Saint John's swimming and diving returns to the local pool with a pair of competitions this weekend in St. Paul. The Johnnies face Hamline for a 6 p.m. dual on Friday, Jan. 11, and compete Saturday, Jan. 12, at St. Thomas' MIAC Invitational.

A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's claimed seventh out of nine teams at the three-day Rochester Invitational, hosted by Division II St. Cloud State, back on Nov. 30-Dec. 2 at the Rochester Recreation Center. The host Huskies won the meet with 2,097.5 points, followed by Wisconsin-La Crosse (1,519.5), Wisconsin-Eau Claire (1,354), Iowa Central C.C. (1,139) and St. Thomas (874). The Johnnies totaled 319 points and seven top-16 results individually.

Sophomore Mitchell Dockendorf (St. Stephen, Minn./Sartell-St. Stephen) finished eighth in the 100-yard backstroke (53.55) and 16th in the 200-yard freestyle (1:50.38).

Junior Caleb Birklid (Anoka, Minn.) shaved over a second from his top time this season to take 11th in the 200-yard freestyle (1:47.29).

Freshman Spencer Atkinson (Litchfield, Minn.) and sophomore Mick Olson (Fullerton, Calif./Troy) followed Dockendorf in 14th (56.45) and 15th (56.48), respectively, in the 100-yard backstroke. Olson also claimed 16th in the 500-yard freestyle (5:00.74). Sophomore Eli Greenblat (Plymouth, Minn./Wayzata) placed 16th in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:02.64).

The Johnnies' 800-yard freestyle relay (Birklid, Dockendorf, Jacob Upton, Steven Froehle) finished eighth (7:16.40) and the 200-yard freestyle relay (Dockendorf, Froehle, Birklid, Upton) touched the wall in 11th (1:29.92). The 200-yard medley relay (Atkinson, Greenblat, Dockendorf, Froehle) took 12th (1:40.07) and the 400-yard medley relay (Trevor Nelson, Joe Schwamm, Jayson Valek, Zach Heinen) finished 15th (3:57.49).

FUN IN THE SUN: The Johnnies spent Jan. 2-10 training in San Diego, including a Jan. 4 competition against Pacific (Ore.) and Willamette (Ore.). The meet was comprised of 50-yard races of all the strokes and ended with a 100-yard individual medley. Dockendorf led SJU in all but one race: 50-yard butterfly (24.69), 50-yard backstroke (26.91), 50-yard breaststroke (28.81) and the 100-yard individual medley (59.31). Upton recorded the Johnnies' top time in the 50-yard freestyle (23.88).

IN THE MIAC: SJU currently has 16 top-15 times in the MIAC this season.

100-Yard Freestyle
11. Mitchell Dockendorf, 48.54

200-Yard Freestyle
5. Caleb Birklid, 1:47.29
12. Mitchell Dockendorf, 1:48.32

500-Yard Freestyle
12. Mick Olson, 4:59.97

100-Yard Backstroke
3. Mitchell Dockendorf, 52.64
9. Spencer Atkinson, 55.76
14. Mick Olson, 56.48

200-Yard Backstroke
6. Mitchell Dockendorf, 1:59.86
8. Mick Olson, 2:02.32

100-Yard Breaststroke
6. Eli Greenblat, 1:01.77
12. Jacob Upton, 1:02.41
15. Caleb Birklid, 1:02.86

200-Yard Breaststroke
10. Caleb Birklid, 2:17.62
11. Jacob Upton, 2:18.35
13. Eli Greenblat, 2:19.57

200-Yard Individual Medley
6. Mitchell Dockendorf, 2:01.32

400-Yard Individual Medley
14. Jacob Upton, 4:30.82 

LAST YEAR'S DUAL: SJU won 10 events en route to a 155-131 dual win over Hamline, the Johnnies' first competition of 2018, last Jan. 12 in Collegeville. The Johnnies recorded 14 top-two finishes on the afternoon.

Dockendorf won both the 100-yard backstroke (54.43) and 100-yard freestyle (48.91), while Christian Cancino '18 touched the wall first in the 1,000-yard freestyle (10:57.14) and classmate Curtis Noecker claimed first in the 50-yard freestyle (22.55). Junior Ryan Pauley (Columbus, Neb.) placed first in the 100-yard butterfly (54.76) and Greenblat did the same in the 200-yard individual medley (2:08.72).

SJU's 200-yard medley (1:41.78; Olson, Upton, Pauley, Noecker) and 200-yard freestyle (1:29.48; Dominick Thompson, Zach Kennedy, Joe Vorderbruggen, Cancino) relays both took first place.

LAST YEAR'S MEET: The Johnnies finished second out of four teams at last year's St. Thomas Invitational on Jan. 13 (2018) in St. Paul. The host Tommies won the meet with 1,005 points, followed by SJU (548), St. Olaf (404) and Macalester (165). SJU recorded 13 top-five marks/times on the day.

A pair of Johnnies finished second with a pair of season-best times, Dockendorf in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:00.65) and Birklid in the 200-yard individual medley (2:02.31). Upton claimed fifth in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:22.33) and Olson touched the wall fifth in the 200-yard freestyle (1:52.98).

SJU finished fourth in the 400-yard medley (3:39.60; Dockendorf, Upton, Pauley, Noecker), while two relays ended up third (3:16.52; Heller, Murphy, Dockendorf, Noecker) and fourth (3:20.43; Upton, Aidan Culloton, Pauley, Birklid) in the 400-yard freestyle.