SOUIX CITY, Iowa - The Gustavus Adolphus College women's swimming and diving team opened their 2026-27 season on Saturday with a pair of competitions: a dual against the Morningside University Mustangs, winning 111-86, and a triangular against the University of St. Thomas Tommies and the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Phoenix.
 
Dual: Morningside
 
The Gusties won four of the five freestyle swims. Emily Foster was victorious in the 200 free (2:06.88) and the 500 free (5:44.16). Avery Fallon won the 50 free with a time of 26.02. Greer Johnes placed first in the 1000 free, winning with a time of 12:14.81. Kaia Churness followed Foster in the 200 free as the runner-up with a time of 2:08.08. Ava Fox had the top Gustavus time in the 100 free, placing fourth at 1:01.42.
 
Kaitlyn Woodford was the 100 backstroke, swimming the race in 1:08.77.
 
Fox led the Gusties in the 100 breaststroke, finishing as the runner-up with a 1:17.42 time.
 
Kate Schiller placed second in both the 100 butterfly (1:06.93) and the 200 IM (2:30.96) for Gustavus.
 
The Gusties were the runners-up in both the 200 medley relay (2:02.87) and the 200 freestyle relay (1:49.90).
 
Triangular: St. Thomas, UW-Green Bay
 
Bella Imholte was the runner-up in the 500 freestyle (5:20.74) and placed fourth in the 200 freestyle (1:57.51) for Gustavus. Annika Beck placed third in the 1000 free at 11:00.83. Katleyn Siers and Leah Felton had the top Gustie finishes in the 50 free (24.76) and 100 free (55.11) respectively, placing fifth and eighth.
 
Madison Witte had two top-three finishes in the butterfly events, placing second in the 100 (59.65) and third in the 200 (2:13.05). She also had the top Gustavus finish in the 200 IM, placing eighth (2:16.76).
 
In the backstroke events, Siers finished as the runner-up in the 100 (58.38). Felicia Symreng had the top GAC result in the 200, placing seventh at 2:14.16.
 
Audrey Tate had two top-five finishes in the breaststroke events, placing third in the 100 (1:07.19) and fifth in the 200 (2:32.16).
 
Kennedy Clements placed fourth in the 1-meter dive with a score of 187.90.
 
Gustavus placed third in both the 200 medley relay (1:48.24) and the 400 freestyle relay (3:36.16).

Coach Quote
 
"I was very pleased with the performances this weekend, both at Morningside and up at St. Thomas," said Gustavus head coach Jon Carlson. "I think the swimmers down at Morningside did a great job, especially for being the first meet of the year. The men had some great racing and the women came out on top, which when we're a split squad I didn't quite expect so I was very pleased with their performances up at St. Thomas."
 
"It's always great when you get an opportunity to compete against Division I teams," said Carlson. "We had some good racing against a lot of very top end swimmers, and I think it gets the team excited to know that they can stay with some swimmers that are going very fast, especially for how early we are in the season. I'm looking forward to the pentathlon next weekend and the rest of the fall season to see if we can build off what we did this past weekend."
 
Up Next
 
The Gusties host their Alumni/Intrasquad Pentathlon on Saturday, October 10.