THREE-DAY TEST AT ST. THOMAS UP NEXT FOR JACKS

Thursday, November 21

St. Paul, Minn.

10 a.m./5:30 p.m.

South Dakota State University

St. Thomas Invite

11/20/2024 4:26:00 PM | Men's Swimming and Diving, Women's Swimming and Diving

MEN'S SEASON PERFORMANCE LIST WOMEN'S SEASON PERFORMANCE LIST

The South Dakota State swimming and diving teams will receive a mid-season progress report as they compete at the three-day St. Thomas Invite Thursday through Saturday.

The four-team meet will consist of preliminaries at 10 a.m, followed by event finals at 5:30 p.m. each day at the Anderson Athletic and Recreation Complex Pool and Aquatic Center on the St. Thomas campus in St. Paul, Minnesota. SDSU and St. Thomas are joined in the invitational field by Green Bay and South Dakota.

Video coverage of all sessions will be available through the Summit League Network powered by Midco Sports Plus (subscription required). Live results will be distributed through the Meet Mobile app.

POOL RECORDS FALL: South Dakota State swimmers combined to set four Marshall Center Pool records in home dual action Nov. 15 against Iowa Central.

The Jackrabbit men, who improved to 2-1 in duals this season, opened the meet by setting a new facility standard in the 200-yard medley relay. The quartet of Aiden Carstensen, Nik Keuser, Austin Smith and Liam Murray combined for a winning time of 1 minute, 33.29 seconds to eclipse the previous mark of 1:33.31 by St. Cloud State in 2023.

Moments later, Sam Johnson set an individual pool record in the 200 freestyle, clocking in at 1:41.81. That bettered the record of 1:42.06 previously set by Noah Lucas of North Dakota in 2014.

Johnson also anchored another record-setting performance in the 800 freestyle relay to close out the dual. The foursome of Kolden Kringen, Denilson Cyprianos, Zavier Kranz and Johnson combined for a winning time of 6:58.05, besting the previous pool record of 7:05.21. The previous mark had stood since 2019 and was established by SDSU's Alex Kraft, Jared Miller, Cody Watkins and Trever Brenner.

The fourth record to fall came in the women's 800 freestyle relay as the quartet of Gigi Hioki, Hannah Miller, Sara Juez and Emma Schultz combined for a winning time of 7 minutes, 45.24 seconds to shatter the previous women's pool standard of 8:03.03 set by the University of Mary in 2018.

PEAK PERFORMERS: South Dakota State's Gigi Hioki was honored Oct. 22 as the Summit League Peak Women's Swimmer of the Week.

A sophomore from Liberty Lake, Washington, Hioki paced the Jackrabbits in all three of her individual races in an Oct. 18 tri-dual against Minnesota and league foe St. Thomas. She placed third overall in both the 200-yard freestyle (1 minute, 52.69 seconds) and 500 freestyle (5:09.64). She also finished fifth overall in the 100 freestyle with a time of 52.51 seconds.

Hioki lowered her times in all three of her events, including dropping nearly 10 seconds in the 500 freestyle from her season debut at Iowa State on Oct. 10. In addition, she anchored the Jackrabbits' 400 freestyle relay that finished fifth in 3:32.54.

The previous week, on Oct. 15, the Jackrabbits' Anna Mei Castro was selected as the Summit League Peak Women's Diver of the Week.

A sophomore from Barcelona, Spain, Castro led SDSU's diving crew in a season-opening dual at Iowa State on Oct. 10. She was runner-up on the 3-meter board with a score of 234.07 over six dives and also placed fourth in the 1-meter competition with 225.82 points.

PRESEASON POLLS: The South Dakota State men's swimming and diving team has been picked to finish second in the 2024-25 Summit League standings and the women's squad has been tabbed to place third in preseason polls announced in early October.

The Jackrabbit men totaled 31 points to finish behind defending champion Denver with 36 points and six first-place votes. South Dakota received the other first-place vote and placed third in the poll, which was conducted among the league's seven head coaches.

SDSU finished fourth in the league standings a season ago.

In the women's division, SDSU collected 26 points to stand behind Denver (36 points) and South Dakota (31 points). The defending champion Pioneers received six first-place votes to take the top spot, with USD gaining the other first-place vote.

The Jackrabbits placed fifth out of eight teams at last season's league championships.

Four Jackrabbits were named swimmers and divers to watch for the upcoming season. Representing the SDSU men were Denilson Cyprianos and Reece Reid, while Gigi Hioki and Anna Mei Castro were nominated on the women's side.

Cyprianos, a graduate student from Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, is the school record holder in the 200-yard backstroke (1:44.03) and was runner-up in the event at the 2024 Summit League Championships. He also recorded sixth-place individual finishes in the 200 and 500 freestyle events at the league meet.

Cyprianos went on to represent his home country in the 200-meter backstroke at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.

Reid, a sophomore from Keller, Texas, placed 17^th in 3-meter diving at the 2024 Summit League Championships.

A sophomore from Liberty Lake, Washington, Hioki excelled in the freestyle events for the Jackrabbit women last season, placing seventh in both the 200 and 1,650 freestyle at the league championships.

Castro, a sophomore from Barcelona, Spain, recorded a ninth-place finish in 1-meter diving at the 2024 Summit League Championships and added a 15^th-place effort on the 3-meter board.

COACH HUMPHREY: Doug Humphrey is in his eighth season as head coach of the South Dakota State men's and women's swimming and diving teams.

Through his first seven seasons, Humphrey has guided the Jackrabbits to top-three team finishes at the Summit League Championships five times in the men's division and three times on the women's side. Both squads recorded runner-up finishes at the league meet during the pandemic-altered 2020-21 season.

Prior to SDSU, Humphrey served as the head women's swimming and diving coach at Northern Iowa for five seasons. His Panther squads showed steady progression in the Missouri Valley Conference, including posting back-to-back third-place finishes at the conference championship his final two seasons in Cedar Falls.

Humphrey served as the assistant swimming coach at the University of Nebraska from 2000-12 under Olympic gold medalist Pablo Morales. He swam for the Huskers from 1991-96 and later served as a graduate assistant coach at his alma mater.

A LOOK AHEAD: Both the men's and women's squads close out the first semester by hosting Omaha in a Dec. 6 dual. Start time is slated for 4 p.m. at the Marshall Center Pool.

-GoJacks.com-