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Backstroke/Butterfly
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Freestyle
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Freestyle
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Breaststroke/Butterfly
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Freestyle
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Freestyle/Backstroke/IM
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Backstroke
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Freestyle
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Sprint Freestyle
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Diving
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Backstroke
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Diving
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Freestyle
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Freestyle
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Freestyle
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Freestyle/Butterfly
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Breaststroke
/ Women's Swimming & Diving
Breaststroke/IM
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Backstroke/Butterfly/Freestyle
/ Women's Swimming & Diving
Butterfly
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Diving
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Photo by: Walt Middleton Photography 2020
Gopher Women's Swimming & Diving 2020-21 Season Preview
1/14/2021 2:42:00 PM | Women's Swimming & Diving
It has been nearly 10 months since the Gopher Women's Swimming and Diving program has seen competitive waters, but with the Saturday, Jan. 23 opener on the horizon, the time has come to preview the 2020-21 squad. From the seasoned veterans to an impressive group of newcomers, senior associate head coach Terry Ganley believes this group is ready to make their presence known, both at the conference level, as well as nationally.
2019-20 Recap
The end of the 2019-20 season came unexpectedly as the 2020 NCAA Championships were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, Minnesota's last taste of competitive action came at the 2020 Big Ten Conference championships, where the team finished sixth overall.Â
The foursome of freshman diver Joy Zhu, senior breaststroker Lindsey Kozelsky, junior backstroker Emily Cook and senior Tevyn Waddell were clear standouts at the championships, securing three medals and seven top-eight performances throughout the four-day event. Along with fellow divers Jae Sarkis and Jaclynn Fowler, all six earned CSCAA All-American honors at the conclusion of the season.
The Gophers performed especially well over the 2019-20 regular season, finishing with a 5-3 record in dual meets and ending the season on a four-meet win streak. In conference matchups, Minnesota went 3-1, topping Northwestern, Purdue and Iowa while their only loss came to Wisconsin in early November.
Roster Breakdown
Backstroke
After earning an individual NCAA bid for the first time in her career in 2020, Cook is back to lead a strong group of Minnesota backstrokers in 2021. Sophomore transfer Ella Miller and sophomore Jordan McGinty will add some experience to the mix, and freshman Paula Rodriguez Rivero and Indy Jongman will fill out what appears to be an excellent collection of student-athletes.
Breaststroke
With seven-time All-American Kozelsky having hung up her Maroon and Gold suit at the conclusion of the 2020 season, the Gophers will have to make up a sizable amount of production in the breaststroke. Coming off of strong freshman seasons, sophomores Grace Bennin and Emma Lezer are both solid candidates to take that next step and help fill in that void, while freshmen Holley Dennis, Molly Urkiel and Megan Van Berkom should all be players throughout the season as well.
Butterfly
Although there does not appear to be a standout leader in the butterfly at the moment for Minnesota, a number of Gophers have the potential to step into the role in 2021. Juniors Emma Linscott, Kate Sullivan and Bronwyn Tuff fill out the upperclassmen of the group, all three of which have seen major growth in their two years so far in the Maroon and Gold. Meanwhile, sophomores McGinty, Lezer, Grace Wollschlager and Rachel Butler all have the potential to make significant impacts for the Gophers after strong first seasons. With explosive freshmen in Dennis and Dani Cramer in the lineup as well, the butterfly group has plenty of contenders for the upcoming season.
Sprint Freestyle
The shorter freestyle events are where the Gophers seem to have the most depth on this season's roster, with plenty of speed towards the top end. Olivia Bloomer (50 free), Maggie Summit (100 free), McGinty (100 free) and Sullivan (200 free) all recorded all-time top-15 times in 2020, and freshmen Pyper Doo, Maeve O'Driscoll, Ava Hoffman and Jongman could all make an immediate impact in 2021 as well. Adding Caroline Anderson, Kelli McCarthy and Bennin's sprinting abilities to the mix, the Gophers should be very well off in the coming year.
Distance Freestyle
Led by senior captains Abbey Erwin and Brittany Horn, the distance freestyle is an area where the Gophers are anything but lacking in experience. Junior standout Abbey Kilgallon and sophomore Maggie Erwin both saw significant time drops in 2020, with the latter dropping more than 30 seconds in the 1650 free at the 2020 Big Ten Championships. Newcomers Katia Soudakova and Elle Niebuhr round out what should be one of the Gophers' strongest areas in 2021.
Diving
Diving should be an area of exceptional strength for the Maroon and Gold in 2021, as two-time reigning NCAA Champion, redshirt senior and newly named team captain Sarah Bacon returns to Minnesota after taking an Olympic redshirt season in 2019-20. She'll look to continue right where she left off in 2019, and will be leading some exciting new faces along the way in freshmen Megan Phillip and Susanna Fish, both of whom could be serious players for the 'U' early and often.
2020-21 Schedule
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the schedule for the upcoming season is much shorter than in previous years. Therefore, the Gophers will only have two regular season meets before the Big Ten Conference Championships kick off in late February, the first of which will be a tri-meet held in Madison, Wis. on Saturday, Jan. 23.
