The Johnnies return to St. Paul for the St. Catherine Invitational this Saturday, Jan. 28. The meet is scheduled for 1 p.m. (8:30 a.m. Diving) at the Butler Center Pool in St. Paul.
Preview Video:
-Head coach Bill Saxton (1:48)
A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's battled against tough competition in a pair of meets last weekend. Division II-power St. Cloud State defeated SJU 147-73 on Jan. 20 in St. Cloud. Freshman Connor Franta (La Crescent, Minn.) won the 500-yard freestyle (5:07.67), while senior Wes Schlichting (Sauk Rapids, Minn./Sauk Rapids-Rice) won the 3-meter dive and claimed third in the 1-meter board with an identical marks of 274.75. Seniors Josh Seaburg (Moorhead, Minn.) and Jesse Otis (West Des Moines, Iowa/Dowling Catholic) went 2 (1:48.37)-3 (1:48.92) in the 200-yard freestyle. Otis finished second in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 54.94, while Seaburg took third in the 100-yard backstroke (57.55).
The Johnnies claimed 11 top-five performances and finished third out of four teams at the Meet of Saints, hosted by St. Thomas, the following day in St. Paul. Seaburg finished second in the 500-yard freestyle (4:48.89) and fourth in both the 200-yard butterfly (2:03.55) and 200-yard individual medley (2:01.48). Schlichting took second in the 1-meter dive (277.50) and fourth on the 3-meter board (277.30). Franta claimed fourth in the 200-yard backstroke (2:03.65), while junior Ben Maakestad (Minneapolis, Minn./Edina) finished fifth in the 200-yard freestyle (1:50.20). Freshman Logan Arnold (Moorhead, Minn.) posted fifth-place times in both the 50-yard freestyle (22.07) and 100-yard backstroke (56.05). SJU's 400-yard freestyle relay claimed third, 0:00.02 from second place, with a time of 3:17.35. The Johnnies' 400-yard medley relay took fourth (3:43.19).
WHO WILL BE THERE: In addition to the Johnnies, other men's teams scheduled to be at St. Kate's include Hamline, St. Thomas and Wisconsin-River Falls.
LAST SEASON'S MEET: SJU finished second out of four teams at last year's St. Kate's Invite. St. Thomas won the men's meet with a total of 881 points, followed by SJU (722), Wisconsin-River Falls (337) and Hamline (177). The Johnnies won eight events and recorded a total of 22 top-three finishes. Schlichting, fresh off his pair of wins at last night's St. Thomas Diving Invite, won the 3-meter dive (442.00) and finished second in the 1-meter dive (440.10). Senior Jimmy Foley (Moorhead, Minn.), Maakestad and sophomore Patrick Foley (Moorhead, Minn.) claimed first (4:59.85), second (5:09.84) and third (5:16.71) in the 500-yard freestyle, respectively. Foley and Maakestad also went 1-2 in the 1,650-yard freestyle. Senior Ty Nimens (Crookston, Minn.) finished second (1:46.70) in the 200-yard freestyle, while Otis claimed third (2:05.36) in the 200-yard individual medley. Seaburg won the 400-yard individual medley with a time of 4:26.24, while Otis took second (4:33.27). Otis also claimed second in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:17.79). Seaburg also won the 200-yard butterfly (2:01.76) and senior Robert Falchi (Henderson, Nev./Coronado) claimed third (2:14.83).
