SDSU GEARS UP FOR THREE DAYS IN ST. PAUL

Thursday, November 20

St. Paul, Minn.

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

South Dakota State University

St. Thomas Invite

Photo by: Dave Eggen/Inertia

11/19/2025 2:33:00 PM | Men's Swimming and Diving, Women's Swimming and Diving

SWIMMING & DIVING: South Dakota State at St. Thomas Invite

When	Thursday-Saturday, Nov. 20-22 • Prelims at 10 a.m. each day • Finals at 5:30 p.m. each day
Where	Anderson Pool \| St. Paul, Minnesota
Live Video	Summit League Network powered by Midco Sports Plus (subscription required)
Live Results	Meet Mobile App
Social Media	Twitter \| Instagram \| #GoJacks

The South Dakota State men's and women's swimming and diving teams close out the first half of the season with competition over three days at the Tommie Invite.

The four-team invitational runs Thursday through Saturday at Anderson Pool on the University of St. Thomas campus in St. Paul, Minnesota. The three-day event will follow a championship format with event preliminaries starting at 10 a.m. each day, followed by individual and relay finals at 5:30 p.m.

Besides SDSU and host St. Thomas, the invitational also will feature swimmers and divers from Green Bay and the University of South Dakota.

The Jackrabbits have been away from competition since both squads posted runner-up finishes at the Coyote Extravaganza Oct. 31-Nov. 1 in Vermillion, South Dakota. Cody Vertin claimed individual titles in the 400-yard individual medley and 200 breaststroke to lead the SDSU men's squad while Emma Ingalls and Gigi Hioki paced the Jackrabbit women with victories in the 200 IM and 200 freestyle, respectively.

SWIMMERS OF THE WEEK: South Dakota State swept the Summit League Kwik Star Swimming Peak Performer of the Week awards earlier this season as David Bosch was honored in the men's division and Gigi Hioki received the nod on the women's side after their performances in dual meets against Augustana on Oct. 10.

A native of Windsor, Colorado, Bosch claimed individual titles in both breaststroke events contested in SDSU's home opener, posting winning times of 26.25 seconds in the 50-yard race and 58.07 seconds in the 100. He also swam the breaststroke leg as the Jackrabbits opened the dual with a victory in the 400 medley relay (3:24.17).

The award was the first of Bosch's career and the first by a Jackrabbit men's swimmer this season.

Hioki, a junior from Honolulu, Hawaii, was a four-time winner for the Jackrabbits in their home-opening dual. She claimed individual titles in both the 100-yard (53.96 seconds) and 200 freestyle (1:55.20), and also anchored SDSU victories in both the 400 medley relay (3:58.41) and the 200 freestyle relay (1:37.07).

The award was Hioki's first of the season and third of her career.

POOL RECORD: The South Dakota State men's 400 medley relay kicked off the 2025-26 home season in style by setting a Marshall Center Pool standard Oct. 10 versus Augustana.

The quartet of Colby Williams, David Bosch, Braxton McGrath and Xavier Kranz combined for a facility-record time of 3 minutes, 24.17 seconds. The previous mark of 3:24.63 was set last season in a dual against Omaha by Aiden Carstensen, Cody Vertin, McGrath and Sam Johnson.

PRESEASON POLLS: South Dakota State has been picked to finish third in the Summit League men's team race, with the women's squad tabbed for a fifth-place finish, according to preseason polls among the league's coaches that were announced Wednesday. The rankings match the Jackrabbits' placings at the 2025 Summit League Championships.

In the men's division, defending champion Denver was picked as the favorite by garnering six of the seven first-place votes and 36 points. South Dakota received the other first-place vote and ranked second with 30 points, followed by SDSU with 26 points and Omaha with 22 points.

St. Thomas (16), Southern Indiana (10) and Eastern Illinois (7) rounded out the men's poll.

