2024 Minnesota Invite
- December 4-7, 2024
- Prelims: 10 am CST/ Finals: 6 pm CST
- SCY (25 Yards)
- University of Minnesota
- Participating Teams: Minnesota (host), Univeristy of California- Berkley, University of Nevada- Las Vegas (Men Only), Harvard, Rutgers, University of Denver
- 2025 NCAA Championship Standards
- Live Stream
- Psych Sheets
- Results
The second round of Midseason meets are here, and they start tonight with the first finals session of the Minnesota invite. Tonight we have two relays, the 800 free and the 200 medley.
On the women’s side, Cal is the heavy favorite for both relays. At last year’s NCAA Championships, the Bears were 4th in the 200 medley relay, and 9th in the 800 free relay. They are returning 3 swimmers from their 200 medley, and two from the 800 free.
The same is true on the men’s side, with the NCAA runner-ups Cal being the favorite to win both relays this evening. They are coming into tonight as the NCAA record holders and reigning champions in the 800 free relay, with all 4 swimmers returning this season. They were also 4th in the 200 medley last season, returning 3 of their 4 athletes.
This is likely the first time we will see NCAA record holder Destin Lasco this season, as he is taking his 5th year, but hasn’t competed yet. On the women’s side Isabelle Stadden highlights the events, and will likely lead off the medley relay.
WOMEN’S 200 MEDLEY RELAY- TIMED FINALS
- NCAA Record: 1:31.73, Virginia- 2023
- 2025 NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 1:36.24
- 2025 NCAA ‘B’ Cut: 1:36.76
- California A- 1:34.24 NCAA A Cut Pool Record
- Minnesota A- 1:37.66
- Denver A- 1:40.00
- Harvard A- 1:40.10
- UNLV A- 1:40.54
- Rutgers A- 1:42.41
The Cal women ran away with the event, beating the Minnesota A by over 3 seconds, and breaking the pool record in their 1:34.24 swim. All 4 of their swimmers had the fastest relay splits in the field.
5th year Isabelle Stadden led off the women in 23.34 for her 50 backstroke. This is a new best time for Stadden who hadn’t been faster than the 23.57 she went at the 2023 NCAAs. Senior Leah Polonsky swam the breaststroke leg in 26.36. Senior Mia Kragh swam fly in 23.51, which was four tenths off the 23.12 she went on the same leg at NCAAs last year, and freshman Mary-Ambre Moluh swam freestyle in 21.03. The time they swam tonight would have earned them 3rd at last year’s Nationals.
The Minnesota women took second in 1:37.66, a little over two seconds ahead of the 3rd place finishers. Junior Ava Yablonski led off in 24.11, besting the 24.66 she went leading off the relay at Big Tens last year. Ava Goodno, a sophomore, swam breaststroke in 27.73. Morgan Thomas, also a sophomore, swam fly in 23.38, and senior Hannah Cornish went 22.44 on the freestyle.
Denver took 3rd and Harvard took 4th, separated by only a tenth of a second. Denver’s anchor Megan Lucyshyn went 22.79 to pass Harvard and bring home the bronze for the Pioneers.
The UNLV A relay was disqualified.
MEN’S 200 MEDLEY RELAY- TIMED FINALS
- NCAA Record: 1:20.15, Florida- 2024
- 2025 NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 1:23.62
- 2025 NCAA ‘B’ Cut: 1:23.90
- Cal A- 1:24.03
- Minnesota A- 1:25.43
- UNLV A- 1:25.61
- Harvard A- 1:25.81
- Denver A- 1:27.87
The Cal men also won the 200 medley relay, beating the Minnesota A team by almost a second and a half. 5th year Bjorn Seeliger led off the relay in 21.10. This is quite a bit off his best split of 20.08 from the 2022 NCAAs. Yamato Okadome, a freshman, swam the breaststroke leg in 23.42. Sophomore Roman Jones swam fly in 20.29, and freshman Lucca Battaglini swam free in 19.22. Notably missing from this relay were Jack Alexy and Dare Rose who swam on the relay at NCAAs last year, but are competing at Short Course Worlds next week.
