[Swimming & Diving] Bees nab national-qualifying spots at first-ever event

It may be cliche, but the St. Ambrose swimming and diving team truly started with a splash. 

A pair of women's divers and two relay teams qualified for the NAIA National Championships as the Bees began their first season as a varsity intercollegiate sport by competing in a pair of duals hosted by Illinois Tech Friday.

Andrea Adam qualified in both the one- and three-meter diving and Taylor Madison advanced in the one-meter event. Adam and Madison finished one-two in diving Friday. Adam won the one-meter with a score of 225.45 with Madison second with a score of 203.05. Then in three-meter diving, Adam won with a score of 197.0 and Madison finished with a 169.30.

The men's and women's 200-yard freestyle relay teams will also be competing at Nationals. The men's team of Josh Fleming, Jason Schuler, Jonathan Whittle and Mitch Berendes took second in a time of 1:31.39 while the women's team of Alexis Hagen, Shelby Thede, Mallory Krpan and Adam were second in 1:51.29.

SAU picked up its first wins of the season, defeating Illinois College. The women won 85-84 while the men won 125-69. Both Bee teams lost to host Illinois Tech - 155-57 on the women's side and 125-78 for the men.

Along with the national-qualifying times, the Bees won several events.

Fleming and Nathan Kuszynski each won two events for the St. Ambrose men. Fleming took the 50-yard freestyle in a time of 22.34 and added a victory in the 100-yard freestyle in 49.57. Kuszynski won both the 500-yard (4:56.83) and 1000-yard freestyle (10:08.24) events.

Alexis Hagen joined Adam as an event winner for the women. Hagen won the 50-yard freestyle in 26.81.

Shraddha Sudhir was the runner-up in both the 500-yard freestyle and 200-yard individual medley in times of 5:49.30 and 2:24.75, respectively.

The Bees will make a little more history next Friday when they host Augustana in a dual beginning at 6 p.m. at the Davenport Central pool. It will be the first home meet for St. Ambrose.