Denver also received top billing in the women's preseason poll with six first-place votes and 36 points. South Dakota was second with 31 points and the final first-place vote, with Omaha in the third spot with 24 points. St. Thomas edged the Jackrabbits by one point, 19-18, for fourth place in the poll, with Southern Indiana (12) and Eastern Illinois (7) claiming the final two spots.

The 2026 Summit League Swimming and Diving Championships are scheduled for Feb. 18-21 in Iowa City, Iowa.

ATHLETES TO WATCH: Four Jackrabbit swimmers are listed among the Summit League Athletes to Watch in conjunction with the release of the preseason polls.

Representing the South Dakota State men's squad were junior Cody Vertin and sophomore Nik Keuser. Senior Jenna Currier and junior Gigi Hioki were the Jackrabbit representatives on the women's side.

A Brookings native, Vertin posted three top-three individual finishes at the 2025 Summit League Championships. He placed second in the 200-yard breaststroke (1:58.04) and set school records with third-place individual finishes in the 200 individual medley (1:47.92) and 400 IM (3:54.33).

Keuser, an Omaha native, won the 100-yard breaststroke at last season's Summit League Championships with an SDSU-record time of 53.74 seconds. He also placed fourth in the 200 breaststroke after establishing a school record time of 1:57.90 in the prelims.

Currier enters her senior season ranked second in program history in the 100-yard butterfly at 55.41 seconds, a mark the native of Denison, Iowa, established last November at the Tommie Invitational. She also posted team-best marks in the 50 freestyle (:23.62) and 100 backstroke (:57.43) last season.

Hioki paced the Jackrabbits in the freestyle events, winning 15 event titles during her sophomore season. Originally from Honolulu, Hawaii, Hioki placed fourth in the 200 freestyle (1:49.77), seventh in the 100 free (:51.19) and ninth in the 500 free (4:57.02) at last year's Summit League Championships.

RECORD HOLDERS RETURN: Five swimmers who hold a combined 10 individual school records return to lead the Jackrabbit men during the upcoming 2025-26 season.

Seniors Eric Anderson and Jack Ellison pace SDSU in the freestyle events. A Fargo native, Anderson sat out last season due to injury, but continues to hold the Jackrabbit standards in the 50-yard freestyle (19.81 seconds) and 100 freestyle (:44.22) he set in 2023 and 2021, respectively.

Ellison, meanwhile, established school records in both the 1,000 freestyle (9 minutes, 27.05 seconds) and 1,650 freestyle (15:37.84) at the end of his sophomore season in 2024. The Omaha native also ranks second in program history in the 400 individual medley (3:57.09).

Junior Cody Vertin supplanted Ellison as the school record holder in the 400 IM at last season's Summit League Championships with a third-place finish in the event at 3:54.33. The Brookings native also earned all-Summit League honors with a runner-up finish in the 200 breaststroke (1:58.04) and a third-place effort in the 200 IM in which he set another school record with a time of 1:47.92.

Complementing Vertin in the breaststroke events is sophomore Nik Keuser, who put together a strong second half of his freshman campaign to win the 100 breaststroke title at the Summit League Championships with a school-record time of 53.47 seconds. He also set a new SDSU standard in the prelims of the 200 breaststroke (1:59.87) before settling for a fourth-place finish.

Senior Braxton McGrath will again lead the Jackrabbits in the butterfly events. He holds school records in both the 100 fly (:48.15) and 200 fly (1:48.20) and earned all-Summit League recognition last season with a third-place showing in the 200.

Sophomore Emma Ingalls was the lone Jackrabbit woman to set a school record at last season's league championships, clocking a new standard of 2:03.82 in the 200 individual medley. Ingalls also notched sixth-place finishes in both the 200 butterfly and 400 IM.

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

Through his first eight seasons, Humphrey has guided the Jackrabbits to top-three team finishes at the Summit League Championships six 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: The Jackrabbits are scheduled to be off from competition for nearly two months. The men's team is slated to return to the pool Jan. 16 with a dual at St. Cloud State while the women's squad opens the second semester with a tri-dual the next day against Minnesota and St. Thomas in Minneapolis.

-GoJacks.com-