By: Luke Kotcher, Assistant Athletics Communication Director
ELKHART, Ind. – Missouri S&T Swimming recorded fourth place in the GLVC Championships for the second time in the last three seasons.
On day one, the only event was the 800-yard freestyle relay. The relay of
Adam Wiedemeier (West Monroe, LA/West Monroe),
Connor Bichsel (Lee's Summit, MO/Lee's Summit West),
Kevin Williams (Houston, TX/Westside) and
Aidan Walters (Olathe, KS/Olathe East) picked up a third-place finish. Their time of 6:31.04 was just behind Indianapolis and Drury.
Bichsel recorded a second-place finish in the 200-yard IM on Wednesday. His time of 1:45.37 broke a school record and put him in second place in the finals. It was his second year in a row he finished in second place at the GLVC Championships 200-yard IM event.
Wiedemeier's 20.33 in the 50-yard freestyle put him in seventh place on Wednesday night. In the 200-yard medley relay,
Oskar Fridsell (Solna, Sweden/Solna Gymnasium),
Jordan Christensen (Coralville, IA/Iowa West),
Oscar Iden (Oslo, Norway/Oslo Private Gymnasium) and
Aidan Walters (Olathe, KS/Olathe East) put up a time of 1:27.85 to finish in fifth place.
On Thursday,
Oscar Iden (Oslo, Norway/Oslo Private Gymnasium) started out the day with a new career-high in the 100-yard butterfly. His time of 47.96 gave him a 10
th place finish. In the 400-yard IM, Bichsel broke a Missouri S&T record, clocking in at 3:47.42 for third place in the event. He broke his previous time of 3:48.75.
In the 200-yard freestyle, Wiedemeier finished in third place with a time of 1:36.23, a new career best. The Miners ended the day with a fourth-place finish in the 400-yard medley relay. Fridsell, Christensen, Iden and Wiedemeier clocked in at 3:13.14 to finish just outside the top three.
Walters started Friday with a career-high 47.55 in the 100-yard backstroke to pick up a fifth-place finish. Fridsell also recorded a career-best in the event with a time of 48.18 and seventh place.
Bichsel broke another Missouri S&T record on Friday, his third of the week. In the 200-yard butterfly, he swam a 1:45.85 to break Andy Huffman's time of 1:46.50. Bichsel recorded fifth place with that time. To end Friday, Wiedemeier, Iden,
Gabriel Peragallo () and Walters recorded a time of 1:20.59 in the 200-yard freestyle relay to pick up fifth place.
Wiedemeier started off Saturday with a 44.39 in the 100-yard freestyle to place in seventh. In the 200-yard breaststroke, Bichsel picked up a second-place finish with a time of 1:56.28. It is his new career high as he finished up the week with three program records broken, four new personal bests and four top three finishes.
To end the championships, the Miners collected fifth place in the 400-yard freestyle relay. Walters, Fridsell, Williams and Wiedemeier tallied a time of 2:57.83 to close out the week.
In total, the #22 Miners finished in fourth place in the GLVC Championships with 844 points. #2 Drury won the championships in front of #6 McKendree and #3 Indianapolis. S&T placed above #9 Lewis by 31.5 points. The Miners last finished in the top four in the 2022-23 season where Bichsel was named the Freshman of the Year and head coach Danny Murphy was selected as the Coach of the Year.
Missouri S&T was awarded the GLVC James R. Spalding Sportsmanship Team Award voted by coaches around the GLVC. Jake Hale was the individual recipient for Missouri S&T.
What's Next
The NCAA will announce participants for the national meet in the coming weeks. The Last Chance Invitational is slated for Feb. 22 at Drury. The NCAA Division II Championships are from Mar. 11-15 in Indianapolis, Ind.
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