The UW-Eau Claire swimming and diving team traveled to Rochester, Minnesota this past weekend for a successful three day meet. The men took second place overall this weekend, with the women securing fourth.

The Rochester Invite is the team’s mid season taper invite, where they’re given an opportunity to rest for the meet in order to give the swimmers and divers the best opportunity to perform at a high level, said assistant coach Nick Hora.

Head coach Annie Ryder said the team did a phenomenal job over the weekend. Many swimmers dropped time and placed well, setting them up really well for the second half of the season.

The weekend was filled with a number of standouts, including sophomore Samantha Senczyszyn who was named the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Athlete of the Week after making history on Friday. Senczyszyn became the first female in Blugold history to break the one-minute barrier in the 100-yard breaststroke of the 400-yard medley relay with a time of 59.93 seconds.

Senczyszyn not only made Blugold history, but Division 3 history as well, becoming the first D3 woman to break one minute in a 100-yard relay breaststroke split.

She also set a UW-Eau Claire school record for her 50-yard freestyle time of 23.24, over the weekend.

The women’s 200-yard medley relay team of Carli Olson, junior Jessica Short, senior Elissa Hermsen and Senczyszyn also stood out, tying for second in the relay with a time of 1 minute, 46.24 seconds.

Short and Hermsen placed well in individual events as well, Hermsen taking fourth in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 2:10.92 and Short taking third in the 100-yard individual medley (IM) with a time of 1:00.14.

The men’s team also dove right into the competition, snagging a number of high scores throughout the weekend.

Collin Miller took first in the 100-yard IM with a time of 52.07, while senior Ryan Young took second in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 1:53.84. Taking third in the 500-yard freestyle was freshman Nick Meints, with a time of 4:50.53.

In the 3-meter diving event, freshman Dylan Glumac-Berberich took sixth with a score of 301.15 and Matthew McMahon took seventh with a score of 283.20.

For relay, the men’s team made up of senior Ben Fisher, junior Jack Kelly, junior Logan Coert and Miller took second in the 200-yard freestyle relay, with a time of 1:24.29. While in the 200-yard medley relay, the team of Miller, Fisher, Young and Coert took fifth with a final time of 1:36.13.

Elementary education student and one of six team captains, Logan Coert, said the team did really well over the weekend not only in the pool but supporting each other as well. He himself was left with a raspy voice after a weekend of yelling and cheering.

“A lot of people had really good swims and I don’t think they would have been able to go as fast as they did without the support from their teammates,” Coert said. “We bring a lot of energy to the pool and a lot of support and I think that really helps our teammates behind the blocks get ready for the races and get amped.”

After losing 17 seniors last year, Annie Ryder was nervous about how everything would play out this season, but said the freshmen have really stepped up their game.

“It’s a great team dynamic and they really are a family, they’re supportive and I think that’s showing in their success,” said Ryder. “They’re doing some things that I wasn’t 100 percent sure they would achieve this year with being such a young group and they’ve stepped up to the plate and then some.”

Nick Hora agreed with Ryder, emphasizing that there were a lot of swimmers that sometimes don’t get the recognition they deserve, that he was really proud of. He said they really came to swim and posted some great times.

The team will continue training over winter break, said Ryder, coming back a few days after Christmas for the most intense part of their season, in terms of training. They will head out for Coronado, California from Jan. 3-13 for two-a-days and a competition.

When the team returns, they will get right back to competing with a two day meet at UW-Stevens Point from Jan. 20-21.