Winona Winhawk 2010 Season

Ok, so I gave the WDN the benefit of the doubt. There’ve been a little Football crazy for a few weeks now. I figured they were getting it out of their system. I figured maybe they were saving the Winhawk Girls’ Swimming & Diving season preview article for the day of the first meet of the season. WRONG, nothing appears in print the day of the first meet. Well, maybe they will be covering the meet seeing as there is a Volleyball game scheduled the same night. WRONG! Winona Girls’ Swimming garners 30 WORDS in the Prep Round-up the next morning. They print the great swims by Cotter Junior MacKenzie Brosnahan and Cotter Sophomore Alexandra Zuelke that are fed to them by the coaches. Unrecognized, Senior Co-Captain Samantha Quandahl also won two individual races. The scoreboard at least gives the fans the race times for the Winhawks, but they managed to spell Sr. Co-Captain Samantha Quandahl’s name right only one of the four times they attempted it.

Although the young Winhawk Volleyball players got a deserved write up on their one sided win over La Crescent, all the WDN reporter had to do was poke his head inside the door 20 feet away and he would have seen an even more domineering performance by the 2010 Winhawk Girl Swimmers & Divers. Also, he would have seen some great performances by some VERY young Winhawk swimmers. With the Senior leadership and raw young talent possessed by this year’s Winhawk team, every meet will be a fun one to watch.

If the WDN had even looked at the results they were typing they may have picked up on the fact that the Winhawks not only won MacKenzie and Alex’s 4 events, the Winhawks won EVERY event. Not only that, but they went 1^st & 2^nd in 7 of the evening’s 12 events and 1-2-3 in the 100 Backstroke.

Perhaps it is because the WDN is so unplugged from swimming, that the score misled them. They still are unaware of the Big 9 Swimming’s firm grip on the most sportsmanship act in the known sporting world. Big 9 Swimming is the ONLY sport that doesn’t drub opponents. Big 9 Swimming is the only sport that stops scoring points, regardless of the winning competitor’s results. Tuesday night, when the Winhawk’s win was secure, the remaining Winhawk races, regardless of whether they were 1^st, 2^nd, or 3^rd, were swum exhibition. So instead of the XXX – 51 score (yes I know the real score but won’t print it), the final came out 88-82 and Menomonie can build on their experience.

What you didn’t read in the paper:

The 200 Medley Relay saw the team of Sr. Co-Captain Sam Quandahl, Cotter Sophomore Alexandra Zuelke, Freshman Reece Galewski and Freshman Haley O’Neil finish in 2:00.22 which is faster than ALL the regular season swims from last year! Right behind them in 2^nd place was the team of Cotter Freshman McKenna Marg, Senior Taylor Johnson, Bluffview 7^th Grader Hanna O'Neill, and Cotter Freshman Emily Thurow.

Winona 12    Menomonie   2

The 200 Freestyle was dominated by Cotter Junior MacKenzie Brosnahan in 2:02.62 putting her off to a fast start for the season. Making a BIG splash in her debut as a Winhawk, Cotter 8^th Grader Morgan Whyte placed 3^rd in 2:18.86. What an exciting career this young swimmer has in front of her!

Winona 23    Menomonie   7

The 200 IM was won easily with plenty of margin by Cotter Sophomore Alexandra Zuelke in 2:27.70. Placing 3^rd and swimming less than a second off her fastest time from all last year, Freshman Reese Galewski is progressing very nicely and looks to score well this season.

Winona 34    Menomonie   12

The 50 Freestyle saw Sr. Co-Captain Bridget Bawek motor to a 1^st place win in 26.38, a great start for her final season. Placing 3^rd, Freshman Haley O’Neil swam a 27.64, only 0.08 seconds off her fastest time for last year! Right behind her in 4^th place was Sr. Taylor Johnson also a fraction off her fastest time from all of last year.

Winona 45    Menomonie   17

Again, I have to lament the Diving venue being the Winona Middle School. The Winhawk swimming fans are deprived of watching some great diving and points being scored for the home team. Tuesday’s opening night was no exception, with the Winhawk divers going 1-2. Winhawk Sophomore Crystal Franzwa kicked off her season with an all time point high, winning the competition amassing 206.30 points. Following her up in 2^nd place was Sr. Co-Captain Lianna Hawthorne at 174.70 points.

