claimed both relays, with Charlotte Sander anchoring the 200 medley and leading off the 200 free. She split 23.25 in the former, then won the 50 free in 24.03, with teammate Payton Hultgren second.
Giedrys was also on the winning medley quartet. Hultgren and Morgan Raether contributed to the 200 free relay win after Raether had claimed the 100 backstroke in 57.18. Olivia Gustafson won the 200 free in 1:54.98, edging Warren by .05 seconds.