Junior diver Matt Barnard led the way for the Gophers over the weekend at the Jean K. Freeman Invitational.
Barnard started things off on Friday by breaking his own school record in platform diving with 475.40 points in the event, competing in only his second platform event of the season. On Saturday, he broke another school record in the 3-meter dive with 446.40 points.
“Matt’s performance was good for sure; that’s outstanding at a big program like ours,” assistant coach Gideon Louw said.
Sophomore Jan Hansen won two events Friday night. He won the 500 freestyle in 4:34.64 and finished first in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:39.64.
Junior Daryl Turner also had a first-place finish on Friday, winning by more than five seconds in the 200 backstroke in 1:47.27. Turner won his second individual event of the weekend Saturday night, with a season-best time of 47.87 in the 100 butterfly.
Sophomore Conner McHugh won the 100 and 200 breaststroke, with a season-best time of 1:59.03 in the latter.
“I was really happy with how I performed at this point in the season. It was good to have a prelims-finals meet and have a chance to drop time,” McHugh said. “I was really pleased with how everyone stepped up. I think [the team] did a great job of supporting each other and trying to get better times at night.”
The freshman trio of Bowe Becker, Hunter Doerr and James Tidd all set personal bests in the 50 freestyle. Bowe swam the race in 20.39, Doerr in 20.63, while Tidd stopped the clock at 20.71. The three finished in first, third and fourth place, respectively.
Freshman Brian Poon also took home two individual titles, winning the 200 and 400 individual medley over the weekend.
Schumacher earns three titles
Sophomore Brooke Zeiger won the 500 freestyle on Friday in 4:55.55, and the Gophers took first through fourth place in the event at the Jean K. Freeman Invitational.
Zeiger also won the 400 individual medley Saturday in a season-best time of 4:18.54.
The Gophers also took first through fourth in the 200 individual medley, with junior Katelyn Holmquist leading the way in a personal-best time of 2:05.40.
Senior Lauren Votava set a personal-best time in the 200 butterfly, winning the race in a time of 1:59.39.
With junior diver Yu Zhou not competing, fellow junior diver Lexi Tenenbaum won the platform dive with 318.20 points.
Junior Allison Schumacher won the 50 and 100 freestyle over the weekend with times of 23.20 and 50.47, respectively. Schumacher also won the 100 butterfly with a personal-best time of 55.01.
“I was really happy with [my performance]. We’ve worked hard this whole season, and I was excited to see where I am in the season right now,” Schumacher said.
