February 26, 2025
Metsala Goes On Record-Breaking Binge At MIAC Meet
Concordia sophomore Callie Metsala recently capped her season with a record-breaking binge that spanned four days. Metsala set five program records, including three individual, during the four-day Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Swimming & Diving Championships, which concluded this past weekend in Minneapolis.
Article reprinted courtesy of the InForum and reporter Eric Peterson
MOORHEAD, Minn. (2/26/25)--- Concordia sophomore Callie Metsala recently capped her season with a record-breaking binge that spanned four days.
Metsala set five program records, including three individual, during the four-day Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Swimming & Diving Championships, which concluded this past weekend in Minneapolis.
"I was blown away with how good of a meet it was and how it kept dropping time, every single time," said Metsala, who is from Princeton, Minnesota.
Metsala set school records in the 200-yard individual medley (2 minutes, 13.40 seconds), 100 butterfly (58.99 seconds) and 100 freestyle (53.52). She also swam on the 200 medley relay (1:53.17) and 200 freestyle relay (1:41.30) teams that also set records for the Cobbers women's program.
"I always believed that she could accomplish all of these things so it wasn't a surprise, but it was definitely icing on the cake," said Cobbers head coach Anneliesse Bruns. "She really just stayed super consistent."
Hailey Jaeger, Haley Imholte and Leah Enedy joined Metsala on the record-setting 200 medley relay that finished in seventh place. Metsala, Enedy, Jaeger and Tinsley Porter set the school record in the 200 freestyle relay that finished in sixth place.
"I never thought the times this year were possible for me," Metsala said. "It was kind of the year everything clicked."
In her individual events, Metsala set the school record in the preliminaries and then bettered those marks in the finals. Counting the relays, she had eight record-setting swims during the MIAC championships. She finished fourth in the 100 butterfly, fifth in the 100 freestyle and 10th in the 200 individual medley.
"She would break the record in the morning and then she came back that night and swam faster," Bruns said. "That's always a goal when you're at championship meets."
Metsala said she was more consistent with her training, nutrition, sleep and recovery compared to her freshman season with the Cobbers.
"I was more focused this year and it showed," said Metsala, who is a nursing major. "I put my all into it for seven months."
The 100 freestyle was an event that she hadn't swam at a championship-level meet until this past weekend.
"Breaking the (100 freestyle) record wasn't even on my radar," Metsala said.
Metsala also has multiple part-time jobs to go along with nursing and swimming. That routinely led to 12-to-14-hour days for Metsala during the season.
Despite that workload, she excelled in the pool.
"It was kind of the year everything clicked," Metsala said.
Her performance at the MIAC championships proved to be the payoff.
"Swimming is one of those delayed gratification sports where you really don't see your fast times until the end of the season," Bruns said.