ST. PAUL, Minn. - This Saturday, the Concordia-St. Paul swim team looks to continue its development in year two with a trip to Marshall, Minnesota to compete against Southwest Minnesota State and Augsburg University at the SMSU Triangular.

The event at Don Palm Natatorium is expected to start at 1 p.m. and will be streamed by SMSU on the NSIC Network. All events streamed on the NSIC Network (nsicnetwork.com/cspbears) are available in multiple formats: on your laptop/desktop computers, or by downloading the NSIC Network app on your mobile device or tablet. The NSIC Network is also support by multiple OTT providers such as Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV and Android TV. Just search "NSIC Network" and download the app for the league's full offering of streaming services! NSIC NETWORK FAQ

"I am excited to see the girls return to competition, as it's been three weeks since our last competition, at the Hamline Invite," said head coach Rachel Busch. "I am eager to see how the team's times and endurance have improved since our last meet. Most girls have at least one event on their list that they haven't competed in yet this season. One of those events is the 400 IM, which we haven't seen in a meet line-up yet this year."

The Golden Bears have bumped into the Mustangs once already this season at the MSU Double Dual in Mankato, Minnesota and produced a season-high 82 points against the Mustangs on October 15, nearly a month ago in the second competition of the season.

"We have raced against SMSU already this year at MSU (Mankato), so there is some familiarity with their team," said Coach Busch. She continued, "Coupled with the anticipation of swimming against a team we haven't raced before, Augsburg University, this will surely be a fun and competitive meet."

In that event, Farida Maher captured a pair of first place finishes in the 1000 and 500 yard freestyle events, winning the 1000 yard by 43 seconds. She also produced the top time in the first leg of the 200 yard freestyle relay (25.30) among the nine leadoff swimmers.

In that same event, Sydney Fleming had a fifth place run in a field of 14 competitors in the 100 yard backstroke and Stephanie De Leon took seventh of 12 in the 100 yard butterfly, just 0.43 ahead of teammate Laura Vekony in ninth in a tight finish.

The Golden Bears are also looking to see Charly Horn continue with her impressive early season performances, "Charly has been making considerable improvements in her freestyle, consistently dropping time each week we conduct a test set. It will be fun to watch her race in the 200 free tomorrow at SMSU, as well as the 500 free next week at the Augustana Invite," concluded Busch.

This marks the fourth competition for the program this season, its first full season of competition following the abbreviated 2020-21 inaugural year that was cut short due to the challenges of competing during the evolving COVID-19 pandemic.