insideSports | March 27, 2025 by Mitchell Republic

IN RARE AIR (AND WATER)

Augie’s Greenwaldt wins All-America honors in two sports

POWERS TITLE CHARGE +

SDSU WOMEN

BATTLE AT NCAAS

LYNX SCORE STATE

TITLE IN CLASS AA

GOODBARY’S BIG EFFORT

RESPECT EARNED: SDSU season ends, legacy grows

10 In RARE air (and water)

Augustana dual-sport star Bryn Greenwaldt

Lynx t ake title glory, Kernels left with agony

Goodbary powers Chargers to title, caps prolific career

EDITOR

MARCUS TRAXLER mtraxler@mitchellrepublic.com

CREATIVE DIRECTOR

SARA LEITHEISER

CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS

MOLLIE BURLINGAME

the team meet the

CONTRIBUTERS

MATT ZIMMER

ADAM THURY

TRENT SINGER

BLAKE DURHAM

LANDON DIERKS

NATHAN SWAFFAR

JUSTIN WICKERSHAM

contributors

MARCUS TRAXLER

Marcus Traxler is the assistant editor and sports editor for the Mitchell Republic. A past winner of the state’s Outstanding Young Journalist award and the 2023 South Dakota Sportswriter of the Year, he’s worked for the newspaper since 2014 and covers a wide variety of topics.

MATT ZIMMER

Matt Zimmer is a Sioux Falls native and longtime sports writer.

He graduated from Washington High School where he played football, legion baseball and developed his lifelong love of the Minnesota Twins and Vikings. After graduating from St. Cloud State University, he returned to Sioux Falls, and began a long career in amateur baseball and sports reporting.

LANDON DIERKS

Dierks covers prep and collegiate athletics across the Mitchell Republic’s coverage region area. He is a Mitchell native who graduated from South Dakota State University with his bachelor’s degree in journalism in May 2020. Dierks joined the Mitchell Republic sports staff in August 2021.

BLAKE DURHAM

Blake Durham is a Sports Reporter for the Mitchell Republic, having joined the newspaper in October of 2023. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire in December of 2022 with a bachelor’s degree in Communications. Durham can be found covering a variety of prep and collegiate sports in the area.

TRENT SINGER

An Iowa native who grew up in the south, Singer is a 2012 graduate of Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tennessee, where he received his bachelor of arts degree in photography with a minor in journalism. Singer was most previously the editor of high school sports at Just Women's Sports and, before that, was a sports reporter and editor at the Southeast Missourian and the Kentucky New Era, respectively.

Augustana’s Bryn Greenwaldt stands on the podium after winning the 50 freestyle at the NCAA Division II Swimming and Diving Championships on Wednesday, March 12, 2025, at IU Natatorium on the campus of IU Indianapolis. Jamie Schwaberow / NCAA Photos via Getty Images

in Brookings Respect Earned

Season ends in Storrs, but the legacy grows

STORRS, Conn. — Three minutes and 38 seconds into their second round NCAA tournament game against 10th-seeded South Dakota State, the No. 3 UConn Huskies still hadn’t scored.

They only trailed 3-0, but the upstart Jackrabbits were showing their mettle and gaining confidence. SDSU was a 29-point underdog, but when a Madison Mathiowetz 3-pointer gave them an 8-2 lead it made it possible to think maybe, just maybe, the Jacks could hang with the second-seeded, 11-time national champions.

That is exactly what legendary Huskies coach Geno Auriemma didn’t want.

“The entire day today, I kept thinking about how we would be able to get some

separation from them,” Auriemma said. “Because of all the teams we’ve played this year, (SDSU’s) sense of who they are, what they’re trying to do, every possession down the floor, how determined they are, is second to none. I knew that was going to be the case. I knew how hard they were going to play, how disciplined they were going to play, how well they execute. I was fearful that the game would be played like it was played that first quarter, that it would be four quarters of that.”

Thanks to Paige Bueckers and a hellacious UConn defense, it wasn’t.

The Huskies (33-3) closed the first quarter on a 15-4 run, then outscored the Jacks 24-14 in the second and 29-8 in the third to put to rest, authoritatively,

any thought of an upset in an eventual 91-57 win.

The Huskies move on to the Sweet 16 for the 31st year in a row. The Jacks season ends at 30-4.

An SDSU win would’ve ranked among the biggest upsets in women’s tournament history. But then, that’s why it didn’t happen — it would’ve been one of the biggest upsets in women’s tournament history.

Perhaps some Jackrabbit fans got caught up in the euphoria of upsetting Oklahoma State in the first round, or the flowering praise Auriemma and Bueckers heaped onto SDSU at their Sunday press conference. Maybe the players even started buying into it, too.

UConn Huskies guard Paige Bueckers (5) drives the ball against South Dakota State Jackrabbits guard Madison Mathiowetz (3) in the first half of a NCAA tournament secondround game on March 24, 2025 at Gampel Pavilion in Storrs, Connecticut.

