Saint John's swimming and diving hosts Hamline and Minnesota-Morris for a season-opening triangular at 1 p.m. (diving at 11 a.m.) this Saturday, Oct. 18, at the Warner Palaestra Pool in Collegeville. – Live Video

DIVER OF THE WEEK: Junior Cody Watts (St. Cloud, Minn./Tech) was named the MIAC Men's Diver of the Week for the third time of his career on Tuesday (Oct. 14). He won the 11-diver versions of both the 1- (335.05) and 3-meter (302.25) boards last Saturday (Oct. 11) at Hamline's Diving Invitational in St. Paul.

A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: The Saint John's swimming and diving team is coming off one of its best seasons in two decades a year ago.

The Johnnies captured nine MIAC titles in 2024-25, nearly doubling 2023-24's five. SJU finished second of six teams at the MIAC Championships, its third second-place finish in four seasons.

Nationally, Saint John's ranked 36th—the best national ranking since 2004-05 (22nd). SJU collected three All-America honors, its most since 2010-11 (six).

But, with five graduating All-MIAC performers, the pool inside the Warner Palaestra will feature plenty of new faces as SJU looks to build off that success. 

Diving Prowess
Junior Cody Watts (St. Cloud, Minn./Tech) returns to lead the Johnnie diving corps after participating at last season's NCAA Diving Regional. He finished 10th in the 1-meter dive (392.50) and 15th on the 3-meter board (361.95). He collected his second All-MIAC honor with a third-place score in the 1-meter dive at the MIAC Championships for the second year in a row. Watts has already been named the MIAC Diver of the Week (his third career honor) after winning the 11-diver versions of both the 1- (335.05) and 3-meter (302.25) boards last Saturday (Oct. 11) at Hamline's Diving Invitational in St. Paul.

Watts will look to replace Eli Grabinski '25 on the podium after Grabinski earned a pair of All-America honors at the 2025 NCAA Division III Championships. He finished eighth in the 1-meter dive with a score of 463.70 to become the first Johnnie diver to finish in the top eight at nationals since 2021 J-Club Hall of Honor inductee John Deters '92 in 1992 (fifth in the 3-meter dive and eighth on the 1-meter board). A three-time MIAC Men's Diver of the Year, Grabinski was a four-time MIAC champion – winning three times in the 3-meter dive (including in 2024) and once on the 1-meter board – an eight-time All-MIAC honoree and participated at the NCAA Regional all four seasons.

Joining Watts on the boards this season is senior Tim Rotter (Blaine, Minn.), sophomore Henry Hilgendorf (Owatonna, Minn.) and freshman Austin Durfee (West Valley City, Utah/Kearns). Rotter finished fifth on both the 1- (383.35) and 3-meter (386.95) dives at last season's MIAC meet, while Hilgendorf was seventh on each. Sophomore Nate Krotzer (Blaine, Minn./Spring Lake Park), who traditionally swims backstroke for the Johnnies, scored four points with a 13th-place finish on the 1-meter at the conference championship.

Rewarding Relays
The Johnnies took home first in three of five relays at the 2025 conference meet. SJU touched the wall first in the 200-yard (1:22.21), 400-yard (3:03.22) and 800-yard (6:46.79) freestyle relays. SJU finished second in the 200 medley (1:32.63) – behind Gustavus Adolphus' 1:31.17 – and the 400 medley (3:23.50) – trailing GAC's 3:20.82.

Two with Titles
A pair of senior Johnnies, Carsten Reuter (St. Cloud, Minn./Tech) and Brayden Slavik (Green Isle, Minn./Chaska), each won individual MIAC championships in 2025. Reuter won the 50-yard freestyle (20.56) and is a three-time MIAC champion and 11-time All-MIAC honoree. His championship time of 20.56 ranks second on the program all-time list behind national champion Matt Zelen '99. 

Slavik, meanwhile, is the reigning MIAC Swimmer of the Year after Gustavus fifth-year Peyton Richardson, who shared the award with Slavik after earning the most individual points at the 2025 conference meet, graduated. Slavik broke three program records, including two of his own, to win the 400-yard individual medley (4:00.12), 500-yard freestyle (4:29.49) and 1,650-yard freestyle (15:32.98).  
 
The titles in the 400-yard individual medley and 1,650-yard freestyle were the second-consecutive for Slavik, who also served as the first leg of the Johnnies' 800-yard freestyle relay that broke the school record with a time of 6:46.79 to win the program's first MIAC championship in the event. He enters this season as a six-time MIAC champion (five individual and one relay) and 10-time All-MIAC honoree (top three at the conference meet).  

Slavik earned All-America honorable mention honors with a 15th-place finish in the 1,650-yard freestyle – the program's first in the event – at the 2025 NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving Championships.

Upperclassman Leadership
Sixteen returning upperclassmen combined for 227 individual points for SJU last season. In total, the group has scored 530 points in their careers. Reuter, Slavik and Watts earned five All-MIAC honors and four championships. Reuter, Slavik and senior Clay Megaw (Monticello, Minn.) all swam on at least one of SJU's five All-MIAC relays. Megaw finished sixth in the 100-yard breaststroke (58.34) and ninth in the 200-yard version (2:10.58) at the 2025 conference meet. He currently owns the fourth fastest times in SJU history in both events.  

Freshman Points
A trio of sophomores scored points for SJU at the MIAC Championships as freshmen in 2025. Riley Yerks (Hutchinson, Minn.) took 11th in the 200-yard backstroke (2:02.59) for six points. Jason Jones (Monticello, Minn.) combined for 13 total, taking seventh in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:12.99), 12th in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:00.37) and 16th in the 200-yard individual medley (2:02.90). Krotzer scored eight, four each in the 1- (175.45) and 3-meter (236.05) dives.

SJU's 2025-26 Schedule
The Johnnies open the season Saturday, Oct. 18, in a triangular with Hamline and Minnesota-Morris in one of two home meets in the Warner Palaestra Pool. SJU then travels for four dual meets: Macalester (Oct. 25), St. Olaf (Nov. 1), Wisconsin-La Crosse (Nov. 8) and Division II St. Cloud State (Nov. 8.). The team competes at the Rochester Invitational – hosted by St. Cloud State – in their final meet of 2025 from Dec. 4-6. SJU starts 2026 at the Luther Sprint Invitational (Jan. 10) before traveling to Gustavus Adolphus for a dual on Jan. 17. The dual-meet schedule is capped by Senior Day against Carleton on Jan. 24. Two more road meets, including a diving invitational, lead up to the 2026 MIAC Championships on Feb. 11-14 at the University of Minnesota's Jean Freeman Aquatic Center in Minneapolis.

The 2026 NCAA Division III Championships are scheduled for March 18-21 at the IUPUI Natatorium in Indianapolis, Ind.