ROCHESTER, Minn. --- The Minnesota State women's swimming and diving team turned in more solid performances Saturday evening as the Mavericks finished first at the Rochester Invitational.

In total, the Mavericks recorded 1,820.5 points. Augustana finished second with 1,699 points, while St. Cloud took third place with 1,491 points.

"The team had a great meet in Rochester this week," head coach Nathan Owens said. "This was our first championship format with morning prelims and evening finals. It was also our first meet suited up in tech suits. Overall, the coaching staff was very pleased with so many outstanding performances including season best times, several lifetime PR's, top-10 all-time program performances and NCAA provisional cuts.
 
"Our divers had another great meet with some truly special performances and clean diving. The swimmers had the their best and most complete meet of the season. We had a lot of ladies make it back into scoring swims which was awesome. Performing well at this meet helps set our team up for a good second half of the year. Everyone should be excited."
 
Freshman Savannah Acker won the 200 backstroke event with a time of 2:02.72, while her teammates Teresa Collingwood and Ellie Ricken followed in second and third with times of 2:03.74 and 2:05.02, respectively.

Freshman Averi Larsen finished second in the 100 freestyle event with a time of 51.40, while junior Megan Schultz took fourth place in the 200 breaststroke event with a time of 2:24.02.

Freshman Kaylie Gibbs led the way for the Mavericks in the 1,650 freestyle as she took second place with a time of 17:33.17.

Junior Kolby Schendel finished fourth in the 100 IM event with a time of 59.88, while sophomore Gretta Hansen claimed a third place finish in the 200 butterfly with a time of 2:08.48.

MSU finished the invitational with a second place finish in the 400 freestyle relay as the team of Larsen, graduate student Elise Mishmash, Acker and freshman Sydney Pippert posted a time of 3:29.56.

Minnesota State begins its winter break training trip on Dec. 30. The Mavericks return to competition on Jan. 18 as they host Augustana in a dual at Highland Pool at 1 p.m.