DAVID BUTLER II / IMAGN IMAGES

MATT ZIMMER Sioux Falls Live

Good. That’s what great teams and great players are supposed to do. Believe they can win and meet the challenge head on.

The Jacks met the challenge head on, but when Bueckers started casually hitting fadeaway jumpers, pull-up 3s and acrobatic layups — at one time making eight consecutive field goals — it served as a smelling-salts moment.

This is UConn. Playing at home. This is Bueckers. Playing in her final game at Gampel Pavilion.

Did anyone really think Paige Freaking Bueckers was going to lose to South Dakota State in the final home game of her career? Yeah, no.

Bueckers had 34 points, tying a career-high. She was 14-of-21 from the floor, dished four assists and nabbed four steals, and had a pair of curtain call moments, as Auriemma pulled her once and then twice late in the game to be recognized by the crowd of 10,299. Bueckers was given a microphone to thank the fans after the game.

“It’s incredible to watch,” teammate Azzi Fudd said of Bueckers. “But you almost feel sorry for the other team because you know when Paige is locked in, there’s nothing you can do to stop her. It doesn’t matter what shot she takes, the ball’s going to go in. I was on the bench getting to watch most of it so that was really fun to just get to watch and see what she does and she makes it look so easy. We have all the trust in the world in her so just got to sit back and enjoy the Paige show.”

The Jacks were ready for that, but even when you think you’re ready for a player like Bueckers, you’re not really ready.

“Yeah, she was special and she’s certainly — I always hate to compare and rank — one of the very best players in the country and certainly will be a great professional,” said Jacks coach Aaron Johnston. “I think we knew that. I don’t know that we were surprised by it, but when someone that good gets to that level, it’s really hard to slow them down. I thought our effort was good. She made a lot of tough pull-up jumpers, made some shots behind screens. Just did things that are really hard to stop. They’re kind of outside of a defensive plan, I thought, but her talent is exceptional and it really shined.”

The Jacks never stopped playing. Paige Meyer, in her final game as a Jackrabbit, kept charging into the lane trying to make something happen, and while that contributed to SDSU’s 25 turnovers, she had 16 points and displayed the toughness, one last time, that made her arguably the most dynamic point guard ever to wear the SDSU uniform.

Brooklyn Meyer struggled with UConn’s interior defense and was limited to four points, but she left an impression, too. Late in the first half she went down with what looked like a badly twisted ankle. As trainers tended to Meyer she insisted to them, through tears, that she was OK, even though she clearly wasn’t. When the Jacks emerged from the locker room for the second half it looked like Meyer wasn’t going to join them. But then she jogged onto the court, told a teammate “I’m good” and finished the game.

The Jacks shot 41 percent for the game and 41 percent from 3. They had a 33-28 rebounding edge. But they could not handle the Huskies’ defensive pressure or slow down an offense that was lightning quick when it wanted to be.

“We came out with a good start,” Paige Meyer said. “I think their pressure kind of got to us that second quarter, just some turnovers, too, that kind of led to some easy baskets for them. They’re a really great team. Wish we could have done some things a little differently but still proud of the effort that the team had out there.”

In the end, the effort is where the Jacks must find solace in their loss to UConn. But for the season as a whole, there was much to celebrate.

It was undoubtedly one of the most successful seasons in SDSU history. They won their 6th NCAA tournament game. There were also wins over Creighton, Oregon and Wisconsin, a third consecutive undefeated conference season.

What’s more, the four teams that beat SDSU all made the NCAA tournament, and three of them (Duke, UConn and Texas) are all still playing.

That adds up to a pretty special year.

“I wish we had practice tomorrow,” said senior forward Kallie Theisen. “I wish we could keep going. But it’s been a great year.”

The final margin, unfortunately, indicates there is still a wide chasm between the No. 3 and No. 23 team in the country. The Jacks have come farther than anyone could’ve reasonably expected when they first took their teams to Division I two decades ago, Johnston’s team farther than any. But the true bluebloods, the ones who play for national championships, still operate on another plane. That doesn’t mean Johnston is going to stop trying to close that gap — he will continue to strive to raise the ceiling on his program, while reminding his players that getting that ceiling where it is right now is worth remembering.

“I’ll tell you what I talked about with the team,” Johnston said. “One, I think in my mind as a coach, you’re always trying to find ways to get better. We want to win these games. I can sit here and say that and that’s a true statement. That is the goal. We have to find a way to continue to play better if we want to advance. I don’t have any problem saying that.