Winona 56    Menomonie   22

The Butterfly is one of the toughest events in swimming, and Tuesday’s 100 Fly event illustrated that as there were some open blocks for the start. Only 3 swimmers stepped up and the Winhawks pulled out another 1-2 finish. Freshman Reese Galewski, capitalizing on an aggressive USA Winter and Summer program smashed her best time of last year to win in 104:05. Showing the crowd some stamina (although not a surprise to those of us that know her), young Bluffview 7^th Grader Hanna O’Neil stroked her way to a 2^nd place finish in 1:16.61 which would have been the 5^th fastest time of the season last year.

Winona 66    Menomonie   25

The 100 Freestyle, the other sprint event, saw another 1-2 finish. Cotter Jr. MacKenzie Brosnahan smoked the field winning in 55.33. Freshman Haley O’Neil brought home 2^nd.

Winona 77    Menomonie   30

The 500 Freestyle is 20 lengths of swimming at a pace that will allow you to perform your best. Swim too fast early and you run out of gas. Start out too slow, and you loose time that you can’t make up at the end of the race. Then there is the competition to consider as well. Sr. Co-Captain Samantha Quandahl was asked to fill an experienced swimmer void in the Winhawk Distance line-up. She took the race out with the Menomonie swimmer at her side and just slowly, lap by lap, inched forward of her competitor. In the end she pulled out a quality win by a body length and a half, in 5:58.85. Cotter 7^th Grader Morgan Whyte, in her second big showing of the night,  placed 3^rd and fellow youngster 8^th Grader McKenzie Porter out sprinted the Menomonie Indian in the lane next to her to pull out a well won 4^th place.

Winona 88    Menomonie   35

The 200 Freestyle Relay is a collection of four go-fast swimmers. When you have multiple lanes racing at once, all you see is water splashing and the bodies look like they are planning across the top of the water. Every 30 seconds or less another body is flying off the starting blocks. For the 5^th time in the evening, the Winhawks finish 1-2, and in the 200 Free Relay that is saying something. The team of Sr. Taylor Johnson, Sr. Bridget Bawek, Freshman Haley O'Neill, and Junior MacKenzie Brosnahan took first handily and Freshman Gabriel Kleinow, Cotter Freshman Emily Thurow, Cotter 8^th Graders Alexandra Arnold and Morgan Whyte brought home a surprising but well deserved 2^nd place.

Winona 88    Menomonie   47 (Winona begins scoring exhibition)

The 100 Back saw the only 1-2-3 finish of the evening for the Winhawks. Sr. Co-Captain Samantha Quandahl slightly rested from her 500 Free win, cruised to also win here in 1:09.37. Cotter Freshman McKenna Marg showed great progress coming within 8 tenths of her fastest time last year taking second and 8^th Grader McKenzie Porter, the other 500 contestant,  rounded out the event sweep for the Winhawks in her backstroke debut.

Winona 88    Menomonie   57

The 100 Breaststroke saw a solid 1-2 by Cotter Sophomore Alexandra Zuelke and Senior Taylor Johnson. Freshman Greer Kosidowski, working hard all summer long with the USA Wizards Swim Club, swam her best time ever in bringing home the 4^th place points for the Winhawks.

Winona 88    Menomonie   70

The 400 Freestyle Relay was fun time for the Winhawks, knowing they had the meet in the bag, The big guns, Sr. Co-Captains Bridget Bawek and Samantha Quandahl teamed with Cotter standouts MacKenzie Brosnahan Alexandra Zuelke to cruise to the victory.

Winona 88    Menomonie   82

Thursday at 1PM at Winona SHS Natatorium, the Winona Winhawks take on Mankato West. MW already has two meets under their belt, swimming in the Hutchinson Invite and losing to Faribault 96-88. They have similar numbers of swimmers and range of ages from a half dozen seniors down to 7^th graders.  Watch for MW Freshman Danielle Nack when she is in the water. She returns from a State Meet appearance last year and is already burning up the water. This week Nack set two Mankato State U pool records. The first came in the 200 freestyle, where she set a new mark with a time of 1:55.06. Next was the 500 freestyle, where she broke the old record by six seconds, finishing in 5:06.83.