ST. PAUL, Minn. - Concordia-St. Paul swimming and diving will conclude the regular season with a double-dual on Senior Day against No. 24 Minnesota State and Division I St. Thomas this Saturday at 1 p.m.
 
"We are so excited to mark another day in the history books by honoring our program's first graduate, Laura Vekony," head coach Rachel Busch commented. "She is a founding member of this team and we are grateful for her leadership and resilience in helping build Golden Bear swim and dive."
 
DIRECTIONS
The double-dual will be held at two locations, splitting up the swimming and diving events. St. Thomas men's swimming and diving will also compete in separate scoring events at each location.
 
Swimming will occur at Two Rivers Aquatic Center in Mendota Heights, Minnesota [Directions ] [ 1897 Delaware Ave, Mendota Heights, MN 55118].
 
Diving has been relocated to the Butler Center on the campus of the St. Catherine University in St. Paul, Minnesota [Directions] [2004 Randolph Ave, St Paul, MN 55105].
 
MEET INFORMATION
The meet will be scored as a double-dual. Only two relay teams are eligible to score points, and only three individuals per team can score in individual events.
 
Swimming at 1:00 p.m.                                  

• Women's 200 Medley Relay
• Men's 200 Medley Relay
• Women's 1,000 Freestyle
• Men's 1,000 Freestyle
• Women's 200 Freestyle
• Men's 200 Freestyle
• Women's 100 Backstroke
• Men's 100 Backstroke
• Women's 100 Breaststroke
• Men's 100 Breaststroke
• Women's 200 Butterfly
• Men's 200 Butterfly
• Women's 50 Freestyle
• Men's 50 Freestyle
• Women's 100 Freestyle
• Men's 100 Freestyle
• Women's 200 Backstroke
• Men's 200 Backstroke
• Women's 200 Breaststroke
• Men's 200 Breaststroke
• Women's 500 Freestyle
• Men's 500 Freestyle
• Women's 100 Butterfly
• Men's 100 Butterfly
• Women's 200 IM
• Men's 200 IM
• Women's 200 Freestyle Relay
• Men's 200 Freestyle Relay

 
Diving at 1:15 p.m. (St. Kate's)

• Women's 3-Meter Diving
• Men's 3-Meter Diving
• Women's 1-Meter Diving
• Women's 1-Meter Diving

 
SENIOR DAY RECOGNITION
Following the 100-yard butterfly events, the Golden Bears will honor their first senior in program history, Laura Vekony. The Budapest, Hungary native has significantly impacted the program with numerous team contributions and school record finishes.
 
In the 2021-22 season, she made history by becoming the first CSP swimmer to score points at the NSIC Championships. She added a pair of top-15 finishes at the NSIC Championship to finish third on the team with seven points to help the Golden Bears reach their best finish at the conference tournament last season.
 
During the senior recognition, CSP swimming and diving will also honor Minnesota State and St. Thomas seniors.
 
LAST TIME OUT
Dragon Invite: 2nd of 6 | 880.5 Points
Concordia-St. Paul swimming and diving collected their best finish in program history at the Dragon Invite after collecting 880.5 points to finish second behind the St. Cloud State Huskies.
 
Caitlyn Greenwalt shined at the meet with a pair of first-place finishes in the diving competition. The sophomore scored 375.15 in the one-meter dive to best Zoe Bjerke (323.15) and Isabelle Johnson (305.60) of MSU Moorhead. She completed the sweep with a strong performance on Saturday night after finishing with a score of 412.25 in the three-meter dive ahead of Isabelle Johnson (338.85) and Zoe Bjerke (321.45) of MSU Moorhead.
 
Freshman Sophie Leo also had an impressive showing at the Dragon Invite for the Golden Bears. She collected six top-10 finishes on the weekend, with two of her finishes being first-place finishes in the 50-yard backstroke and 50-yard freestyle.
 