“At the same point,” Johnston continued, “I mentioned to our players afterwards and they talked about it, I heard them say that a few times, as they were young girls, they grew up watching Connecticut. I reminded them that there are young girls at home watching them that want to be Jackrabbits. The takeaway is, yeah, we’re going to figure out some basketball stuff and try to keep moving forward in our plan, but not to forget the impact that our women have on our communities and our state and our young people back home. I think that’s an incredibly powerful statement to kind of be on the stage with a team that’s certainly at a different level right now, both nationally, how they play and the impact they

have but to remind our players they can have that same impact locally and that can be that light for somebody else and that’s a really powerful message, and one that I hope stays with them as they move on.”

South Dakota State Jackrabbits head coach Aaron Johnston reacts from the sideline as his team takes on the UConn Huskies in a NCAA tournament second-round game on March 24, 2025 at Gampel Pavilion in Storrs, Connecticut. DAVID BUTLER II / IMAGN IMAGES

UConn Huskies head coach Geno Auriemma talks to his team from the sideline as they take on the South Dakota State Jackrabbits in a NCAA tournament second-round game on March 24, 2025 at Gampel Pavilion in Storrs, Connecticut. DAVID BUTLER II / IMAGN IMAGES

UConn Huskies guard Paige Bueckers (5) exits the floor after defeating the South Dakota State Jackrabbits of a NCAA tournament second-round game on March 24, 2025 at Gampel Pavilion in Storrs, Connecticut. DAVID BUTLER II / IMAGN IMAGES

LYNX TAKE TITLE GLORY IN REMATCH, LEAVING KERNELS ONLY WITH AGONY

CHAMPIONSHIP OUTCOME FLIPS IN 2025, LEAVING MITCHELL ONE WIN SHORT

Mitchell’s Gavin Hinker (40) has his shot blocked by Brandon Valley’s Austin Dowd and Mach Mayen during the Class AA boys basketball state championship on Saturday, March 22, 2025, at the Summit Arena in Rapid City. ADAM THURY / MITCHELL REPUBLIC

RAPID CITY — Victory and agony traded places on Saturday night.

This time around, it was Brandon Valley that got to enjoy the ecstasy of a Class AA state boys basketball championship. And in a reversal of roles from 2024, it was at Mitchell’s expense in a 53-45 contest at the Summit Arena.

The Lynx got to experience their first state championship in six years, and it was made a little sweeter by the fact that they topped the team that made them feel the pain a year ago when Mitchell won the 2024 title by a single point.

“It was all resiliency and hard work,” said Brandon Valley’s Briggs Knutson, who credited Brandon Valley coach Craig Nelson for putting them in the championship position. “He pushes us all the time and never lets us rest, never lets us settle. ... You go down the list of our leaders, every one of them was just pushing hard all the time to get back here. And we got it done.”

Nelson said he continued to insist to his team to stay in the game and “find a way” to win.

“It’s usually defense and rebounding, but it’s just dudes that are tough, dudes that step up and make plays, they’re just gamers,” Nelson said. “And just every game, every game, find a way.”

The way on Saturday was dynamite 3-point shooting, drilling 10-of-21 3-pointers to beat Mitchell after making only six total 3s in the first two games of the state tournament.

Memories are made in March by the unsung heroes, and Brandon Valley had a few come through in a big way, led by freshman Lincoln McInerney’s two 3-pointers in the third quarter. They were his only points of the tournament and part of a 9-0 punch that staggered the Kernels in a way they were never able to recover from.

“(Lincoln) making those threes totally changed the momentum. It gave us some fire,” Dulaney said. “It gave us some momentum to be able to beat this type of team.”

The irony hurts for Mitchell, which knocked out Sioux Falls Lincoln in the semifinals with the exact same shooting line — 10-for-21 — shooting well above their season average as a subpar 3-point shooting team.

“It’s what’s so hard about basketball. You define a season oftentimes by one game, when there’s just so much more that needs to be said,” Mitchell coach Ryker Kreutzfeldt said. “Had we made a few more shots, we’d be talking about back to back, all this … But we lose the game, and it’s disappointment, and those kids don’t get the feeling of going out with a smile. They don’t get to have that happy moment.”

Mitchell had the lead at halftime 21-19, and the game looked like it would be a battle all the way to the final horn. The Kernels’ senior center Gavin Hinker was huge in the first half with 11 points, but the Lynx clamped down on him in the final 16 minutes of play, holding him to only four points the rest of the way. Markus Talley, the Kernels’ star senior guard, scored 13 points in the game, with 12 in the second half, but the Lynx kept him in check, too.

“It was just a defensive effort, and everyone played their part,” Dulaney said. “Everyone made shots, everyone made stops, everyone was physical. That’s what we have to do to win a game like this.”

For Mitchell, it ends a three-year run driven by Talley — who won the Spirit of Su award on Saturday night as the state tournament’s top senior — and a star player in rare air in Kernel history. Mitchell has won 64 games combined in the last three seasons, reaching the title game all three times but has come away with a single state title.

