Saint John's swimming and diving returns to competition by hosting Carleton for a 1 p.m. dual meet this Saturday, Jan. 15, in the Warner Palaestra Pool. – Live Video

SPECTATOR POLICY: Saint John's University updated the spectator policy for its home swimming and diving events in the Warner Palaestra Pool.

-Masks are required at all times (this has been the policy all season long).

-Spectators must maintain 6 feet of social distancing (and 12 feet from student-athletes/coaches/staff).

-Only 2 guests per CSB or SJU senior swimming and diving student-athlete will be allowed to attend in person. Seating will be staggered by section, every-other row, for social distancing. 

-Fans/parents must sit within their family or friend group and should remain in their seats for the duration of the event (no moving seats, socializing, etc.). 

-The concession stand will not be open.

Fans with any COVID-19, cold or flu symptoms are asked not to attend.

SCSU POSTPONED TO NEXT THURSDAY: SJU's dual meet at Division II St. Cloud State scheduled for Thursday (Jan. 13) was postponed Jan. 12 and rescheduled for 5 p.m. next Thursday, Jan. 20, at the Halenbeck Hall Pool.

A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's finished fifth out of eight teams at the three-day Rochester Invitational, hosted by St. Cloud State, the last time the team competed back on Dec. 3-5. Division I Nebraska-Omaha won the meet with 985 points, followed by SCSU (853), Wisconsin-Eau Claire (664), Wisconsin-La Crosse (442) and SJU (342).

The Johnnies totaled 31 top-16 marks/times, including eight in the top eight.

Junior Joe Koller (Savage, Minn./Shakopee) broke SJU's record in the 200-yard backstroke - by 0:00.01 (set by Jose Alvarez '17 in 2016) - Sunday with a prelim time of 1:54.24. He later finished eighth in the final (1:56.28). Earlier in the meet, Koller touched the wall fourth in the 100-yard backstroke (51.62), 12th in the 200-yard individual medley (1:59.61) and led a string of three consecutive Johnnies in the 100-yard IM's B final: 11th (55.68), freshman Andrew East (Minneapolis, Minn./South) in 12th (56.14) and junior Jack Mehus (Fargo, N.D./South) in 13th (56.23).

Junior Jack Grabinski (Sauk Rapids, Minn./Sauk Rapids-Rice) won the 1-meter dive (473.40) and finished second on the 3-meter board (482.45). Junior Christian Pfau (Williston, N.D.) claimed eighth in the 3-meter dive (325.40) and 11th in the 1-meter dive (324.10).

Freshman Liam Noble (Plymouth, Minn./Benilde-St. Margaret's) placed third in the 50-yard freestyle (21.13), the top Division III finish in the event, and was also sixth in the 100-yard freestyle (46.70) and 14th in the 100-yard backstroke (53.63).

Junior Ethan Huber (Mitchell, S.D.) took seventh in the 100-yard individual medley (54.40), 10th in the 200-yard individual medley (1:56.50) and 11th in the 400-yard individual medley (4:15.31).

Freshman Colby Kern (Delano, Minn.) and senior Steven Froehle (DuPont, Wash./Steilacoom) finished 10th (21.46) and 11th (21.63), respectively, in the 50-yard freestyle. Kern was also 13th in the 100-yard butterfly (53.60), just ahead of sophomore Alex Heer (St. Paul, Minn./Cretin-Derham Hall) in 14th (53.76), and 14th in the 100-yard freestyle (47.90). Heer claimed 10th in the 200-yard butterfly (2:00.11).

In the 200-yard breaststroke, sophomore Brogan O'Donnel (Rosemount, Minn.) finished 12th (2:17.34) and junior Tim Belov (Medina, Minn./Wayzata) was 15th (2:21.46).

Freshman Carter Larson (Sartell, Minn./Sartell-St. Stephen) and freshman Connor Thayer (Prior Lake, Minn.) placed 13th (4:50.66) and 14th (4:51.21), respectively, in the 500-yard freestyle. Larson also touched the wall 12th in the 1,650-yard freestyle (17:32.92) and 15th in the 200-yard freestyle (1:46.10), while Thayer was 16th in the 1,650-yard freestyle (17:46.59).

Freshman Langston Philion (Maple Grove, Minn.) claimed 14th in the 200-yard butterfly (2:07.72) and senior Spencer Atkinson (Cold Spring, Minn./Litchfield) was 16th in the 100-yard backstroke (54.81).

Four of SJU's five relays finished in the top 10:

-200-yard freestyle relay (Kern, Larson, Noble, Brinkman): fifth (1:24.40)
-200-yard medley relay (Koller, Fleischhacker, Kern, Noble): seventh (1:34.52)
-400-yard freestyle relay (Larson, Kern, Noble, Huber): sixth (3:08.25)
-400-yard medley relay (Koller, Fleischhacker, Heer, Noble): 10th (3:31.06)
-800-yard freestyle relay (Heer, Froehle, Atkinson, Belov): 14th (7:23.08)

A LOOK AT THE KNIGHTS: Carleton has a dual win and two third-place finishes so far this season. The Knights started with a third-place finish Oct. 24 at Augsburg with 368.5 points, ahead of St. Olaf (245) and behind Carthage (384.5) and SJU (455). CAR then won a dual against Macalester (156-48) and took third out of eight teams Dec. 3-4 at Grinnell's Pioneer Classic Invitational behind Gustavus Adolphus (591) and the Pioneers (574).

