Martin Pozniak wasted no time busting onto the scene during his freshman season.

The Illinois native was named the WAC swimmer of the week two weeks in a row, the second honor coming for the week of Oct. 6-12 after his stellar performance at South Dakota State on Oct. 12. Pozniak set two records, the 200 medley relay in 1:33.60 and the 100 butterfly in 50.55.

Pozniak also swam strong when UND hosted a meet last weekend at the Hyslop Sports Center. In the 200 yard butterfly, Pozniak placed second with a final time of 1:55.37.

He was not the only one turning heads last weekend as junior Colin Macquarrie won the 50 freestyle with a time of 20.97.

The performance of Pozniak, Colin Macquarrie and Clayton Metcalf helped their team to a split performance, defeating USD 191-52 but losing to Air Force, 138-99.

“Another great day of racing for sure,” UND coach Chris Maiello said after last weekend’s performance. “We are fighting through some things, but overall a positive performance and we’re taking a step forward with the program.”

On the diving side of competition, Metcalf placed third in the one meter dive with an overall score of 244.65, and fourth in the three meter with 246.05.

“Metcalf had a very good weekend,” Diving coach Brian Strom said. “Both three meter events were solid. One meter event yesterday was better than today, but very good performance this weekend and we need Clayton to step up as the leader he is.”

The women saw more success, improving to 6-0. The 400 medley team, consisting of Erin Grabanski, Alexa Weyer, Danica Dutt and Steph Frey, won with a time of 3:55.94. Grabanski would later win the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:10.99.

The sprinters were arguably the focal point of the women’s effort this weekend.

“Our sprints did really well today,” Maiello said. “Courtney Funk for sure with the 50 free(style); Ally Schuab with second place in the 50, and the 100 as well; Steph Frey was very good as well. Happy with where we are in the sprints.”

Diving was on the brink of success, as Sawyer Murray placed second in the three meter board event with a score of 211.35, and Jen Anklan scored a 236.75 in the one meter board.

“This format with two days back to back on both boards — both days get kind of long,” Strom said. “You have your first board and six hours later you’re competing your second board. So it’s very tough to keep flow and stay in rhythm and those kind of things. But overall, our first day was a lot better than our second day.”

Overall, the coaching staff was happy with the performance and looks forward to what’s next.

UND will head to the Twin Cities for a meet at the University of Minnesota on Friday.

“We’re doing well and we’re back to training,” Maiello said. “We have a long season ahead of us, but we are pleased with how we took a step forward today.”

Kyle Beauchamp is a staff writer for The Dakota Student. He can be reached at [email protected].