“We didn’t get the outcome we wanted, and it sucks, I mean, it really kills, but we’re all more sad that it’s the end,” Smith said. “We’ve all worked our tails off from when we were little kids to now, so it’s hard to take in. I’ve been playing with guys like Markus (Talley) and Gavin (Hinker) my whole life, so just seeing it finally come to an end like this, it’s really heartbreaking.”

And the Lynx title was redemption for a program that poured a lot into the 2024 effort, came agonizingly short, and then rallied and did one game better this time around.

“It’s surreal because we lost so much off of last year’s team,” Nelson said. “In the preseason. I don’t think this group was picked to do a whole lot. It’s a sum-of-the-parts-type of team, right? They buy in. They’re so unselfish that it’s a true team victory, these guys coming together and doing what they did.”

Saturday’s title game was also a novelty, the first time since Class AA basketball was created in 1986 that the same two teams have met two years in a row for a state title with two different champions.

“We both are blessed with some dang tough kids and some talented kids,” Kreutzfeldt said of the Mitchell and Brandon Valley programs. “Both these games, it was just two really tough teams. Both of us the last two years can guard. We don’t always score it like crazy, but we guard.”

“It’s crazy. It’s ironic, right? It’s really good basketball,” Nelson said. “Mitchell’s been here three years in a row. That doesn’t happen very often. They’ve got a really good basketball team. We were fortunate to come out on top this time, but that doesn’t take anything away from them.”

Brandon Valley defenders Mach Mayen (3) and Grant Hennen surround Mitchell’s Markus Talley in the Class AA boys basketball state championship game on Saturday, March 22, 2025, at the Summit Arena in Rapid City. ADAM THURY / MITCHELL REPUBLIC

MARCUS TRAXLER Mitchell Republic

" (Lincoln) making those threes totally changed the momentum. It gave us some fire. "

LANDON DULANEY, BRANDON VALLEY

Brandon Valley’s Landon Dulaney rises to attempt a 3-pointer in front of Mitchell’s Markus Talley in the Class AA boys basketball state championship game on Saturday, March 22, 2025, at the Summit Arena in Rapid City.

ADAM THURY / MITCHELL REPUBLIC

SDSU signee was stellar in Class A title game over Hamlin

LEFT: Sioux Falls Christian’s Griffen Goodbary celebrates with his brother, Cooper, after SFC defeated Hamlin 61-51 in the Class A state championship game Saturday, March 22, 2025, at the Denny Sanford Premier Center in Sioux Falls. TRENT SINGER / SIOUX FALLS LIVE

MIDDLE: Sioux Falls Christian’s Griffen Goodbary goes up for a dunk against Hamlin in the Class A state championship game Saturday, March 22, 2025, at the Denny Sanford Premier Center in Sioux Falls. TRENT SINGER / SIOUX FALLS LIVE

RIGHT: Sioux Falls Christian’s Griffen Goodbary works down low against Hamlin’s Zach VanMeeteren in the Class A state championship game Saturday, March 22, 2025, at the Denny Sanford Premier Center in Sioux Falls. TRENT SINGER / SIOUX FALLS LIVE

BY TRENT SINGER Sioux Falls Live

SIOUX FALLS — The lights were never too bright for Griffen Goodbary in Saturday night’s Class A state championship game at the Denny Sanford Premier Center.

That’s not assuming there weren’t any nerves the Sioux Falls Christian senior had to work through either. Prior to the moment he took the opening tip, Goodbary was no different than his teammates in that regard. They’d all been there before — twice actually — but this trip in particular was different.

Back-to-back losses in the Class A final were certainly heartbreaking for SFC, but perhaps those moments were better served as the optimal fuel for the Chargers’ mission throughout the 2024-25 campaign.

There was also some extra motivation for Goodbary, whose younger brother, Cooper,

had gone down with a knee injury two days prior in the fourth quarter of the Chargers’ state quarterfinal game.

For 32 minutes on Saturday night, the fire appeared to be impossible to extinguish.

“Just looking at him on the bench and seeing him in the locker room, he wanted it so bad,” Goodbary said about his brother.

“Playing for him was just an extra motivation I had.”

In the final game of his prep career, the 6-foot-11 South Dakota State signee put on an absolute clinic Saturday night, carrying his teammates along with him.

By the time the game was over, Goodbary had amassed a monster double-double, finishing with 32 points and 15 rebounds. However, the final result — a 61-51 win over the same Hamlin team that ended SFC’s

season a year ago in overtime — was far more important.

Finally, Goodbary and his four senior teammates were able to call themselves state champions for the first time, and the agony of two painful defeats had all but vanished.

“That’s one of the best games I’ve ever seen him play,” said SFC sophomore Brant Wassenaar, who added 11 points in the title-clinching triumph. “Thirty-two and 15, I mean, that’s called putting a team on your back and just going at it.”

An athletic and talented Hamlin side simply had no answer for Goodbary’s size and skill.

