Winhawks headed to MN State Meet

The Winona Winhawks went to Rochester Saturday afternoon looking to loose some time. If you work hard enough and loose a little time here and loose a little time there, a trip to the State Championships is yours to celebrate. If you try to do it in the fastest races in the pool, your task gets even harder. Winona has excelled at producing sprinters in the last few years and Saturday’s results showed this year is no exception.


The Winhawks will be sending a contingent to Minneapolis next weekend by qualifying one individual and two relays. Winona Cotter Sophomore MacKenzie Brosnahan qualified for the State Championships in both the 50 Freestyle and the 100 Freestyle. She will be joined by her teammates on the 200 Freestyle and 400 Freestyle relays, Jr. Bridget Bawek, Sr. Co-Captain Aimee Peterson, and Winona Cotter Freshman Alexandra Zuelke.


The First event, the 200 yard Medley Relay was fast, 5 of the seven relays qualified for the state meet. The first two teams qualified by place, the last 3 teams by meeting the state qualifying time standard. Winona was not among them. The very Young group of 8th Grader McKenna Marg, Jr. Taylor Johnson, 8th Grader Reese Galewski and 9th Grader Haley O’Neil placed 7th in 2:01.89.


The Winhawks placed no one in the Finals for the 200 Freestyle (Sophomore Olivia Staats just missed the cut by 0.05 seconds) or the 200 Individual Medley. But, true to their tradition, there were four individuals in the finals of the 50 yard Freestyle. Sr. Co-Captain Aimee Peterson improved on her second seed in the Consolation Finals raced to a Win in the Consolations with a time of 26.28 seconds. In the Championship Final Heat, Winhawk Jr. Bridget Bawek swam to a seventh place finish in 25.48 seconds and Freshman Alexandra Zuelke touched in 6th place with a 25.37. Cotter Sophomore MacKenzie Brosnahan entered the Finals seeded second, but needed a win or at least hold that spot to earn a trip to State unless they all dropped time as she was still not under the qualifying standard. When it came time to race, MacKenzie was up for it and dropped 0.34 seconds to place a solid second and earn that trip to the State Championships.


The Finals of the 1 Meter Diving had Winhawk Freshman Crystal Franzwa sitting in 6th place with 3 dives remaining between her and a trip to State. The top four positions qualify and Crystal needed to score well to pull it off. Her first dive was a Forward 1 somersault with 2 twists, a degree of difficulty (dd) of 2.3. She pulled it off beautifully stopping the twist dead on and scored 5 and 6’s for 34.5 pts. After the first round she was 0.2pts out of 5th place. Her second dive was a Back 2 somersaults in the tuck position, dd 2.2. she scored 4.0 to 5.5’s and 31.0 pts which moved her up to 5th place. Her final dive was a Back 1 somersault with 2 ½ twists, dd 2.7. She executed it very well, stopping the twist perfectly and scored 4.5’s to 5.5’s and 42.50 points for a final score of 320.25, just 4 points out of 4th and missing out on that trip to State. I predict Crystal will make that trip to State in the years ahead and will turn some heads.


The 100 Butterfly featured Winhawks in both the Consolation and Championship heats. Winhawk 8th Grader Reese Galewski was seeded fourth in the Consolation Final and brought that same finishing place into the wall in 1:4.90. Winhawk Jr. Samantha Quandahl swam in a tough Championship Final that saw the top four seeds drop an average of one full second. Sam finished 7th in 1:01.02.


The 100 Freestyle being a Sprint meant of course, a contingent of Winhawks would be present. That was the case with three of them in the Consolation Final and one in the Championship Final. Winhawk Jr. Bridget Bawek was seeded 2nd in the Consolation but had to withdraw due to illness. Sr. Co-Captain Aimee Peterson was seeded 3rd right behind her and 8th Grader Haley O’Neil owned the 7th spot. They finished 6th and 7th, Aimee in 57.12 and Haley in 58.18 seconds. Cotter Freshman MacKenzie Brosnahan was seeded 4th going into the Final and knew she would have to move up to qualify for another State Swim event. MacKenzie was 3rd at the 50 split and then held off the field to finish in 3rd but qualify for the State Championship by swimming under the qualifying standard.


The 200 Free Relay seemed an anomaly with the typically quick sprinting Winhawks seeded 4th for the Championship Final. The Team of Freshman Alexandra Zuelke, Jr. Bridget Bawek, Sr. Aimee Peterson and Sophomore MacKenzie Brosnahan had their work cut out for them if they were to maintain the Winhawk sprinting tradition. Alexandra opened with a 25.32 to keep them even with the pack. Bridget had withdrawn from the individual 100 Free to save herself for this relay and she delivered gutting out a 24.56 split. Aimee swam home a 25.52 split setting MacKenzie up to swim a monster anchor leg of 23.94. Their Final time of 1:39.24 is an All American Consideration time but more importantly was second place and a trip to the State Meet for all of them. As happened earlier, 5 of the 7 teams qualified for State either by place or time standard.


The 100 Backstroke also had Winhawk representation in both Consolation and Championship Finals. Sophomore Olivia Staats swam the Consolation Final in 107.03 for 16th place. Winhawk Jr. Samantha Quandahl swam her second Championship Final of the evening in 1:05.42 for an 8th place finish.


The 100 Breaststroke was no different in that a Winhawk was in both Consolation and Championship Finals. Winhawk Jr. Taylor Johnson, seeded 4th in the Consolation Final led wire-to-wire dropping an awesome 1.57 seconds and winning the Consolation Final in 1:13.43 seconds. Cotter Freshman Alexandra Zuelke swam the Championship Final in 1:09.81 for a 5th place finish and just missing out on a qualifying time for State by 0.29 seconds.


Annual the 400 Free Relay is a Winhawk strong suit and this class was no exception. The team of Bridget Bawek, Aimee Peterson, MacKenzie Brosnahan and Alexandra Zuelke were seeded 2nd going into the Championship Final and they intended to maintain that position. The girl’s carried through on their commitment and brought home a State Meet Entry winning second place finish with a 3 second buffer over the next team.


So the Winhawks wrapped up the 2009 Section 1AA meet with MacKenzie Brosnahan qualifying for the 50 Freestyle and 100 Freestyle individual events and Bridget Bawek, Aimee Peterson, MacKenzie Brosnahan and Alexandra Zuelke qualifying for both the 200 Freestyle Relay and the 400 Freestyle Relay. The Winhawks as a team finished in 6th place with 232 points. The separation between 4th and 6th was only 18 points.


Final Scores:

Rochester JM           524
Rochester Century    332
Faribault                  265
Farmington               246
Owatonna               242
Winona                   232
Rochester Mayo      171