Farida Maher also contributed strongly to points scoring with a first-place finish in the 1650-freestyle. In addition, on the second day of competition, she added three second-place finishes in the 100, 500 and 100-yard freestyle and a third-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle.
 
With three teams eligible to compete in the relay races, the Golden Bears added numerous top-10 finishes that played a pivotal role in their second-place finish at the invite.
 
In the opening event of the meet, the Golden Bears collected a pair of top-10 finishes in the 200-yard medley relay after the team of Leo, Charly Horn, Rebecca Hildebrand and Maher finished third, and the team of Chloe Rihon, Sierra Sherry, Marianna Perna and Emma Granovsky finished seventh.
 
Friday's session ended with the 200-yard freestyle relay. The team of Maher, Hildebrand, Granovsky and Leo battled to finish runner-up in the race, while Giulia Cury, Savanna Honan, Sherry and Rihon's team added a ninth-place finish.
 
The first relay of the Saturday session was the 800-yard freestyle relay. The Golden Bears collected a pair of top-10 finishes after the team of Perna, Maher, Rihon and Leo finished third, followed by Horn, Sherry, Granovsky and Hildebrand's team that finished eighth.
 
The Golden Bears added two more top-10 finishes in the 400-yard medley relay, as Leo, Horn, Honan and Maher finished third, and the team of Perna, Rihon, Hildebrand and Granovsky finished seventh.
 
The final event of the meet was the 400-yard freestyle relay. Maher, Granovsky, Rihon and Leo's team posted a fifth-place finish, while the team of Horn, Perna, Zoe Hiers and Hildebrand added an eighth-place finish.
 
HISTORY AGAINST MSU
The two programs are meeting for the third time in dual competition dating back to October 15, 2021, and MSU holds a 3-0 all-time advantage. In the inaugural meeting between the two squads, the Mavericks were able to notch a 239-62 victory in Mankato. Last season, in the first CSP swimming and diving meet at Two Rivers Aquatic Center, Minnesota State won by a final score of 195-65. Earlier this season, the Golden Bears improved significantly after claiming their best finish, 230-112. Greenwalt and Maher claimed first place in all of their events to lead the Golden Bears.
 
ABOUT THE MAVERICKS
Minnesota State finished 7-1 last season in dual action and was picked to finish second with 56 points and a pair of first-place votes in the NSIC Preseason Coaches' Poll. They finished the 2022-23 campaign as the runners-up at the NSIC Championship behind Augustana (S.D.) with 969 points.
 
The Mavericks are currently 6-1 this season after a dominant performance last weekend against Southwest Minnesota State, where they defeated the Mustangs, 221-65.
 
MSU's lone blemish this season in dual competition occurred in their season opener against Division I South Dakota after they fell to the Coyotes, 192-108. Since then, they have collected victories against Concordia-St. Paul, Southwest Minnesota State (2x), St. Kate's, Gustavus Adolphus and Wisconsin-Stevens Points.
 
HISTORY AGAINST UST
The Golden Bears and Tommies will meet for the first time in a dual format on Saturday. However, the two programs crossed paths last season at the Roger Ahlman Invite. UST finished third with 549 points, and CSP finished fourth with 309 points at the invite. Maher led the Golden Bears with 45 points after collecting a pair of top-three finishes, while Horn added 42 points and set a new personal best time of 5:00.38 in the 400-yard IM in a fourth-place finishing effort.
 
ABOUT THE TOMMIES
St. Thomas finished 1-6 last season in dual action and was picked to finish sixth with 17 points in the Summit League Preseason Coaches' Poll. They concluded the 2022-23 campaign with a sixth-place finish at the Summit League Championships with 219 points.
 
The Tommies are 1-4 this season after falling to Omaha (Neb.) on December 9, 206-113, last time out.
 
In their season opener, they collected their lone dual victory of the season against Wisconsin-Green Bay, 172.5-126.5. Since then, they have fallen to Augustana (S.D.), South Dakota, St. Cloud State and Omaha (Neb.).