The Mound Westonka/Holy Family girls swim and dive team was one of 12 competing in the Class A True Team meet on Oct. 21 at the University of Minnesota after qualifying in the Section 3A True Team meet the week prior. MWHF finished the meet in eighth place. Orono took first place, followed by Delano, Monticello, Visitation, Breck, Cretin-Derham Hall and Northfield.
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 competitors earn points. First place is worth as many points as the number of entries in the event (if 40 competitors, the winner 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 events.
MWHF standout senior captain Catherine Dueck earned a pair of first-place finishes in her two individual events. Junior captain Annemarie Johnson finished in the top 10 in both of her individual events. Ninth graders Jaylen Jurek and Laney Hendrickson also earned 10 finishes in an individual event.
Dueck has proven herself to be a force in any race, and that held true last weekend. Her first-place finish in the 200-yard individual medley (2:05.63) was a personal best. Sophomore Amelia Olson finished 23rd, senior captain Abigail Ries finished 26th, and ninth grader Chella Patterson finished 32nd. Dueck’s 1:06.42 earned her a narrow victory in the 100-yard breaststroke, a race stacked with strong Class A competitors. In the same race, Johnson finished ninth, Olson finished 25th and ninth grader Verena Habicht was 46th.
Johnson’s second top-10 finish of the meet was the 200 Yard Freestyle, where she took eighth place. Hendrickson, ninth grader Charlotte Lake and sophomore Kayla Quandt finished 18th, 33rd and 34th, respectively. Hendrickson finished seventh in the 500 Yard Freestyle, with Lake, Quandt and ninth grader Chella Patterson finishing 24th, 25th and 31st, respectively. Ninth grader Jaylen Juras earned a ninth-place finish in the 100-yard butterfly, with junior Camille Ness in 22nd, Ries in 27th and sophomore Hayden Nichols in 37th place.
Junior Grace Warden, Juras, junior captain Onna Sullivan and sophomore Izzy Starr finished the 50-yard freestyle 17th, 25th, 27th and 44th, respectively, with Warden, Starr, junior Peyton Schmidt and ninth grader Tiffany Johnson finishing 15th, 37th, 39th and 45th, respectively, in the 100-yard freestyle. Sullivan, Ness, Nichols and Schmidt finished the 100-yard backstroke in 20th, 33rd, 35th and 39th places.
The 200-yard medley relay team of Ness, Dueck, Juras and Sullivan earned a third-place finish with Patterson, A. Johnson, Quandt and Starr finishing 24th. Ness, Juras, Warden and Dueck tied with Visitation for sixth place in the 200-yard freestyle relay with Ries, Schmidt, Starr and Hendrickson finishing 16th. The 400-yard freestyle relay team of Warden, Sullivan, Hendrickson and A. Johnson finished 10th ahead of Ries, Olson, Schmidt and Quandt in 26th.
Sophomore diver Erika Johnson has been consistent throughout the season and delivered again at the True Team State Meet. In the 11-dive competition, Johnson executed a combination of old and new dives to earn an impressive third-place finish. Ninth grader Jillian Schmitz, eighth grader Ashlynn Koehler and junior Callie Brown finished 20th, 25th and 29th, respectively.
Earlier in the week, MWHF bested Breck when they hosted them in a non-conference competition. MWHF is currently ranked fourth in MSHSL Class A with the Section and State Tournament meets approaching in November. The team hosts Blake at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 25th in the final home meet of the season.
