The Mound Westonka/Holy Family (MWHF) girls swim and dive team was one of 10 competing in the Section 3A True Team meet on Oct.14 in Hutchinson. MWHF finished the meet in third place behind Orono and Delano and earned an invitation to the True Team State Meet at the University of Minnesota on Oct. 21. The MSHSL State Swim and Dive Meet is in November.

True Team is a uniquely scored event. Rather than points awarded only to the top three relay teams and top five individual event competitors, in True Team scoring, all athletes earn points. First place is worth as many points as possible entries (e.g., if there are 40 competitors, first place earns 40 points, second place earns 39 points, etc.) and relay scores are doubled. Each team is allowed four entries per event, and each competitor is allowed two individual events and two relays. Performing well in this meet requires team depth in all swim and dive events.

Coach Ben Hanson’s MWHF team finished with 11 swimmers placing among the top 16 in each of their two individual events. Senior captain Catherine Dueck, a recent Division 1 commit to University of San Diego, had another standout meet, earning a first-place finish in the 200-yard individual medley (2:08.71) with a comfortable 7-second lead over the second-place finisher from Delano. Dueck finished second (1:09.32) to Hutchinson’s Madilyn Gherke in the 100-yard breaststroke, a matchup likely to repeat at the MSHSL State Meet finals in November.

MWHF had all four of its eligible swimmers among the top 16 finishers in three of eight individual events. Ninth grader Jaylen Juras, junior Grace Warden, junior Camille Ness and senior captain Abigail Ries finished fourth, eighth, ninth and 16th, respectively, in the 100-yard butterfly. Junior captain Annemarie Johnson, ninth grader Laney Hendrickson, ninth grader Chella Patterson and ninth grader Charlotte Lake finished fourth, seventh, 14th and 16th, respectively, in the 500-yard freestyle. Ries, sophomore Amelia Olson and sophomore Kayla Quandt finished 10th, 12th and 14th behind Dueck’s first-place finish in the 200-yard individual medley.

Johnson, Hendrickson and Warden finished third, 11th and 16th, respectively, in the 200-yard freestyle. Junior captain Onna Sullivan finished the 100-yard backstroke in seventh place ahead of teammates Patterson in 12th and junior Peyton Schmidt in 14th. Sullivan finished ninth and Quandt tied for 16th in the 100-yard freestyle. Ness and Juras finished the 50-yard freestyle in fifth and 12th, respectively, and Olson took 12th in the 100-yard breaststroke.  

The 200-yard medley relay team of Sullivan, Dueck, Ness and Warden finished second, with Juras, Olson, Ries and sophomore Izzy Starr finishing eighth. Johnson, Ness, Hendrickson and Sullivan took third in the 200-yard freestyle relay ahead of Juras, Starr, Patterson and Quandt in 12th. MWHF’s Dueck, Johnson, Warden and Hendrickson took third in the 400-yard freestyle relay with Ries, Quandt, Schmidt and Olson finishing 11th.

Consistency has been a theme for MWHF sophomore diver Erica Johnson this season. Johnson continues to increase both difficulty and technique for her roster of dives, earning her top finishes throughout conference competition this season and a second-place finish at the True Team section meet. Ninth grader Jillian Schmitz, junior Callie Brown and eighth grader Ashlynn Koehler finished 17th, 20th and 23rd, respectively.

The team was one of 12 to qualify for the Class A True Team State Meet at the University of Minnesota. The meet starts at noon on Saturday, Oct. 21.