Posted: 11/16/05
5 headed to state, 2 school records broken
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Joe Drennan
Sports Editor
Amanda Nelson, Sarah Williamson, Mary Walters, Rachel Merrier and Janel Duffy are on their way to represent the Forest Lake High School girls swimming and diving team at the 2005 state swimming and diving meet Nov. 21-23 at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center.
At the section 7AA swimming and diving meet the Rangers team placed third behind Centennial who had 386 points and Blaine who had 295 points. The Rangers finished with 267 points ahead of Coon Rapids, Duluth East, Cambridge-Isanti, Champlin Park, Anoka and Andover.
ìTo really get the point across of how big a deal it is that we were in second place, for over half of the meet and ended up finishing third I have to remind you of our finish last year,î Rangers head swimming coach Rochelle McKenzie said. ìWe finished seventh last year with 151 points.î
On the final day of the section meet Saturday the 200 yard medley relay team of Walters, Williamson, Nelson and Merrier set a new school record with a time of 1:58.72 as they took second place and qualified for the state meet.
The other school record fell when Nelson took second place in the 100 yard butterfly with a time of 1:00, qualifying her for the state meet. Nelson also qualified for the state meet in the 50 yard freestyle with a third place time of 25.34.
Duffy qualified for the state meet in diving with a second place score of 353.10. She took fourth at the section meet last year with a score of 324.8.
Other diving scores included Erin Eagenís sixth place finish with a score of 302.15, and Scotti Sampairís 14th place finish with 242.40 points.
The Rangers registered third place finishes in the 200 yard individual medley with Gaby Bunten who swam a season best time of 2:21.00, and in the 100 yard backstroke when Walters finished in 1:04.36.
Bunten took fourth place in the 500 yard freestyle with a personal best time of 5:22.88 in the prelim and a time of 5:24.33 in the finals. Carrie Peterson placed fourth in the 100 yard backstroke with a time of 1:05.53.
ìCarrie started the season as a distance swimmer and her first backstroke time was 1:12,î McKenzie said. ìI am extremely impressed and excited for her next year.î
Seventh place finishes were registered by Darian Kaiser and Williamson. Kaiser took seventh in the 100 yard butterfly with a time of 1:10.59, setting a personal best time of 1:08.21 in the prelims. Williamson took seventh in the 100 yard breast stroke with a time of 1:14.57.
The 400 yard freestyle relay team of Kaiser, Laura Oberg-Hauser, Walters and Bunten took eighth with a time of 4:03.59, and Natalie Emholz took ninth in the 100 yard breast stroke with a time of 1:16.29.
ìNatalie started the season struggling to qualify for sections and ends up placing ninth ó wow,î McKenzie said.
Tenth place finishes were registered in the finals in the 200 yard individual medley and 100 yard breast stroke. Peterson set a personal best time of 2:28.36 in the 200 yard individual medley, while Heidi Merrier also swam a personal best time of 1:17.11 in the 100 yard breast stroke.
Kaiser and Anne Bleninger each finished 12th in the 200 yard individual medley and 100 yard butterfly respectively. Kaiserís time of 2:32.19 in the 200 yard individual medley was slightly off her personal best time of 2:29.85 which she swam in the prelims. Bleninger ended last season with a time of 1:20.96 in the 100 yard butterfly. This year she ended with a time of 1:09.09.
ìAnne (Bleninger) worked extremely hard on her butterfly and itís really paying off,î McKenzie said.
Other finals finishes included a 14th and 15th place finish in the 100 yard butterfly, and a 16th place finish in the 100 yard breast stroke.
Erin Liljedahl placed 14th in the 100 yard butterfly with a time of 1:09.76 with teammate Kaiser right behind her in 15th place with a time of 1:10.59. Alissa Mobergís time of 1:19.03 in the 100 yard breast stroke was good for 16th place.
In the prelims Julianna Dahlager dropped her time below 28.0 for the first time in the 50 yard freestyle with a time of 27.19 to place 20th in the prlims.
Amanda Sigfrinius missed the finals in diving by 0.05 points as she placed 17th. Ann Husfeldt set a personal best time in the 500 yard freestyle when she places 17th in the prelims with a time of 5:53.28, just .25 from making the finals.
Allison Garrity set a personal best time in the 100 yard backstroke with a time of 1:11.41 to take 20th place in the prelims.
ìThe teamís overall performance was extremely impressive,î McKenzie said. ìItís nice to see all of the hard work and long hours of practice pay off.î
The state swimming and diving meet starts Monday with the AA diving prelims starting at 6 p.m. Tuesday will feature the AA swimming prelims starting at 6 p.m. Wednesday will be the AA finals for both swimming and diving with a 6 p.m. start.
Forest Lake Times
P.O. Box 218
880 SW 15 St.
Forest Lake, MN 55025
651-464-4601
Fax 651-464-4605