Where the WInhawks sit for prelims

The MN Girls Swimming & Diving State Championships are seeded and ready to take place.

The Winhawks will be participating in the 200 Medley Relay after qualifying under the time standard while setting a new Winona Senior High School Record. The Team of Sr. Co-Captain Samantha Quandahl, Cotter Sophomore Alexandra Zuelke, Freshman Reese Galewski, and Junior Foreign Exchange Student Lalita Charungchainanon are seeded 16^th in the field of 23 qualifiers. At two qualifiers per Section, (16 total), that means 7 teams qualified by time standard. Four came from our own Section 1, Roch Cent, Faribault, Owatonna and the Winhawks. Three more came from Section 6, Minnetonka Chanhassen, and Hopkins. Earlier I wrote that all 3 relays of the Winhawks appearing at State is a rarity. It is for the Winhawks, but in fact 8 other teams have entries in all 3 relays. The teams from Rochester JM (1AA), Prior Lake (2AA), Stillwater (4AA and defending champion),Mounds View (5AA), Wayzata (5AA), Minnetonka (6AA), Eden Prairie (6AA), and Edina (6AA). Pretty good company to be comapred to I would say. The Winhawks will be swimming from Lane 7 flanked by Eagan (Lane 6 and one second faster seed) and Duluth East (Lane 8 and 4 seconds slower seed) and overall event top seed Edina in Lane 4.

Next up, Event 4, Cotter Junior MacKenzie Brosnahan who qualified second at the Section 1AA Championships, is seeded 8^th out of 21 qualifiers. That lands her in the second heat of 3. She will be swimming out of Lane 3. That puts her next to the 2^nd seed overall in lane 4. Her fellow Section 1 qualifier brackets the top seed being in Lane 5. But after all it is the 50 Free. Lane 3, 4, & 5 in her heat are only separated by 28 hundredths of a second.

After some rest, Event 7, the 100 Freestyle and Cotter Junior MacKenzie Brosnahan is back to the blocks. This time she is swimming in the 3^rd of 4 heats. She is seeded 11^th out of 25 entries and swimming out in Lane 6. Again, being a Sprint, the seeds on either side of her are within 4 and 7 tenths of a second respectively.  

Event 9, the 200 Freestyle Relay will bring the next group of Winhawks to the Blocks. Cotter Sophomore Alexandra Zuelke leads off followed by Senior Co-Captain Bridget Bawek, Freshman Haley O’Neill and anchored by Cotter Junior MacKenzie Brosnahan. The Winhawks are seeded 11^th out of 27 teams. They will be swimming out of Lane 6 this time flanked by Edina in 5 and Maple Grove in 7. Edina should be a great target for the Winhawks to keep their eye on and attack.

After a little rest, the Winhawks are once again behind the blocks, this time for the final event of prelims, the 400 Freestyle Relay. Here there are 23 qualifiers. Our Section 1 had it two qualifiers by place. The extras come from Section 2AA Lakeville South, Prior Lake, and Burnsville; Section 3AA Hastings, and Rosemount ; Section 5AA Armstrong  and Section 6AA Edina. This relay will be led off by Junior Foreign Exchange Student Lalita Charungchainanon, second up is Senior Co-Captain Bridget Bawek, 3^rd off the block is Freshman Haley O’Neill and once again anchoring is Cotter Junior MacKenzie Brosnahan. The girls are swimming in Lane 1 in the 2^nd of 3 heats with the team from Mounds View at their side in Lane 2.

You can learn more by going to the MSHSL web page at http://www.mshsl.org/mshsl/upload/MSHSL132441AAMeetProg.htm