SIOUX FALLS – Isaac Morris had a long road back to the Summit League Swimming and Diving Championships.
 
South Dakota's Morris, thought to have been lost for the season due to a knee injury, returned for the final month and his return was rewarded on Thursday at the Midco Aquatic Center.
 
The junior successfully defending his Summit League title in the one-meter diving competition when he posted a NCAA Zone Qualifying score of 309.0.
 
"It was a long road, pretty mental, just being strong in my head and not giving up," said Morris. "Just sort of starting with it, doing rehab every day, going to practice every day, putting in the work."
 
The competition, just Morris' third of the season, came down to the final dive after South Dakota State's Joey Weber had taken the lead with a strong sixth dive. Morris, though, calmly performed his final dive to claim the title by just 1.15 points.
 
"Well, I was standing on the board, there was a noise, so I just waited," said Morris. "I just tried to make it as good as I could. I knew I had to jump tall and be good on the entry through the water.
 
"When I came out of the pool I saw my score for like five dives and then my score came up for the last dive and I thought, oh, that's pretty good."
 
Morris, the school record holder in the one-meter, got great satisfaction in not only being able to compete again, but being successful in doing so.
 
"I was just along for the ride," he said. "At the beginning of the year I was just in the mindset of getting better. I wasn't in the mindset of going to the conference championships. Like a month ago when I was like yeah, I could probably dive, it was a relief and I was just going out to have fun."
 
Just like during Wednesday's opening day of competition, momentum shifted from the diving board to the swimming pool for the Coyotes.


 
The women's 200 free relay quartet of Sabrina Sabadeanu, Meghan Atwell, Madilyn Sindelar and Katie Coleman set a new school record in finishing second in 1:33.95.
 
Coleman, a senior, came back later in the day to post a runner-up finish in the 50 free final in 23.16, just off her school record time from earlier this season of 23.12.
 
Coleman, picking up her second and third all-conference honors of the meet, was the lone non Denver athlete in an individual swim event to finish in the top three on Thursday.


 
The Coyote men's 200 free relay foursome of Elbert Chuang, Jake Leichner, Javi Quiñones and Charlie Bean earned all-conference honors with a third-place finish in 1:22.56.


 
Several athletes moved up the school's top 10 charts led by freshman Leichner setting a new school record of 1:51.03 in the 200 IM prelims in the morning.
 
Jared Thorson, a senior, moved up to third in the 100 fly with a 49.84 clocking in the prelims and came back in the finals to swim 49.83. Isabel Fairbanks swam 2:08.20 in the 200 IM in the morning prelims and 2:07.36 in the finals and sits fifth now in school history.
 
Meghan Atwell swam 23.77 in the 50 free prelims to move up to sixth while Jordyn Schnell lowered her personal best time to 24.01 and sits ninth on the top 10 list.
 
Bean joined the top 10 in the 50 free in eighth with a 20.91 clocking in the prelims while Chuang moved from fourth to third in the 200 IM with his 1:52.29 time in the morning prelims.
 
The Coyotes men's and women's teams sit in second place at the halfway point of the Summit League Championships.