SCSU Sending 12 Athletes to National NCAA Swim, Dive Meet

ST. CLOUD (WJON News) -- One of the top swimming and diving programs in all of Division II college sports is right here in St. Cloud.

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St. Cloud State Swim & Dive has 12 athletes qualified for 21 events at the 2026 NCAA Division-II Men’s and Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships

The meet will take place Tuesday, March 10th, through Saturday, March 14th in Evansville, Indiana.

Junior Lance Godard started his collegiate career at Lindenwood University in St. Louis, Missouri. But, he found himself looking for a new team when the school cut the program along with 10 other sports teams. Godard says he and three other swimmers from Lindenwood all decided to stick together and committed to St. Cloud as a group.

When we came on a recruiting trip, the swimmers, the team, the atmosphere, there was chemistry within the team, and of course, Coach Hegle was super inviting and kind to all of us, and made it feel like home.

This season is Godard's second year on the St. Cloud State University swim team. He went to nationals last year with a 4th-place finish in a relay, 8th place in the 100 butterfly, and 9th in the 200 butterfly. This year, he's competing in three individual events and the relays.

Junior Reid Tigges is from Spencer, Iowa. He says he's enjoyed being a part of the strong program at St. Cloud State.

It's been a competitive environment with a lot of good swimmers here.  There's been a lot of good swimmers here my whole time that I've been here, but you can see the three years I've been here, we seem to get better every year.

Tigges also qualified for nationals last year. His goal is a top-eight finish in the 50 freestyle. He's also competing in the 100 freestyle.

20-21 men per event are invited to the national meet.

The St. Cloud State men finished 8th at nationals last year with five competitors. With 10 men going this year, they are eyeing a top-four finish, which would get them on the podium with a trophy.

Abriella Werner and Karlie Woodall have both qualified in the one-meter dive and the three-meter dive. Werner is a sophomore from Soldotna, Alaska. After competing in gymnastics at a young age, injuries forced her to switch to diving in high school. However, since her school didn't have a diving program, she and her mom learned the sport by watching YouTube videos. Werner says the two years on the Huskies team have been a great learning experience.

I'm really happy with the progress that I've made.  Just having specific corrections, I'm really grateful for what my mom did, but she wasn't able to look at a dive and know exactly what to fix.

Werner has qualified for nationals each of her two years at SCSU.

SCSU MEN AT NATIONALS:

SCSU WOMEN AT NATIONALS:

• Abriella Werner – 1-meter dive, 3-meter dive
• Karlie Woodall – 1-meter dive, 3-meter dive

Nationally, the SCSU men enter the NCAA meet ranked 11^th in the College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) Top 25, while the SCSU women rank 21^st.