The St. Thomas men’s swimming and diving team claimed the team crown by a wide margin with a final score of 808 at the 2015 MIAC Championships this weekend, and the women’s team finished in second place behind Gustavus with a final score of 817.

Heading into the final day of competition at the University of Minnesota’s Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center, the men’s team had a 114-point lead over two-time defending champion St. Olaf. The women entered the day just 15.5 points behind five-time defending champion Gustavus and took a brief lead after the day’s second event before eventually finishing 41.5 points behind the Gusties. Although the women came up just short, senior Mariann Kukielka said the memory of their performance will last a lifetime.

“I’m a little emotional,” Kukielka said. “In my four years on this team, we have never fought that hard. It was so amazing to be on a team where every single person went for it and swam with their hearts. We have some amazing guys as well.”

Kukielka said it was an exhilarating weekend.

“We’ve never come that close to winning the conference championship,” Kukielka said. “The women’s team has never won a conference title, and we were only 41.5 points behind Gustavus. The fact that we were so close shows how strong we were.”

Junior Mike Lanz, the back-to-back MIAC men’s swimmer of the year, notched first place wins in the 200 individual medley, 200 fly and 100 fly. He also played an integral part in the men’s overall victory. Lanz said the best part of being a member of the team is its family aspect.

Kukielka agreed and emphasized how supportive the team is of its members.

“We spent all this time together throughout the season and in practice, and we were able to swim and compete with our hearts,” Kukielka said. “A lot of teams are like that, but there’s just something special about our team. I’ve never felt more like we were a family than I did when we were competing this weekend.”

Junior Tom Osmolak, who won the 100 backstroke, and freshman Brady Anderson finished 1-2 in the 200 backstroke with times of 1:49.77 and 1:53.17 respectively. Senior Elise Guenther won her fourth-straight MIAC title in the 1650 freestyle with a time of 17:39.33, while freshman Katelyn Washenburger finished second in the same race.

Freshman Andrew Grabowski also turned in a strong showing at the conference meet, winning the 3-meter diving competition with an NCAA diving zone qualifying score of 442.50. Grabowski was named the MIAC diver of the year, one of three Tommies to win a top conference honor.

As coach of both the men and women’s teams, Scott Blanchard won the award for 2015 MIAC coach of the year for both men and women in his first year at the helm after taking over for longtime coach Tom Hodgson.

Next up for the Tommies is the NCAA Championships that will begin Wednesday, March 18 and extend through Saturday, March 21.

Andrew Frentz can be reached at fren2218@stthomas.edu.