Minnesota placed second, beating UNLV by just two tenths to go 1:25.43. 5th year Casey Stowe went 21.98 on the backstroke leg. Kaiser Neverman, another 5th year, swam breast in 23.57. Freshman Jacob Johnson went 20.36 on the fly, and sophomore Davide Harabagiu swam free at 19.52.
UNLV mounted a comeback at the end with their team of Wikus Potgieter (21.95), Danny Beji (23.46), Emil Jose Perez Avila (21.15), and Daniel Nicusan (19.05). Beji and Nicusan both outplit Minnesota with Nicusan splitting the fastest in the field, but he was unable to pass Harabagiu from Minnesota leaving them to the bronze.
Women’s 800 Freestyle Relay Timed Finals
- NCAA Record: 6:45.91, Stanford- 2017 NCAA Championships
- NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 7:00.86
- NCAA ‘B’ Cut: 7:05.56
- California A- 6:59.13 A
- Minnesota A- 7:08.73
- UNLV A- 7:13.05
- Harvard A- 7:14.99
- Denver A- 7:19.21
- Rutgers A- 7:22.14
Just like the 200 medley relay, the Cal Women got out in front and stayed there for the entire race. Sophomore Ava Chavez led off in 1:44.78, a new best time for her dropping from the 1:45.18 she went at this meet last year. Freshman Mia West went second in 1:45.54 which is over a second faster than her flat start best time of 1:46.75. Isabelle Stadden was 3rd at 1:44.73, a second faster than she went on this relay last year at 1:45.74. Senior Leah Polonsky went last in 1:44.08 to bring home the gold for the Golden Bears. On the Cal B, Mary-Ambre Moluh went the fastest split of 1:45.06 in the second position, which is faster than West’s 1:45.54 in the same position.
Minnesota took 2nd in 7:08.73. Sophomore Anja Kaljevic led off in 1:46.33 to go just faster than her previous best of 1:46.37 from last month. Twin sister Mina Kaljevic went second in 1:45.31. Senior Hannah Cornish went third at 1:47.47, and sophomore Morgan Thomas went 4th at 1:49.62.
UNLV got 3rd in 7:13.05. The team of Ava Olson (1:47.87), Grace Wharton (1:49.97), Erika Carlson (1:46.78), and Bridget Sullivan (1:48.43) picked up some needed points for UNLV after their disqualification in the 200 medley. Olson went a new best time in the event, dropping from her previous best of 1:48.16 from February.
Men’s 800 Freestyle Relay Timed Finals
- NCAA Record: 6:02.26, Cal- 2024 NCAA Championships
- NCAA ‘A’ Cut: 6:15.80
- NCAA ‘B’ Cut: 6:18.42
- California A- 6:14.29 A
- Minnesota A- 6:21.92
- Harvard A- 6:22.93
- UNLV A- 6:28.48
- Denver A- 6:30.84
The reigning NCAA Champions won the final tonight by almost 8 seconds with 3 of their 4 NCAA relay members not participating this evening. Keaton Jones led off for the Golden Bears in 1:34.51. Jones has been 1:32.13 in the event, which he did in the individual event at NCAAs last year. Senior Gabriel Jett, the only returning relay swimmer went second in 1:32.04, which is a little under two seconds slower than he went leading off the relay at Nationals. Freshman Nans Mazellier went 3rd in 1:34.45, and senior Trent Frandson went 4th at 1:33.39. Destin Lasco was absent from the relay tonight. He is entered in events tomorrow morning for his season debut.
Minnesota got 2nd in 6:21.92. Senior Bar Soloveychik went first in 1:35.35. this was almost two seconds off his best of 1:33.37 from Big Ten championships in February. 5th year transfer Joey Tepper went second at 1:34.37. Junior Alberto Hernandez Garcia went third in 1:37.07, and 5th year Kaiser Neverman went last in 1:35.13.
Harvard was 3rd in 6:22.93. Ben Littlejohn led off in 1:35.02. David Greeley was second in 1:35.90. Adriano Aritoi went 3rd at 1:37.14, and Harris Durham went fourth in 1:34.87.
Team Scores After Day 1
Women
- California- 128
- Minnesota- 112
- Harvard/Denver- 104
- —
- Rutgers- 98
- UNLV- 54
Men
- California- 128
- Minnesota- 112
- Harvard/UNLV- 106
- —
- Denver- 100
