The Winhawks travel to the Twin Cities and return with some great swims, some respect, AND some hardware!

The Winhawks traveled, (some VERY early) to the Twin Cities and Valley Middle School for the Apple Valley Invite. The Winhawks were joined in the competition by host Apple Valley who has grown stronger since their finish just behind the Winhawks last year at State. Also strutting into the building were perennial powerhouses Edina (2^nd at 2009 State) and Minnetonka (3^rd at 2009 State). Rounding out the field was Park of Cottage Grove. Winona was going to be without the talents of IM’er & Breastroker Cotter Sophomore Alexandra Zuelke for the meet. Already thin in the IM ranks and having planned on her fly in the A Medley Relay and her sprinting capabilities on the A 400 Free relay, some shuffling of relays had to happen quickly before the meet started. Looking at the meet program, it became apparent that this was going to be a learning exercise for the strength programs. Perhaps because Edina and Minnetonka are conference foes, there were some off event swims and focus on younger swimmers. Edina with 90 swimmers on their roster was swimming a good number of them exhibition, but many of the girls designated exhibition were their faster swimmers. By my count, Edina left around 450 points on the table (which would have diminished the other teams’ scores) thus dominating the results. The AV Invite format was a timed finals with each team allowed 4 entries per event. The Relays score 40 pts for 1^st place and count down by 2’s to 20^th. The Individual events score 20 pts counting down by 1 to 20^th place. As it was, it made for a closely contested meet and fun to watch. The Diving was an 11 dive (Championship) event, so the girls had to be accomplished divers with 6 required and 5 optional dives.

The highlight for the Winhawks Saturday was the solid performances of their veterans which contributed to, perhaps inspired, some exceptional performances by the younger and “middle core” swimmers on the team. The kind of results that had Coach Steve Burt “airborne”  after a few times posted on the scoreboard. He may be hearing the term “Air Burt” coined on occasion from now on. Ultimately the Winhawks walked away with the 3^rd place trophy and a well earned celebratory bus trip home.

The 200 Medley A Relay of Senior Co-Captain Samantha Quandahl, Sr. Taylor Johnson, Freshman Reese Galewski and Freshman Hailey O’Neil raced to a 2^nd place finish just beating out Edina’s B Relay by a half a second. Looking to the future, the youngsters in Winona’s B Relay of Cotter 7^th Grader Morgan Whyte, Freshman Greer Kosidowski, Bluffview 7^th Grader Hanna O’Neill, and Cotter Freshman Emily Thurow swim to a solid 6^th place finish. Winona’s C relay novice/veteran mix of 8^th Grader McKenzie Porter, Sr. Melanie Jones-McMillan, Sr. Erin Bernardy and Cotter 7^th Grader Alexandra Arnold improve on their seed time to take 10^th overall.

Apple Valley 114      Winona 90    Edina 84        Park 60  Minnetonka           50      

 

The 200 Yard Freestyle sees Winona Freshman Hailey O’Neill swim her personal best slashing 6 seconds off of her seed time and 4 seconds off her fastest time this year. Her standout effort nets her 3^rd place overall. Winhawk Freshman Greer Kosidowski finishes in 13^th place. Her team mates, Cotter Freshman Emily Thurow and Winhawk Jr. Kayla Berg, both were swimming the 200FR for the first time this year, place 14th & 17^th respectively.

Apple Valley 168      Edina 144     Winona 127  Minnetonka   90   Park 87   

The 200 IM showcases Winhawk Freshman Reese Galewski as she wins her heat and a 3^rd place finish overall. 8^th Grader McKenzie Porter is the youngest swimmer finishing in the top 10 and Sr. Erin Bernardy adds to the Winhawk scoring in 14^th place.

Apple Valley 234      Edina 180     Winona 163    Minnetonka   138   Park 102

As they do this year and the past few years, Winona’s Sprinters come through strong placing 1-3-6-12 and their performance put the Winhawks back into 2^nd place. Cotter Jr. Standout MacKenzie Brosnahan is awarded 1^st place. Sr. Co-Captain Bridget Bawek wins the 4^th heat and her time is good enough to move up to 3^rd  place  overall. Sr. Taylor Johnson is right behind her finishing 6^th overall and Ashlen Haines improved on her early season time by a second and a half to finish 12^th in 30 seconds flat..

Apple Valley 292      Winona 225     Edina 224     Minnetonka   152   Park 134           

             

One meter diving at the Apple Valley Invite is an 11 dive (Championship format) event, the first one of the season for the Winhawks. As such, the competition was held in the morning to allow the 2 ½ hours required for the event. Our poor Winhawk divers had to leave Winona at 5:30AM in order to get to Apple Valley in time for warm-ups. After the Preliminaries (first 5 dives) the Winhawks found them themselves in 15^th (8^th Grader Sarah Scherbring),  9^th (Sophomore Megan Seeley) 8^th (Freshman Janelle Mueller) and 2^nd Sophomore Crystal Franzwa. In the 6^th round, Megan Seeley has a misstep on her hurdle and is unable to completely perform her Reverse 1ssTuck. The Diving Referee, in his assessment of the attempt, invokes Rule 9-8-3-a and disqualifies Megan from further competition for “not making a sincere attempt to perform the dive”. This is an existing rule that is being re-emphasized this year after some instances in last year’s season. It is there for both the safety of the divers and the integrity of the sport  At the end of the Semi-finals (8 dives), Sarah has moved up to 12^th place, Janelle is still in 8^th place and Crystal is still in 2^nd place with 218.8 pts, 32 points out of the lead. Highlights of their final 3 dives, Janelle hits her Inward dive in the pike position for a 4 1/2 and the rest 5 1/2’s. Sarah receives 3 1/2’s and 4’s on her Reverse 1ss Tuck. They finish 9^th and 13^th respectively. Chrystal throws a Forward 1ss with 2 twists for 34.5 pts. She follows with a Back 2 ss in Tuck that scores 27.50. With Crystal making up ground on her, the diver from Edina cracks scoring only 2’s and 3’s on her final dive with a moderate DD (degree of Difficulty) and leaving the door open for Crystal. Crystal finishes up with a Back 1 ss with 2 ½ Twists, a 2.7 DD dive. She Starts the dive with just enough height and stops the twist cleanly for 41/2 and 5’s for a 39.15 score. The result, Crystal overtakes her for the win 319.95 to 317.85! Edina divers finish 2^nd 7^th & 11^th so they overtake Winona by 2 points!