Goodbary accounted for 13 of his team’s 18 points in the second quarter alone, allowing SFC to build a nine-point lead at halftime, and he was equally as potent in the second half, during which he notched a 16-minute double-double with 14 points and 10 boards.

But the performance wasn’t all that surprising to Sioux Falls Christian coach Mike Schouten. In the past, Schouten had seen his senior standout’s ability to take control of the game.

This one, though, was special.

“He can carry a team like that, although he knows that he can’t carry them by himself,” Schouten said. “He knew, and we as coaches knew, that he was going to need help. But our guys recognized that they were having a hard time guarding him in the post, so we just kept feeding it to him. And he kept responding, and yet, he was also able to kick it out and find some open teammates and get some assists as well.

“It was just an all-around complete performance from him tonight.”

Goodbary led SFC with three assists, the last of which came with 59 seconds left in the game when he found a cutting Britton Mulder, who knifed his way to the basket for a layup that extended the top seed’s lead to 55-49.

In the end, Goodbary was highly efficient both from the floor, where he went 17-of-21, and at the free-throw line, where he finished 7-of-10.

“He’s the best player in the state. It’s not even close,” Mulder said. “He dominated tonight and showed why he’s going to go play D-I.”

It was Hamlin’s Zach VanMeeteren who was given the tall task of having to guard Goodbary in the post. The 6-6 senior got into some early foul trouble, and Hamlin rarely opted to deploy double teams on Goodbary throughout the game.

Instead, Hamlin presumably wanted to take away the ability of SFC’s elite sharpshooters, which allowed Goodbary to feast on his various mismatches down low.

“[VanMeeteren] had to come out, and right when we saw that, we were like, ‘All right, Griff, take us home,’” Mulder said. “We kept giving it to him, and if he doesn’t like his look, he’s a great passer. He can see us cutting. He found me a couple times, and we just trusted him to make a good play and get a bucket when he needs to.”

Last week, Goodbary repeated his feat as South Dakota Boys Basketball Gatorade Player of the Year. He

is the state’s No. 1 recruit in the 2025 class, according to PrepHoops.

In November, Goodbary signed his National Letter of Intent to join Eric Henderson’s SDSU program, choosing the Jackrabbits over offers from South Dakota and Northeastern (Mass.).

At the college level, Goodbary’s ceiling is certainly high. He’s more than capable of knocking down shots from beyond the arc, which allows him to play as a true stretch four.

While his college days are ahead of him, Goodbary sensed a bittersweet feeling at the conclusion of his final high school game. The joy he shared with his teammates in that moment left a lasting smile on his face that he couldn’t have wiped off if he tried.

At long last, SFC’s mission was complete.

“We kind of had a devotion about it all coming to an end and trusting in God,” Goodbary said. “He brought us all the way here from second grade when we first started playing together.

“It felt pretty special to finish it like this.”

Sioux Falls Christian’s Griffen Goodbary is greeted by teammate Bennett Wassenaar during player introductions prior to the start of the Class A state championship game against Hamlin on Saturday, March 22, 2025, at the Denny Sanford Premier Center in Sioux Falls. TRENT SINGER / SIOUX FALLS LIVE

Sioux Falls Christian’s Griffen Goodbary celebrates with his teammates after defeating Hamlin 61-51 in the Class A state championship game Saturday, March 22, 2025, at the Denny Sanford Premier Center in Sioux Falls. TRENT SINGER / SIOUX FALLS LIVE

Sioux Falls Christian’s Griffen Goodbary is fouled by Hamlin’s Dawson Noem in the Class A state championship game Saturday, March 22, 2025, at the Denny Sanford Premier Center in Sioux Falls. TRENT SINGER / SIOUX FALLS LIVE

Sioux Falls Christian’s Griffen Goodbary hoists up a shot while being guarded by Hamlin’s Dawson Noem in the Class A state championship game Saturday, March 22, 2025, at the Denny Sanford Premier Center in Sioux Falls. TRENT SINGER / SIOUX FALLS LIVE

‘Looking

as cool as possible’

Augustana dual-sport star Bryn Greenwaldt reflects on festival frenzy, twin All-America honors

BY TRENT SINGER

Sioux Falls Live

SIOUX FALLS — In her first two seasons as a collegiate swimmer, Augustana’s Bryn Greenwaldt had worn her distinction as an All-American with pride, but there was another more elite honor she had yet to obtain.

National champion.

This season, Greenwaldt’s pursuit of that title lifted her to new heights. The junior swimmer was named Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Swimmer of the Year for the third year in a row, which served as a prelude to the March 15 whirlwind experience at the NCAA Division II

National Championships Festival in Indianapolis.

Greenwaldt admits the reality of her accomplishment never truly sunk in until she found herself standing atop the podium in the aftermath of her first-place finish in the 50 freestyle, an event in which she was national runner-up in each of her first two seasons.

