The Hamline University Men’s and Women’s Swim and Dive programs wrapped up a busy weekend at the Roger Ahlman Invite. Across two days of focused racing, strong relay efforts and standout individual performances, the Pipers showed up to Riley Pool, the home pool for Macalester, ready to dive into competition.

The men put together a series of gritty swims throughout the meet, but ended the weekend finishing third out of the four teams competing. Their 322 points were gathered through several impressive individual performances and relay squads that continued to improve in both speed and cohesion.

Individual performances include senior diver Kevin Bossou, who scored first in both the one meter dive and the three meter dive, earning Hamline 40 total points between the two dives.

Other performances include sophomore Gus Shaffer, who scored fourth in the men’s 100 yard backstroke with a time of 58.90, earning Hamline another 15 points, and first-year Jackson Ling who finished fourth in the 1650 yard freestyle, hustling to a 18:11.33 finish time.

In relays, the Pipers finished seventh out of eight in the 200 yard freestyle relay. They were led by sophomore Manny Porscher, followed by first-year Andy DeClue, sophomore Tristan Popa and first-year Ling. While this performance might not have finished in the way the Pipers hoped, they were still able to earn their team 32 points.

The women battled through deep fields of competitors and delivered a number of impressive swims that earned them third place out of six, tallying 401 points on the Invite.

Sophomore Ryann Hopp finished in sixth out of 29 in the Women’s 50 yard freestyle, clocking in with a time of 25.94. In the 100 yard backstroke, sophomore Ellsa Sorenson-Wagner finished second, recording an impressive finish time of 1:01.67.

For relay races, Hamline came in sixth out of nine teams in the 400 yard freestyle relay. Diving in first was graduate student Nicole Phillips, followed by first-year and Oracle staff member Megan Gunderson, sophomore Cori Dawson and senior Brooke Fredrick. The team was able to finish with a time of 4:04.42, earning the Pipers 32 points from the race.

Following the Roger Ahlman Invite, the Pipers will look ahead to their next meet, their Winter Opener taking place on Jan. 3. With the Pipers at the halfway point of their seasons, each program still has tons of room for improvement, and are remaining level-headed and optimistic.