Saint John's swimming and diving hosts Macalester for its 2023-24 season opener at 1 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 21, in the Warner Palaestra Pool. – Live Video

A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: As he enters his fifth season as the head swimming and diving coach at Saint John's University, Ben Gill has much to be excited about.

For the second year in a row, his team finished second at the MIAC Championships last season and many of those key contributors are back this time around.

The Johnnies return 65 percent (363.5 of 557.5) of the individual points earned at last season's MIAC Championships and two MIAC individual champions in 2023-24.

Three-Time MIAC Champion Returns
Already a two-time MIAC Diver of the Year, junior Eli Grabinski (Sauk Rapids, Minn./Sauk Rapids-Rice) is back in 2023-24. He won the 3-meter dive (476.10) for the second-consecutive season a year ago and finished second (465.50) to his older brother Jack Grabinski '23, in the 1-meter dive. Grabinski then went on to finish seventh in both dives at the NCAA Central Regional in Chicago.

A Noble Champ
Junior Liam Noble (Plymouth, Minn./Benilde-St. Margaret's) led SJU with a total of five All-MIAC (top three) honors as a freshman at his first conference meet in 2021-22 and bested the total by one last season. The crowning achievement of the top-three finishes was his first MIAC title with a time of 51.0 seconds flat in the 100-yard backstroke. The result came hours after he took first in the event's prelim with a school-record time of 50.77 seconds. Noble finished second in both the 50- and 100-yard freestyles and was on three second-place relays. SJU's times in the 200- and 800-yard freestyle relays were program records, while the 400 missed it by 0.07 of a second.

A Powerful Class
The Johnnies' junior class doesn't end with Grabinski and Noble. Carter Larson (Sartell, Minn./Sartell-St. Stephen) is already a five-time All-MIAC performer and broke SJU's record in the 200-yard freestyle as the first leg of the 800-yard freestyle relay at the 2023 MIAC Championships. He is currently second in school history in the 500-yard freestyle and fourth in both the 1,000- and 1,650-yard freestyles. He set four SJU freshman records in 2021-22.

Colby Kern (Delano, Minn.) was a member of SJU's three freestyle relays that placed second last year and was in the top six in the 50-, 100- and 200-yard freestyles. Connor Thayer (Prior Lake, Minn.) touched the wall eighth in the 1,650-yard freestyle and claimed 10th in both the 200- and 500-yard freestyles. Zach Ruoff (Melrose, Minn./Melrose Area) was 11th in the two freestyle sprints and 13th in the 200-yard version, while Langston Philion (Maple Grove, Minn.) placed ninth in the 200-yard butterfly, 12th in the 400-yard individual medley and 14th in the 1,650-yard freestyle.

Freshmen in the SJU Record Book
A trio of sophomores etched their names in the SJU record books as freshmen last season. Brayden Slavik (Green Isle, Minn./Chaska) led the way by shattering three freshman records – the 500-, 1,000- and 1,650-yard freestyles – and the two long-distance times also broke the program's all-time records.

The 2022-23 MIAC Men's Co-Rookie of the Year, Carsten Reuter (St. Cloud, Minn./Tech) was All-MIAC in four events at his first conference meet. He finished third in the 100-yard freestyle, fifth in the 50-yard freestyle and sixth in the 100-yard butterfly (51.22). His time in the 100 butterfly was the second-fastest by a freshman in SJU history, while the time in the 100 freestyle was fourth. Reuter also served as the Johnnies' first leg on the 200- and 400-yard freestyle relays, and the second on the 800-yard freestyle relay.

Clay Megaw (Monticello, Minn.) recorded the second-fastest times by an SJU freshman in the 100- and 200-yard breaststrokes to finish sixth and seventh, respectively, at the MIAC Championships. His time in the 100-yard breaststroke is fifth all-time. He also served as the second leg of the second-place 200-yard medley relay. 

Two others, Tim Rotter (Blaine, Minn.) and Cameron Schreifels (Sartell, Minn./Sartell-St. Stephen), collected points at their first conference meet. Rotter claimed eighth on both diving boards and Schreifels was in the consolation final in the 100- (14th) and 200-yard (12th) backstrokes, and 100-yard butterfly (14th).

Upperclassman Leadership
Three seniors return to the pool for their final season as Johnnies after adding to the team's point total last season. Alex Heer (St. Paul, Minn./Cretin-Derham Hall) just missed All-MIAC honors with a fourth-place time in the 100-yard backstroke, placed seventh in the 200-yard butterfly and tied for 10th in the 100-yard butterfly. Brogan O'Donnel (Rosemount, Minn.) claimed 13th in both the 200-yard breaststroke and 400-yard individual medley and Rafael Rios (Newark, N.J./St. Benedict's Prep) was 16th in the 100-yard breaststroke and 200-yard individual medley.

The 2023-24 Schedule
The Johnnies open the season with four-straight dual meets, including the first two against Macalester (Oct. 21) and Hamline (Oct. 27) in the Warner Palaestra Pool. SJU hits the road Nov. 4 to face St. Olaf and faces Wisconsin-Eau Claire Nov. 11 at St. Kate's. Following four-consecutive road trips – Gustavus Adolphus Invitational (Nov. 18), Rochester Invitational (Nov. 30-Dec. 2), Luther (Iowa) Invitational (Jan. 13) and a dual at St. Cloud State (Jan. 18) – SJU hosts Carleton Jan. 20 for its home finale. Four more road trips, including two diving invitationals, await the Johnnies before the 2024 MIAC Championships on Feb. 14-17 at the University of Minnesota's Jean Freeman Aquatic Center in Minneapolis. 

The 2024 NCAA Division III Championships are set for March 20-23 in Greensboro, N.C. for the second-straight season.