Following a morning race in the preliminary round in which she became the first Division II swimmer to ever break the 22-second mark in the 50 free, Greenwaldt touched the wall in 22.09 to win the championship final, topping Indy’s Kirabo Namutebi by a mere .15 seconds.

As Greenwaldt stood on the podium with her national championship trophy in hand, tears began streaming down her face.

At long last, her journey had reached a new milestone.

“I have put in so much work and so much effort to have that moment,” Greenwaldt said. “It’s been a goal of mine for as long as I can remember. The 50 has always kind of been my event, so getting to showcase that on a national level and to get to call myself a champion and a national record-holder is something special.

“I never really considered it actually happening.

It was kind of a faraway dream I could think about before I fell asleep, but the fact that it’s actually here and that it happened is way bigger and better than I ever could’ve imagined for myself.”

For Greenwaldt, though, that was simply the start of what turned into a week she’ll never forget.

The Vikings closed out Wednesday’s competition with a fifth-place finish in the 200 medley relay. Greenwaldt led off the race and was joined by teammates Nesrine Jelliti, Angelica Chan and Makoa Montgomery, all of whom earned First Team All-America honors with

a program record time of 1:39.82.

Then, on Friday, Greenwaldt claimed a bronze medal in the 100 backstroke with a time of 52.49 before leading Augustana to a third-place finish in the 200 freestyle relay (1:31.97).

But perhaps her most impressive achievement of the entire trip was what transpired Saturday.

It began with the 100 free prelims, an event in which Greenwaldt swam a school-record time of 49.03 to rank second in the championship final. From there, she left the IU Natatorium on the campus of IU Indianapolis and

traveled 20 minutes to Fall Creek Pavilion on the state fairgrounds, where she earned an All-American finish in the high jump at the D-II Indoor Track and Field Championships with an eighth-place jump of 5 feet, 8 3/4 inches. She then returned to the natatorium, capping off her weekend with an eighthplace finish in the 100 free (49.95).

In total, Greenwaldt earned a national championship and six All-America nods in two separate sports — all in the span of four days.

“The thing about Bryn is she’s very competitive, which is always helpful when it comes to athletics,” AU swimming and

Augustana’s Bryn Greenwaldt reacts after setting a new Division II record in the 50 freestyle prelims at the NCAA Division II Swimming and Diving Championships on Wednesday, March 12, 2025, at IU Natatorium on the campus of IU Indianapolis. PEYTON BARTSCH PHOTOGRAPHY

diving coach Andrew Makepeace said, “but because of that, she’s also going to be very diligent and hardworking in what she’s trying to accomplish both on the track and in the pool. Those things kind of correlate together very nicely when it comes to wanting to be a highly successful athlete in both endeavors.

“She’s willing to put the work in the pool, in the weight room and on the track, as well as all the other activities that go along with being a successful athlete. … She’s obviously very talented, but she hasn’t even really scratched her potential, which I think is the most exciting thing for her moving forward.”

‘OH MY GOSH, I JUST DID THAT‘

It’s likely a misconception to assume that Greenwaldt’s headspace is ultimately what sets her apart from others in her craft.

Then again, perhaps it isn’t.

In an attempt to illustrate this conundrum, Greenwaldt shares an anecdote from a conversation she once had with an assistant coach who was trying to gauge what goes through her head before her races.

“Bryn, what do you think about right before you swim?” the coach inquired.

“Looking as cool as possible,” Greenwaldt quipped.

A self-professed “over-thinker,” Greenwaldt has discovered a solitude amid the frenzy of competition, allowing her to eliminate any nerves that might linger in the final moments before her feet leave the ground.

Ahead of her bold undertaking last week, the logistics were an afterthought. More than anything, she was just excited about the thought of competing.

“That was pretty much the extent of it,” said Greenwaldt, who hails from Foley, Minnesota. “It wasn’t until we got there and I showed up for prelims that day that I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, we’ve got a long week ahead of us.’

“I was definitely trying to take it as it came. The whole picture definitely would’ve overwhelmed me, but I was kind of able to take

it one by one, which I feel like really helped.”

In the heat of the moment, Greenwaldt’s history-making time in the 50 free prelims on Wednesday morning was entirely unexpected. As she made her tumble turn in the race, she felt as if she was moving through the water at a slow pace. Her hope was that it was at least good enough to earn a spot in the finals.

“Then I touched the wall and looked up, and it was a huge PR, national record, my first time breaking 22 [seconds] — something I’d been chasing for however long I can remember,” Greenwaldt said. “It was definitely very surreal.”

She calls it a “toxic trait,” but not even the official time that was posted — “21.92,” it read — was enough to convince her.

“I just think the clock is conveniently wrong every single time I get a [personal record],” Greenwaldt said. “It took until everyone started freaking out for me to realize, ‘Oh my gosh, I just did that.’

“I don’t even have words to describe how it felt because it was probably the most rewarding and proud of anything I’d ever done in my entire life.”

