St. Catherine University Athletics

GRINNELL, Iowa. - After day one at the Grinnell Invitational, the St. Catherine University swim team is in first place with a score of 581. Meet host and 2018 Invitational Champion, Grinnell College is currently holding down second place with a score of 565 and Augustana College (Ill.) carries a large lead over the remainder of the field with sitting in third with 449 points. 

The Wildcats had a great start on day one posting 19 career best swims, set 2 school records plus 3 meet records. 

The 200 Free Relay was the first event of the finals and the first of the school record and meet record-setting for St. Kate's. The "A" relay team comprised of first-year Macy Klein, sophomore Sydney Grohman, first-year Ella Henderson, and first-year Jordyn Wentzel had a final time of 1:36.14, breaking the meet record set in 2014 plus setting a new program record. 

First-year Maggie Menso and sophomore Franceska Hernandez-Nietling placed first and second in the 200 IM, respectively. Menso set the meet record from 2015 finishing at 2:08.38. 

The 500 Free was swept by St. Kate's as first-year Hannah Svendsen took first finishing at 5:13.05, sophomore Molly McMahon was second at 5:19.27, and junior Mckenna Peterson was third at 5:22.27.

The Wildcats took 4th in the 800 Free Relay led-off by sophomore Mikayla Meece, followed by senior Katie Rising, sophomore Tori Hagstrom, and junior McKenna Peterson. 

The third meet record broke by a Wildcat on the day was in the 100 Free by Macy Klein. The record was just short of the pool record and under a second off the Division III record at 52.34. 

In the 400 Medley Relay, all three St. Kate's relay teams placed in the top-3. The "B" relay team made of sophomore Charlotte Green, Wentzel, Rising and Henderson took first with a time of 4:02.30.

Relay team "C" finished 2nd in the 400 Medley Relay with first-year Maggie Menso off the blocks first, sophomore Molly McMahon next, first-year Julia Mertens third, and Klein finishing the race at 4:05.61.

First-year Hannah Svendsen led-off for relay team "A", sophomore Franceska Hernandez-Nietling second, followed by Grohman and Peterson at 4:07.72, good for 3rd place. 

Day two will commence on Saturday at 9 a.m.