Apple Valley 332      Edina 267     Winona 265      Minnetonka   194   Park 164           

The 100 Butterfly is another chance for Winhawk Freshman Reese Galewski to shine and she is given the win in 1:03.78. Sr. Co-Captain Samantha Quandahl takes 4^th and Bluffview 7^th Grader Hanna O’Neill cuts a second and a half off her previous best to finish 10^th in 1:13.69.

Apple Valley 388      Edina 325     Winona 313  Minnetonka   224   Park 181

The 100 Freestyle continues to be the bright spot for Winona. The Winona Cotter speedster Junior MacKenzie Brosnahan takes first place. Sr. Co-Captain Bridget Bawek swims a season’s best time and Freshman Haley O’Neill (who goes under 1 minute for the first time this year), go 2^nd and 3^rd  respectively behind MacKenzie. Cotter 7^th grade power house Morgan Whyte brings home 7^th overall and the Winhawks move back into 2^nd place with 5 events to go.

Apple Valley 424      Winona 384     Edina 374     Minnetonka   268   Park 191

             

Then, as usual, the 500 Freestyle comes along. While a tough scoring event, (the Winhawks slide back to 3^rd place) there were some significant achievements with all three Winhawk swimmers earning season best times. Sophomore Grace Ell cracks the top 10 by swimming a personal best time of 6:21.28, a 17 second improvement on her seed time. 8^th Grader McKenzie Porter places solidly at 12^th place by shaving 6 seconds off of her seed time and swimming a season’s best time. Lastly, setting the tone in the first heat, Alexandra Arnold, a Cotter 7^th Grader cuts 4 seconds off her best time to place 14^th overall.

Apple Valley 487      Edina 427     Winona 412     Minnetonka   319   Park 210

The 200 Freestyle Relay was big for the Winhawks. The A Relay of Sr. Co-Captain Bridget Bawek, Sr. Taylor Johnson, Freshman Haley O’Neill, and Cotter Jr. MacKenzie Brosnahan win the event in 1:46.46 but just as exciting are the other relays.  The Winhawk B Relay of Cotter Freshman Emily Thurow, Cotter 7^th Grader Alexandra Arnold, Freshman Greer Kosidowski and Bluffview 7^th Grader Hanna O’Neill swim to 3^rd place in 1:58.84. The Winhawk C Relay of Sophomore Samantha Johnson, Sophomore Ashlen Haines, Cotter Sophomore Grace Ell  and Sr. Erin Bernardy combine get toughed out placing a solid 7^th.   The D Relay of Jr. Kayla Berg, Freshman Morgan Crowson, Sophomore Emily Krause and Sr. Melanie Jones McMillan score good points in 13^th place to help the Winhawks stay close to the Hornets and Eagles.

Apple Valley 575      Edina 539     Winona 532 Minnetonka   367   Park 256

The 100 Backstroke was a coming out party for some Winona backstrokers. Sr. Co-Captain Samantha Quandahl swimming out of Lane 1 passes by two Edina Swimmers,  drops a full second and a half on her best time of the year and places 3^rd overall!  Even more exciting was the performance of young Cotter 7^th Grader Morgan Whyte. Seeded 8^th in a pretty elite field already, she drops 2 ½ seconds off her seed time, finishes 5 seconds ahead of her heat competition and moves up to 4^th in the overall standings.

Apple Valley 624      Edina 599     Winona 580 Minnetonka   393   Park 283

The 100 Breaststroke had us down a competitor so only 3 entries but the girls gave it all they had. Sr. Winhawk Taylor Johnson maintains her seed against tough Hornet and Eagle competition for 5^th place overall. Winhawk Freshman Greer Kosidowski wins her heat dropping 2 ½ seconds and placing right behind Taylor in 6^th overall. Not to be outdone, Sr. Winhawk Melanie Jones McMillan shaves nearly 3 ½ seconds off her seed time to swim her best of the season, win her heat and move up 3 spots to place 10^th overall.

Apple Valley 662      Edina 656     Winona 622 Minnetonka   428   Park 315

The 400 Free Relay was a great race with the Winhawks A Relay of Sr. Co-Captain Bridget Bawek, Freshman Reese Galewski, Cotter Jr. MacKenzie Brosnahan  and Sr. Co-Captain Samantha Quandahl finishing 2^nd overall, The B relay 7^th, C Relay 13^th and D relay 16^th.

Final Score:

Apple Valley 778      Edina 742     Winona 714 Minnetonka   488   Park 369

Next up for the Winhawks, they return to Big 9 action and travel to Austin for a dual meet with the Packers.