Greenwaldt’s eventful day, though, was far from finished. She still needed to recollect herself for the championship final later in the evening.

Recently, she made a switch to swimming the 50 free with no breath. In order to do that, she must wear a nose clip to prevent herself from losing air on the flip turn.

As she stood behind her starting block for the 50 free final, she was excited and nervous. Suddenly, she realized she was missing her nose clip, which was nowhere to be found.

“The people are all standing behind the blocks. I’m in the ready room. My nose clip is on the ground, and I grab it and get to my block,” Greenwaldt said. “There wasn’t much thinking before my race at all except for, ‘Where is my nose clip? I have no clue where it is.’”

" It took until everyone started freaking out for me to realize, ‘Oh my gosh, I just did that."

BRYN GREENWALDT

For Greenwaldt, the lead-up to every big race is often an anxiety-riddled affair. Her nerves will rattle her to the point of nearly wanting to vomit, but by the time the event arrives, she always seems to collect herself and find an inner-peace.

Wednesday’s championship final was no different.

“Warming up was terrifying. Getting my suit on, I was so nervous. I felt like I was going to throw up everywhere,” Greenwaldt said, “and then even just walking over, I was like, ‘OK, we’re going to do this, and it’s going to be great.’

“It was super fun obviously.”

UNFORGETTABLE

SATURDAY

Competing in two Division II championships on the same day was something that had been on Greenwaldt’s radar for quite some time, and it all boiled down to preparation.

The D-II festival in Indianapolis offered that opportunity, and for the last two years, Makepeace and the Vikings’ track and field coaches had been able to iron out the logistics on exactly how Greenwaldt would

be able to pull it off. However, it wasn’t until last year that it became a realistic possibility.

Makepeace’s wife, Bree, is a jump coach by trade. In May 2023, Andrew was hired as the university's swimming and diving coach, allowing Bree the opportunity to step into a role as jump coach for the track and field team.

It didn’t take long for Bree to recognize Greenwaldt had more potential than she had likely realized. As a sophomore in 2023-24, Greenwaldt competed in her first indoor track and field season at AU, finishing first in the high jump (1.74 meters) at the NSIC indoor championships one week removed from a conference swim meet in which she swept every one of her events.

A month later, Greenwaldt was competing at the University of South Dakota Challenge when Andrew received a call from his wife.

“She goes, ‘Well, I have good news and bad news,’” Andrew said. “She was like, ‘The good news is Bryn just qualified for high jump nationals.’”

With another jump of 1.74 meters, Greenwaldt had qualified to compete in the D-II Outdoor Track and Field Championships. The only problem was she had already qualified for the U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials, so the focus at the time was elsewhere.

However, the opportunity to compete on the national stage was too good for Greenwaldt to forgo. Her focus shifted back to the high jump, and in May 2024, Greenwaldt took seventh in the event at the national outdoor championships in Emporia, Kansas.

“Because of that, it kind of heightened what she’s capable of,” Andrew said. “She saw that then in the outdoor national championships that she could actually do both the swimming and the high jump at the same meet at the same time.”

The experience, though, left a sour taste in Greenwaldt’s mouth. With her parents in the stands, she says her high jump was one of the worst performances she’d had at a meet at any point in her life.

“Now you’re heartbroken because you just spent all

this time and all this effort and didn’t get to really show off what you worked for,” Greenwaldt said.

A little less than a year later, Greenwaldt’s chance at redemption arrived in Indy.

Her strenuous Saturday began with a prelim race in the 100 free, after which she headed to the indoor championships, where she arrived around 2 p.m. local time. After a couple hours of warming up, Greenwaldt did her high jump between 4 and 5 p.m. but was forced to wait around in order to avoid getting disqualified from the event.

Back at the natatorium, the Vikings’ swim coach was taking every measure he possibly could to ensure time wasn’t going to ensnare his star swimmer.

“I’m on our swimming and diving committee,” Makepeace said. “I told our committee, ‘Hey, if we could push back her event, would that be possible?’ They were like, ‘We’ll work through that as it has to come to be,’ which it never did, but at the same token, it’s nice to have people that would help you out in a pinch.”

Carrying a realistic approach into her high jump, Greenwaldt says she didn’t really have any expectations. She simply wanted to have fun and perform the best she possibly could.

“High jump is a very leg-intensive, explosive sport, and on day four of a swim meet where I’m doing a full lineup, my legs are not going to be at their best capacity,” Greenwaldt said. “I went into it thinking, ‘This is a great experience. This is super fun.’”

After earning an All-American nod in the high jump, Greenwaldt was about to head back to the natatorium to compete in the 100 free final when she ran into another issue.

Before leaving, she was subjected to a drug test. Greenwaldt had already been drug-tested twice for swimming, so Makepeace decided to make a phone call to see if he could explain the situation.