A pair of Knights are in the top five, individually, in the MIAC. Sophomore Josh Wu is fourth in both the 100-yard freestyle (47.81) and 100-yard individual medley (55.01). Freshman Ethan Tun is third in the 100-yard individual medley (54.75) and fifth in the 200-yard backstroke (1:59.08) and 200 individual medley (1:59.72).

THREE YEARS AGO: SJU won nine events but fell to Carleton by a 146-133 score the last time these two teams met in a dual meet on Jan. 19, 2019, in Collegeville. The Johnnies totaled 14 top-two finishes, but Carleton swept the top three times in both the 200-yard butterfly and 1,650-yard freestyle.

Mitchell Dockendorf '20 led SJU with two wins on the afternoon. He and Atkinson went 1 (53.84)-2 (56.84) in the 100-yard backstroke, and Dockendorf won the 200-yard backstroke (2:02.99).

Eli Greenblat '21 and Jacob Upton '19 went 1 (1:02.40)-2 (1:03.26) in the 100-yard breaststroke. Greenblat also took second in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:19.15).

Caleb Birklid '20 won the 200-yard freestyle (1:48.71) and Mick Olson '21 took first in the 500-yard freestyle (5:04.75). Froehle won the 50-yard freestyle with a season-best time (22.34) and took second in the 100-yard freestyle (49.91).

Senior Leo Braun (Sauk Centre, Minn./Melrose Area) competed uncontested in the 1- (159.30) and 3-meter (162.35) dives.

The Johnnies' 400-yard freestyle relay (Dockendorf, Birklid, Froehle, Atkinson) won by nearly six seconds with a season-best time of 3:17.50, while the 200-yard medley relay (Dockendorf, Greenblat, Ryan Pauley, Froehle) claimed second with a time of 1:40.26, 0:00.30 behind the Knights.

IN THE MIAC: The Johnnies currently boast 26 top-five marks/times in the MIAC this season.

50-Yard Freestyle
2. Liam Noble, 21.13
3. Colby Kern, 21.46
6. Steven Froehle, 21.63
9. Beau Brinkman, 21.90

100-Yard Freestyle
1. Liam Noble, 46.67
5. Ethan Huber, 47.84
6. Colby Kern, 47.90
8. Carter Larson, 48.07
9. Steven Froehle, 48.40

200-Yard Freestyle
3. Carter Larson, 1:45.07
5. Colby Kern, 1:46.24
7. Connor Thayer, 1:46.39

500-Yard Freestyle
5. Carter Larson, 4:48.53
6. Connor Thayer, 4:51.21

1,000-Yard Freestyle
5. Carter Larson, 10:24.94
7. Connor Thayer, 10:41.24

50-Yard Backstroke
1. Joe Koller, 24.21
5. Alex Heer, 25.09
6. T.J. Klinkner, 25.57
10. Liam Noble, 25.78

100-Yard Backstroke
1. Joe Koller, 51.62
6. Liam Noble, 53.59
8. Spencer Atkinson, 54.23
10. Beau Brinkman, 54.86

200-Yard Backstroke
1. Joe Koller, 1:54.24
8. T.J. Klinkner, 2:03.75
9. Alex Heer, 2:03.78
10. Spencer Atkinson, 2:04.28

50-Yard Breaststroke
3. Dylan Fleischhacker, 27.83
4. Jack Mehus, 28.34

100-Yard Breaststroke
6. Dylan Fleischhacker, 1:01.47
8. Jack Mehus, 1:01.68

200-Yard Breaststroke
5. Brogan O'Donnel, 2:17.34
10. Ethan Huber, 2:21.04

50-Yard Butterfly
5. Colby Kern, 24.79
7. Alex Heer, 24.85
8. Liam Noble, 25.12

100-Yard Butterfly
5. Colby Kern, 53.21
6. Alex Heer, 53.31
7. Liam Noble, 53.53

200-Yard Butterfly
4. Alex Heer, 2:00.11
7. Langston Phillion, 2:04.42

100-Yard Individual Medley
2. Ethan Huber, 54.31
6. Andrew East, 55.62
7. Joe Koller, 55.68
8. Jack Mehus, 55.95

200-Yard Individual Medley
1. Ethan Huber, 1:56.50
4. Joe Koller, 1:59.61

1-Meter Dive (6 Dives)
1. Jack Grabinski, 269.80
5. Christian Pfau, 191.85
6. Henry Braun, 160.35
10. Sean Fisher, 80.18

3-Meter Dive (6 Dives)
1. Jack Grabinski, 285.30
3. Christian Pfau, 205.40
5. Henry Braun, 150.50