St. Thomas men in third after opening day of home invite

ST. PAUL, MINN. – The University of St. Thomas men's and women's swim and dive programs found plenty of success in the pool on the first day of the St. Thomas Invite. Both the men and women finished in third place, scoring over 300 points each in their first invite of the 2024-25 season. The St. Thomas women currently sit in third place behind South Dakota and South Dakota State with a score of 303, while the men are also in third with a score of 302.

MEN'S RESULTS:
The men found plenty of success in the pool Thursday evening, and even saw the 400 medley relay team tie the school record set in 2016. The team of Philip Jensen (Hastings, Minn. / Hastings), Ian Leonard (Muskego, Wis. / Muskego), Nicholas Salido (Kansas City, Mo. / Rockhurst) and Alex Foti (Waukesha, Wis. / Waukesha West) put together their best time of the season, and (technically) the best time in program history. The four tied the program record with a time of 3:19.98, closing the evening with a third place finish in the relay.

The 200 freestyle relay was also a second off the program record, starting the night off with a band and a second place finish. The team of Carter Fask (Elmhurst, Ill. / Fenwick), Jensen, Willy Coborn (St. Paul, Minn. / North Saint Paul) and Salido set the tone for the Tommies in the first event of the night, earning a second place finish in the relay with a time of 1:22.50. The time was roughly one second off the record set in 2018.

Individually, St. Thomas was led by Austin Kantor (Elk River, Minn. / Elk River) who claimed the top spot in the 3-meter diving competition. Kantor was the lone Tommie to win an individual event Thursday evening thanks to his career best score of 264.50 in the event. Ben Linde (Andover, Minn. / Andover) finished sixth with a six-dive score of 230.15, and Julius Krumenacher (Waukesha, Wis. / Waukeseha North) finished ninth.

In other races, Charlie Folks (Eden Prairie, Minn. / Eden Prairie) was the top finisher in the 500 freestyle, qualifying for the "B" finals with a time of 4:35.50. He then shaved a second of time off in the finals race to finish sixth with a time of 4:34.02. Teammates Tucker Holmes (Rochester, Minn. / John Marshall) and Foti finished in the top-15 with times of 4:40.51 and 4:44.23 respectively.

Sean Bannon (Rochester, Minn.) earned a top-10 finish in the 200 IM thanks to a season best swim of 1:54.35 in prelims. He finished tenth in finals with a time of 1:55.07. Leonard just missed the top-10, while Jensen Richard (Rochester, Minn. / Century) finished in the top-20 with a time of 1:55.74.

Salido and Coborn went back-to-back in the 50 free, finishing ninth and tenth with times of 21.02 and 21.13 respectively. Salido just missed clocking in under 20 seconds in the prelims, swimming a time of 20.98 to qualify for "B" finals. Fask and John Wion (Ashley, Ohio / Big Walnut) qualified for "C" finals in the race.

UP NEXT
Thanks to these and several other performances, St. Thomas sits in third place as a team with 302 points. The Tommies will resume action at the St. Thomas Invite as day two is set to begin at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, November 22.

St. Thomas men in third after opening day of home invite

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Players Mentioned

Sean Bannon

Willy Coborn

Carter Fask

Charlie Folks

Alex Foti

Tucker Holmes

Philip Jensen

Austin Kantor

Julius Krumenacher

Ian Leonard

Ben Linde

Jensen Richard

Nicholas Salido

John Wion

University of St. Thomas Athletics