“I basically just said, ‘Hey, she’s already been drug-tested twice. If she gets drug-tested here, she’s going to be here for 45 minutes and is going to miss her event. What can we do?’” the coach said. “The easy

Augustana’s Bryn Greenwaldt reacts after completing the high jump at the NCAA Division II Indoor Track and Field Championships on Saturday, March 16, 2025, at Fall Creek Pavilion in Indianapolis. CONTRIBUTED / AUGUSTANA ATHLETICS

Thankfully for Greenwaldt, the NCAA allowed her to pass on the test in order to get back to the natatorium on time. She arrived just before the start of the men’s mile race, which preceded the 100 free final.

“I was so confused. I was like, ‘Why is everyone so stressed?’” Greenwaldt said. “Well, it’s because I almost missed my race.”

“I talked to our track staff and said, very simply, ‘It doesn’t matter if it’s not going to work perfectly. It’s got to work because this is so unique and such a cool opportunity,’” Makepeace said. “We kind of left it at that and worked through the logistics.”

"THE SKY'S THE LIMIT" Greenwaldt’s talent as a dual-sport athlete is something that’s increasingly hard to find in today’s day and age.

More and more, athletes are gravitating toward specific sports at a young age rather than sampling in other sports to seek out talents they might not know existed.

In the past, Makepeace has coached others who have taken part in multiple sports at the college level, but none of those athletes have competed in their sports during the same season, putting Greenwaldt in a unique class of her own.

“To see her pull it off and to pull it off with, honestly, such grace and such passion and such positivity, it’s been a lot of fun,” Makepeace said. “I think the biggest thing is I don’t know how long she's able to compete at this level and in these events, so the unique part of her situation needed to be kind of recognized and identified.

“It was like, ‘You’ve just got to do it. If you can do this, why not?’”

Although the work has been arduous, Greenwaldt has never appeared to lose her joy. In order to take advantage of the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity at the D-II festival, she approached her training during the summer with a different tenacity.

For the bulk of her summer, Greenwaldt worked out three times a day for at least five days a week. Most of those days consisted of CrossFit training in the morning, followed by two to three hours of high jumping before wrapping up with a session in the weight room.

“I feel like I was a lot more intentional with every single practice this year, as well as adding the extra ones,” Greenwaldt said. “It definitely changed the way I was able to add more endurance through both sports, as well as explosiveness and strength and stuff like that. I really feel like it helped me to be more prepared.”

Perhaps fate is what ultimately led Greenwaldt to AU.

Growing up, she always knew she wanted to take the Division II route. In high school, she began researching potential D-II schools, and eventually, she stumbled upon Augustana.

Coincidentally, her high school swim coach was a former roommate of Robin Morton, whose husband is Vikings athletic director Josh Morton, so immediately, there was a connection.

“Augustana is four and a half hours away from my house, which means it’s far enough that I’m not expected to come home every weekend and not too far so that I can come home if I need to,” Greenwaldt said. “It was a perfect distance.

“Obviously the academics are great. The coaching staff was really on board with me doing swimming and track, which was so important to me. Obviously it worked out really well. Overall, I just really enjoyed the teams here. I really enjoyed the campus, and everything seemed to work out.”

It should also come as no surprise that Greenwaldt excels in the classroom as much as she does as a dual-sport athlete. She’ll be graduating early with a double

major in accounting and business administration.

The future, though, remains a blank canvas for Greenwaldt. With cuts to Division I programs looming ahead that are sure to alter the D-II landscape, she plans to take some time to re-evaluate what she wants her final college season to look like.

“I’m definitely setting higher goals for myself,” Greenwaldt said. “I’ve never been a person to hit a goal and then kind of stop, but as far as the future, I just want to continue to get better, continue to work hard and continue enjoying the sport.”

As for Greenwaldt’s ceiling, Makepeace says there doesn’t appear to be much definition.

Two years ago, he told his star swimmer she was going to qualify for the Olympic Trials. It was a prediction that proved to be true last summer when Greenwaldt found herself standing among the country’s top swimmers at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

“She kind of looked at me like I was crazy,” Makepeace said. “I was just like, ‘I’m serious,’ and then she did it. And after two weeks of training after her outdoor national high jump last year, she still got top 60 in the nation in the 50 freestyle. That’s just one of her events. I think she could qualify in the Olympic trials for three events, and then in those, I don’t know. I told her, ‘In the next cycle, if you keep swimming and make this a career, you should definitely be in the conversation for finaling, and if you’re in the conversation for finaling at the U.S. Olympic Trials, you’re probably in the conversation of being one of the best swimmers in the world.’

“If that can happen and she has joy in it and can continue to be positive about what she’s capable of doing and seeing it, the sky’s the limit. I think that’s what’s really cool and unique about her is that there’s nothing stopping her potential or limiting what she’s capable of doing.”

" I’m definitely setting higher goals for myself."