ABERDEEN, S.D. - Concordia St. Paul's swim and dive team opened the season against Northern State, Southwest Minnesota State and the University of Mary in relay competition on Friday night at the Aberdeen YMCA.
 
The Golden Bears will return to action at 10:30 a.m. tomorrow morning at the Aberdeen YMCA in double-dual action against Mary and NSU. CSP will have divers compete for the first time in program history at the event.
 
"The coaching staff is extremely proud of the way the team put forth a unified approach to racing this evening," commented head coach Rachel Busch. "We had solid swims throughout the evening and are looking forward to another day of competing tomorrow."
 
After 11 events, the Southwest Minnesota State Mustangs stood atop the leader board with 106 points, followed by the Northern State Wolves with 104 points. Mary and CSP were neck in neck in the final standings, but the Marauders were able to edge the Golden Bears by only a pair of points with 88 total.
 
Concordia finished with four runner-up finishes with several newcomers contributing to the success in the opening meet.
 
In the 3x100 breaststroke relay, the team of Charly Horn, Sierra Sherry and Laura Vekony added the first 10 points of the meet after topping Mary and NSU by less than a second.
 
The second runner-up finish was in the 400-medley relay. Freshman Sophie Leo was accompanied by veterans Horn, Chloe Rihon and Farida Maher in a nail-biting finish that saw them fall by less than two seconds to Northern State.
 
The team of Marianna Perna, Sierra Sherry and Maher added another 10 points in the 3x500 freestyle relay, while Savanna Honan, Horn, Zoe Hiers and Rihon added the final second-place finish of the night with a time of 4:31.15 in the 400 medley IM relay.
 
Relay Results
2nd - 3x100 Yard Breaststroke Relay, 3:49.89 (Charly Horn, Sierra Sherry, Laura Vekony)
2nd - 400 Yard Medley Relay, 4:13.80 (Sophie Leo, Charly Horn, Chloe Rihon, Farida Maher)
2nd - 3x500 Yard Freestyle Relay, 17:23.75 (Marianna Perna, Sierra Sherry, Farida Maher)
2nd - 400 Yard Medley IM Relay, 4:31.15 (Savanna Honan, Charly Horn, Zoe Hiers, Chloe Rihon)
3rd - 3x100 Yard Butterfly Relay, 3:13.25 (Rebecca Hildebrand, Savanna Honan, Farida Maher)
3rd - 3x100 Yard Backstroke Relay, 3:08.64 (Chloe Rihon, Marianna Perna, Sophie Leo)
3rd - 800 Yard Freestyle Relay, 9:03.56 (Giulia Cury, Zoe Hiers, Deanna Ringler, Emma Granovsky)
3rd - 200 Yard Freestyle Relay, 1:54.34 (Caitlyn Greenwalt, Giulia Cury, Deanna Ringler, Zoe Hiers)
4th - 500 Yard Freestyle Relay (A), 5:09.48 (Emma Granovsky, Rebecca Hildebrand, Sierra Sherry, Marianna Perna)
4th - 400 Yard Freestyle Relay, 3:53.22 (Emma Granovsky, Sophie Leo, Giulia Cury, Rebecca Hildebrand)
6th - 500 Yard Freestyle Relay (B), 5:30.21 (Caitlyn Greenwalt, Deanna Ringler, Laura Vekony, Savanna Honan)