If I haven’t said it before let me say it now, I LOVE refereeing high school swimming & diving.
An old Star Trek episode comes to mind where the alien life force grows stronger from the emotions of the humans around it. Not to say that I am an alien life form, but being a part of a high school swim meet as it unfolds is so invigorating. When it is a state championship as was the case today, it can be somewhat overwhelming.
Friday’s preliminaries were a joy. Watching high school, and in some cases junior high school athletes lay it all out trying to make it to the Saturday Championships. Part of the juice comes from their family, friends and teammates cheering them on, sure in the fact that it will make the difference between swimming again and leaving their clothes on for Finals Saturday.
Today’s Class A & Class AA Finals were just unbelievable.
Take the afternoon Class A Championship where of the 12 events, 8 saw state records set! Then looking back on both meets, the Class A 200 Freestyle, 50 Freestyle, and 500 Freestyle all had winning times FASTER than the Class AA meet. Lastly, for the Final event, the top four teams by score were also all racing against each other in Lanes 3, 4, 5 & 6. Hutchinson in Lane 3 won the event and won the Class A Championship, Monticello in Lane 5 took second and took second in the meet and Sartell-St. Stephen in Lane 4 took 3rd and took 3rd in the State Meet! It was a GREAT finish to a GREAT afternoon.
Could the evening’s Class AA Championship beat it?
How about two All Time fastest times set ( All Time meaning regardless of whether Class A or Class AA), two Class AA records AND a NATIONAL high school record set!
The 200 Medley Relay and the 100 Yard Butterfly set ALL time records. The 200 IM and 100 Breaststroke saw new Class AA records set. Lastly, Eden Prairie standout Rachael Bootsma who is also a USA National Team member set a new high school National Record for the 100 Backstroke of 51.53 seconds and I got to be the side judge to referee and witness it!
The Final Team Score for Winona was 20th place. Again Winona prevails in the end. After placing behind Rochester Century and Faribault at Sections, the Winhawks finish higher than them at the State Meet. If Winona had made the 400 Freestyle Relay Finals ( they missed by 1 second) they may have overtaken Farmington as well.
Final Team Scores 1. Edina 247.5 2. Eden Prairie 2233. Stillwater Area 220 4. Wayzata 2055. Cretin-Derham Hall, St. Paul 136
6. Rochester John Marshall 119
7. Lakeville North 102 8. Maple Grove 100
9. Woodbury 94 10. Minnetonka 65.5
11. Prior Lake 59 11. Hastings 59
13. Burnsville 58 14. Champlin Park 54
15. Apple Valley 46 16. Robbinsdale Armstrong 44
17. Farmington 43 18. Buffalo 36
19. East Ridge, Woodbury 35 20. Winona 34
21. Eastview, Apple Valley 33 22. Blaine 30
23. Rochester Century 27 23. Elk River/Zimmerman 27
25. Faribault 25 26. Eagan 23
27. Mounds View 22 27. Chanhassen 22
29. Forest Lake 20 30. Hopkins 19
31. Shakopee 15 32. Lakeville South 14
33. St. Cloud Tech 13 34. Irondale, New Brighton 12
35. Brainerd 11 36. Rosemount 5
37. Cambridge-Isanti 2 37. Rochester Mayo 2
39. Anoka 1 Sunday I will elaborate more on how the girls did. Right now I want to go to bed. I am exhausted.
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