The SDSU men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams each picked up home-opening wins against Augustana on Friday.

Men

Freshman Austin Smith won two event titles in his collegiate debut and Gavin Wheeler added a pair of victories to help propel the South Dakota State men’s swimming and diving team to a 196-98 victory over Augustana in season-opening dual action Friday night at the Marshall Center Pool.

Smith clocked a winning time of 53.28 seconds in the 100-yard backstroke for his first event title, then closed the individual portion of the meet with a victory in the 200 individual medley with a time of 1 minute, 58.68 seconds.

Wheeler swam his way to victories in the breaststroke events, winning the 100 in 59.80 seconds and the 200 in 2:12.28. He also swam on the winning 200 medley relay as a member of the Jackrabbits’ B relay team. The quartet of Caleb Harthoorn, Wheeler, Naested Smit and Rafael Negri edged the SDSU A squad by .37 seconds in the opening event of the meet.

Five other Jackrabbits claimed individual event titles on the night, including Charles Sieglaff in the 50 freestyle (:21.83) and Alex Kraft in the 100 freestyle (:48.09). Damon Venner added a victory in the 500 freestyle, out-touching Augustana’s Brady Monson by .19 seconds with a winning time of 4:58.10.

In the diving events, reigning Summit League Men’s Diver of the Year Zach Boyd posted a score of 306.30 points to win the 3-meter competition, while teammate Spencer Fritze earned a win on the 1-meter board with a score of 278.40.

The team of Negri, Seiglaff, Kraft and Justin Wallar closed the dual with a winning time of 3:12.27 in the 400 freestyle relay.

In Augustana’s inaugural meet as a men’s program, the Vikings received three victories from Pedro Borin in the 200 freestyle (1:43.28), 200 butterfly (1:55.85) and 100 butterfly (51.64 seconds).

UP NEXT

The Jackrabbits are slated to return to competition Oct. 16 with a triangular in Fort Dodge, Iowa, against Iowa Central and Barton. Start time is set for 1 p.m.

Women

Elisabeth Timmer and Emma Walz each established new pool records in helping lead the South Dakota State women’s swimming and diving team to a 178-116 victory over Augustana in the Jackrabbits’ home-opening dual Friday evening.

A junior from Savaneta, Aruba, Timmer set a new Marshall Center Pool women’s standard in the 50-yard freestyle, clocking a winning time of 23.92 seconds. That broke the previous mark of 27.97 seconds set by North Dakota’s Carissa Gormally in 2009.

Timmer also claimed two other individual events and opened the meet by swimming on the Jackrabbits’ winning 200 medley relay. She won the 200 freestyle in 1 minute, 55.84 seconds and closed her night by cruising to victory in the 100 butterfly with a time of 58.90 seconds.

The 200 medley relay quartet of Kelsey Kocon, Morgan Nelson, Timmer and Emma Bachelder posted a winning time of 1:48.80.

Bachelder added individual wins in the 100 freestyle (:54.20) and 100 breaststroke (1:07.78) and also teamed with Kocon, Grace Witherspoon and Walz for a winning time of 3:38.34 in the 400 freestyle relay.

Walz’s record-setting performance came in the 200 backstroke, turning in a time of 2:05.71 to better the previous mark of 2:06.14 by Nebraska’s Hayley Martin in 2012.

The Jackrabbits’ Sianne Downes edged Walz by one one-hundredth of a second to win the 100 backstroke in 58.27 seconds. Downes was runner-up in the 200 back behind Walz with a time of 2:09.09, with Walz also taking second in the 50 freestyle behind Timmer in 25.17 seconds.

Abbi Rouse swept the diving events for SDSU, winning the 1-meter competition with a score of 221.16 and claiming the 3-meter title with 223.80 points.

In all, the Jackrabbits won 12 of the 16 events. Samantha Frigard added an event title in the 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:30.30.

Taylor Beagle (1,000 freestyle, 200 individual medley) and Leona Coha (200 butterfly, 500 freestyle) were two-time winners for Augustana.

UP NEXT

South Dakota State, 1-1 overall, is schedule to host Iowa State in dual action Oct. 15. Start time is set for 5 p.m.