The Gophers' much anticipated Jan. 23 meet will be hosted by the Wisconsin Badgers, with the Purdue Boilermakers filling in the third spot of the match-up. Their next and final regular season match-up will be their only home meet of the season, when Minnesota hosts the Iowa Hawkeyes and Nebraska Cornhuskers on the weekend of Feb. 5-6. Â
Championship season will look a little differently in 2021 as well. The Big Ten has decided to split the diving and swimming segments of the Big Ten Championships into two separate sites for the 2021 season, both of which will take place from Feb 24-27. The Minnesota swimmers will stay home and host the swimming segment of the championships, while the divers will head to Purdue for the diving segment. The NCAA Championships are still set to be held in Greensboro, N.C. from March 24-27.
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2019-20 Recap
The end of the 2019-20 season came unexpectedly as the 2020 NCAA Championships were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, Minnesota's last taste of competitive action came at the 2020 Big Ten Conference championships, where the team finished sixth overall.Â
The foursome of freshman diver Joy Zhu, senior breaststroker Lindsey Kozelsky, junior backstroker Emily Cook and senior Tevyn Waddell were clear standouts at the championships, securing three medals and seven top-eight performances throughout the four-day event. Along with fellow divers Jae Sarkis and Jaclynn Fowler, all six earned CSCAA All-American honors at the conclusion of the season.
The Gophers performed especially well over the 2019-20 regular season, finishing with a 5-3 record in dual meets and ending the season on a four-meet win streak. In conference matchups, Minnesota went 3-1, topping Northwestern, Purdue and Iowa while their only loss came to Wisconsin in early November.
Roster Breakdown
Backstroke
After earning an individual NCAA bid for the first time in her career in 2020, Cook is back to lead a strong group of Minnesota backstrokers in 2021. Sophomore transfer Ella Miller and sophomore Jordan McGinty will add some experience to the mix, and freshman Paula Rodriguez Rivero and Indy Jongman will fill out what appears to be an excellent collection of student-athletes.
Breaststroke
With seven-time All-American Kozelsky having hung up her Maroon and Gold suit at the conclusion of the 2020 season, the Gophers will have to make up a sizable amount of production in the breaststroke. Coming off of strong freshman seasons, sophomores Grace Bennin and Emma Lezer are both solid candidates to take that next step and help fill in that void, while freshmen Holley Dennis, Molly Urkiel and Megan Van Berkom should all be players throughout the season as well.
Butterfly
Although there does not appear to be a standout leader in the butterfly at the moment for Minnesota, a number of Gophers have the potential to step into the role in 2021. Juniors Emma Linscott, Kate Sullivan and Bronwyn Tuff fill out the upperclassmen of the group, all three of which have seen major growth in their two years so far in the Maroon and Gold. Meanwhile, sophomores McGinty, Lezer, Grace Wollschlager and Rachel Butler all have the potential to make significant impacts for the Gophers after strong first seasons. With explosive freshmen in Dennis and Dani Cramer in the lineup as well, the butterfly group has plenty of contenders for the upcoming season.
Sprint Freestyle
The shorter freestyle events are where the Gophers seem to have the most depth on this season's roster, with plenty of speed towards the top end. Olivia Bloomer (50 free), Maggie Summit (100 free), McGinty (100 free) and Sullivan (200 free) all recorded all-time top-15 times in 2020, and freshmen Pyper Doo, Maeve O'Driscoll, Ava Hoffman and Jongman could all make an immediate impact in 2021 as well. Adding Caroline Anderson, Kelli McCarthy and Bennin's sprinting abilities to the mix, the Gophers should be very well off in the coming year.
Distance Freestyle
Led by senior captains Abbey Erwin and Brittany Horn, the distance freestyle is an area where the Gophers are anything but lacking in experience. Junior standout Abbey Kilgallon and sophomore Maggie Erwin both saw significant time drops in 2020, with the latter dropping more than 30 seconds in the 1650 free at the 2020 Big Ten Championships. Newcomers Katia Soudakova and Elle Niebuhr round out what should be one of the Gophers' strongest areas in 2021.
Diving
Diving should be an area of exceptional strength for the Maroon and Gold in 2021, as two-time reigning NCAA Champion, redshirt senior and newly named team captain Sarah Bacon returns to Minnesota after taking an Olympic redshirt season in 2019-20. She'll look to continue right where she left off in 2019, and will be leading some exciting new faces along the way in freshmen Megan Phillip and Susanna Fish, both of whom could be serious players for the 'U' early and often.
2020-21 Schedule
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the schedule for the upcoming season is much shorter than in previous years. Therefore, the Gophers will only have two regular season meets before the Big Ten Conference Championships kick off in late February, the first of which will be a tri-meet held in Madison, Wis. on Saturday, Jan. 23.
The Gophers' much anticipated Jan. 23 meet will be hosted by the Wisconsin Badgers, with the Purdue Boilermakers filling in the third spot of the match-up. Their next and final regular season match-up will be their only home meet of the season, when Minnesota hosts the Iowa Hawkeyes and Nebraska Cornhuskers on the weekend of Feb. 5-6. Â
Championship season will look a little differently in 2021 as well. The Big Ten has decided to split the diving and swimming segments of the Big Ten Championships into two separate sites for the 2021 season, both of which will take place from Feb 24-27. The Minnesota swimmers will stay home and host the swimming segment of the championships, while the divers will head to Purdue for the diving segment. The NCAA Championships are still set to be held in Greensboro, N.C. from March 24-27.
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Saturday, February 22
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Monday, March 25
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