University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
St. Thomas
Players Mentioned
Gophers Dominate UST and SDSU for First Home Victory of 2026
1/17/2026 2:20:00 PM | Men's Swimming & Diving, Women's Swimming & Diving
MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. – The University of Minnesota swimming and diving programs returned to action at home in the Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center for the first time in 2026, taking down the University of St. Thomas Tommies and the South Dakota State University Jackrabbits.
Minnesota tallied a collection of huge wins for their first home meet of the new calendar year, winning all 26 of this afternoon's events. The women took down the Tommies 196.5-46.5 and defeated the Jackrabbits 198-43, with Jade Roghair and Elna Widerstrom leading the way with two individual event wins each. The men took down the Tommies 190.5-51.5 and the Jackrabbits 185-56, with Jacob Johnson, Joe Polyak, and Drew Bennett leading the way with two individual event wins each.
The 200 medley relay teams for the Gophers kicked things off with a pair of early wins. Ava Yablonski, Ava Goodno, Morgan Thomas, and Livi Wanner took the first place finish throughout the women's races with a time of 1:40.46. Davide Harabagiu, Luke Mychalowych, Jacob Johnson, and Connor Groya took the win on the men's side with a time of 1:28.28.
Anja Kaljevic kicked off the individual events with a 10:08.57 victory in the women's 1000 free, which Jackson Scheiber quickly followed up with a 9:33.07 win in the men's 1000 free.
Roghair and Johnson each collected their first individual event wins of the afternoon in the 200 free, tallying times of 1:50.97 and 1:38.20 respectively.
Thomas and Ryan Slonac paired up to sweep the 50 free races of the afternoon, topping the heat sheets with times of 23.12 and 20.82 respectively.
Keira Mullins and Joe Polyak cleared the 200 IM events before the first event break of the day, tallying times of 2:07.07 and 1:49.58.
Yablonski and Groya picked up where the Gophers left following the break, earning times of 55.72 and 49.37 to sweep the 100 fly races.
Wanner and Johnson picked up another pair of wins for Minnesota in the 100 free with times of 50.56 and 44.87.
Kamdyn Periat and John Watson earned the wins in the 100 back with times of 55.09 and 49.83. Soon after, Roghair and Luke Brennan followed it up with 4:57.68 and 4:31.57 wins in the 500 free.
Georgia Kahler and Polyak closed out the individual events with another pair of wins for the Gophers, tallying times of 1:04.66 and 55.17 to win the 100 breast.
Relay teams of Wanner, Thomas, Kaljevic, and Yablonski on the women's side and Groya, Harabagiu, Abdelwahab, and Slonac picked up wins in the 200 free relay to finish off the swimming events, tallying times of 1:32.59 and 1:22.10.
Gopher divers Drew Bennett and Elna Widerstrom continued their successful seasons sweeping all four of the diving events today. Bennett tallied scores of 343.20 in the 1-meter and 363.40 in the 3-meter for his wins, while Widerstrom tallied scores of 311.95 in the 1-meter and 349.00 in the 3-meter.
The Gophers return to action on the road on Friday, Jan. 30, with two days of Big Ten action against Northwestern University and Purdue University. Action against the Wildcats and the Boilermakers is set to kick off from Evanston, Illinois at 5:00 PM.