Jan. 28, 2012

Complete Results

The No. 15 Minnesota women's swimming and diving team remained undefeated as they claimed a trio of victories at the Big Ten Quad Duals Saturday at the University Aquatic Center. The Gophers won seven of the ten events, concluding with victories over Wisconsin, 238-128, Illinois, 314.5-51.5, and Purdue 253-118.

"We're very happy with our performance coming off of our training," Minnesota women's head coach Terry Nieszner said. "Overall, we had some outstanding performances." 

In the 400 individual medley, Minnesota's Kristen Steenvoorden claimed the victory with a time of 4:21.56, while Elizabeth Weitz (4:22.21) took second. 

The Gophers finished one, two, three in the 200 backstroke, as Tess Behrens brought home the title with her best time of the season of 1:59.71, while Katie Anton came in close behind in second (2:00.32) and Hannah Whitehead in third (2:01.50). 

Minnesota dominated the 100 butterfly as Rebecca Weiland placed first in 55.41, while Tori Simenec followed closely behind in second with a time of 55.48.

Kiera Janzen posted her best time of the season on her way to winning the 500 freestyle in 4:48.67, with Ashley Steenvoorden placing second in 4:48.98. 

Haley Spencer placed second in the 200 breaststroke (2:13.78) just behind Wisconsin's Ashley Wanland (2:13.21). 

The Gopher's 400 freestyle relay team, made up of Plant, Simenec, Erin Caflisch and Behrens took first with an impressive NCAA provisional qualifying time of 3:21.82 

Maggie Keefer continued to perform strong as she led the Gophers in 3 meter diving. The sophomore finished in first place with a NCAA Zone Diving qualifying mark of 340.05. Katie Grunawalt followed in second as she also posted a NCAA Zone qualifying mark of 315.45. Grunawalt claimed the title in platform diving with a mark of 268.95.

"Both yesterday and today, I felt really on," Keefer said of her performance. "We just got back from winter training and now we're constantly seeing improvements. All the hard work is paying off. All of us are diving really well right now." 

The Gophers host the Minnesota Challenge Feb. 3-4, before they travel to Iowa Feb. 22-25 to compete in the Big Ten Championships.

"Right now, going in (to the Big Ten Championships), we need to focus on details," Nieszner said. "We've done the work and done everything we need to do to be successful. Now, it's just fine-tuning details and making sure everything is technically sound."