KEARNEY, Neb.  Led by first-place finishes from Ella Fries and Joanna Swiderska, Mountaineer swimming & diving captured the University of Nebraska Kearney Sprint Meet Saturday, one day after winning the UNK Distance Meet hosted by the Lopers at the Kearney High School Pool.

Western scored 579 points to win the Sprint Meet over second place Nebraska Wesleyan's 519 points.

Fries won the 100-yard breaststroke in a time of 1 minute, 6.89 seconds, then two events later Swiderska captured the 100 butterfly title, touching first in a time of 59.97 seconds.

Fries would later in the event schedule race to a third-place finish in the 100 individual medley.

While Fries and Swiderska provided the only top-of-the-podium swims in the Sprint Meet's finals session Saturday afternoon, Western earned multiple placings in most events during the afternoon.

Brionna Thomas, Agnieszka Rudomina and Morgan Nielsen scored fourth, fifth and sixth places in the championship heat of the first event, the 200 freestyle.

Then Cate Coffield (fifth), Anna Jorstad (sixth), and Lauryn Bingley (seventh) picked up points for Western in the final of the 100 backstroke.

Jorstad would have a busy afternoon. Including swimming in the championship heat of the 100 backstroke, she swam to a third-place finish in the 100 freestyle (55.50) and a fourth place in the 500 freestyle (25.36).

The 200 IM was another multiple placings event for Western, led by Leah Wagner's third place swim in 2:17.35. Joining her in the championship final were Kylee Ruhser, fifth in 2:17.68, and Demi Blaylock, seventh in 2:21.20.

Wagner had also swum in the championship final of the 100 breaststroke with Fries, earning a fifth place finish.

The Mountaineers piled up big points in the final of the 500 freestyle, earning four of the eight spots in the final after the morning's preliminary swims.

Rudomina (5:19.95) would take third in the final with Nielson (5:21.69) just behind in fourth. Thomas (5:24.11) would take fifth and Sidney-Ann Morris (5:34.18) placed seventh.

Western's Alexandra Wallis swept her diving events over the weekend. On Friday at the Distance Meet she placed first on the 1-meter board with a score of 382.55, and on Saturday she won the 3-meter competition with 218.85 points.

UP NEXT
Western will travel to Rochester, Minn., for the Dec. 4-6 Rochester Invitational hosted by St. Cloud State.