Tommies back in pool

The St. Thomas swim and dive team was in action for the second day in a row Thursday at the NCAA championships in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Senior Mike Lanz was the highest-placed swimmer for the Tommies, finishing 5th in the men’s 100 butterfly with a time of 48.28 seconds.

“It was great to watch Mike finish 5th,” St. Thomas coach Scott Blanchard said. “As he was going up for the race I told him to enjoy the moment, and I think he did that.”

Lanz was the only St. Thomas swimmer to advance to the finals after qualifying in the preliminary round with a time of 48.67 seconds.

A women’s 200 freestyle relay team of junior Emma Paulson, sophomore Tiana Molitor and freshmen Alexandra Howard and Kathryn Smarjesse finished 16th overall and 6th in the consolation finals with a time of 1:35.62. The group had a preliminary round time of 1:35.33.

Other Tommies competed in the preliminary round earlier in the day.

Senior Tom Osmolak and sophomores Bailey Biwer, Warren Melton and Brady Anderson made up a men’s 200 freestyle relay team that finished 23rd with a time of 1:25.56.

Melton also competed in the men’s 200 freestyle, finishing in 20th place with a time of 1:40.01.

Osmolak, Lanz, Biwer and senior Max Hamiltion made up a men’s 400 medley relay team that finished 15th with a preliminary round time of 3:20.74.

Paulson, Howard, senior Molly Peichel and freshman Katelyn Strauss swam the women’s 400 medley relay and finished 15th with a preliminary time of 3:51.88.

“Overall, we had a good performance today,” Blanchard said.

After two days of competition, the Tommie men are in 23rd place overall, and the women are in 16th place overall.

The NCAA championships will continue on Friday at 9 a.m. Central Standard Time with the following events for both genders: 200 butterfly, 100 backstroke, 100 breaststroke and 800 freestyle relay.

The entire competition is streamed on ncaa.com.

Taylor Smith can be reached at smit9660@stthomas.edu.