The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing. - Socrates

The 2011 Section 1AA True Team Championship was held Saturday at Farmington. If you are a little sketchy on the difference between the Section Meet and the Section True Team Meet, here it is. The True Team concept is based on the principal that scoring ALL team entries is a better measure of how teams stand than only scoring the top 8 finishers or the top 16 in Championship meets. So to assure a somewhat level playing field, each team is allowed up to 4 entries in each individual event. The Event is scored based on the number of entrants. So if there are 34 entries, first place is worth 34 points, last place is worth 1 point. Every event is scored this way and in the end, the team with the most points is the Section 1AA True Team Champion. This coming Wednesday, they will hold the True Team State Championship at the U of MN.

The only kicker is that not all teams participate, for a variety of reasons. This year, only Host Farmington, Rochester JM, Owatonna and Winona were competing. 

The biggest truth of the day was that the Winhawks had an AWESOME meet with many of them swimming personal best times in spite of some very tough workouts and this being their 3rd meet in 9 days. 

The 200 medley Relay saw the Winhawks seeded 2^nd behind Farmington and the Winhawks stayed true to their seed. The team of Cotter Senior MacKenzie Brosnahan (Back), Cotter Junior Alexandra Zuelke (Breast) Winhawk Sophomore Reese Galewski (Fly) And Winhawks Sophomore Haley O’Neill (Free) swim their fastest time of the season. The icing on the cake is that the time moves them up one notch to the 3^rd fastest Medley Relay in Winhawk history. 

The 200 Freestyle saw everyone performing at a high level. First Kayla Berg went out in the 2^nd heat and swam just 2 tenths off the personal best she set two nights earlier. Next heat Winhawk Sophomore Greer Kosidowski lops over 1 ½ seconds off her previous best time and improving on her seed by one place to 11^th overall.  Right next to her, Cotter Sophomore McKenna Marg also sets a new personal best time finishing 10^th overall. IN the final heat, Winhawk Sophomore Haley O’Neill, having just sprinted in the relay 8 minutes earlier swims not only a new season low time, but improves on her seed moving up from 8^th to 5^th place overall!

Next up was the 200 IM. In the 2^nd of 3 heats, Cotter 8^th Grader Alexandra Arnold swims a new personal best and improves on her seed from 14^th to 13^th. Across the pool, Winhawk Freshman McKenzie Porter also swims a new personal best and improves her seed from 12^th to 11^th place overall. In the Final Heat, Galewski and Zuelke place 6^th places 5^th overall respectively in a tough field where Farmington wins it and Rochester goes 2-3-4. 

The 50 Freestyle was led out by Winhawk 8^th grader Natasha Lewis swimming a personal best. The following heat saw Sophomore Kennedy Kolas also setting a new personal best time. In the final two heats, Winhawk Sophomore Abbey Quandahl, Cotter Sophomore Emily Thurow, and Cotter Senior MacKenzie Brosnahan finish 15^th, 10^th and 3^rd respectively. 

The One Meter Diving was held in the morning and had an eleven dive list competition. All 5 Winhawk Divers were eligible and competing for the first time in this format. The competition consisted of 5 dives at which point they trim the field to 16 divers. Then they perform 3 dives, announce the standings during a break and then finish up with the last 3 dives. In her first 11 dive list meet, Winhawk 7^th Grader Claire Conway shows determination and overcomes a shaky start making the cut for the Semi-finals in 16^th place. Right ahead of her also in her first 11 dive competition, Winhawk 7^th Grader Brynn Strange qualifies for the semis placing 15^th. As for the 11 dive veterans, Winhawk Freshman Sara Scherbring advances in 12^th place overall. Winhawk Sophomore Janelle Mueller is 10^th and Winhawk Junior Crystal Franzwa is 2^nd. Some of the girls’ dives to highlight that got them there include Clair hitting her Reverse 1 somersault (ss) Tuck for 3’s and 14.4 points, Brynn hits her Inward 1 ss Tuck for 15.2 points on 3’s being awarded. Sara lands her Forward 1ss 1Twist for 4’s and 5’s to score 27.55. Janelle is doing really well throwing 1 ½ ss on her Inward, Back and Reverse optionals. She turns her Back 1 ½ ss well but hits her feet on the board during the entry and is penalized hard. She comes right back with a Reverse 1 ½ ss T landing it for 4’s and 4.5’s for 26.25 points. Crystal scored very well on her required dives. Her Back Dive Straight goes for 5.5’s to 6.5’s and scores 31.55. Her Reverse Dive Straight was a beauty and scores 6.5’s to 7’s for 36.9 points. After the Semi-finals, Claire and Brynn maintain their positions; Sara slips one to 13^th but Janelle moves up one to 9^th. Crystal moves herself up to take the overall lead! Finishing up, among their final dives, Claire throws a Forward 1 ss 1 Tw, an advanced dive for a first timer. Brynn looking very strong opts for the Back 1 SS 1 TW. Sara finishes up with an Inward 1 ss Tuck, Janelle showing GREAT promise, throws a Forward 2 ½ ss Tuck, ( only 2 divers in the entire field attempt this one) and Crystal throws her Forward 1 ss with 2 ½ Twists. In the end, Claire finishes 16^th, Brynn, 15^th, Sara, 12^th, Janelle, 10^th, and Crystal wins the Diving Competition!

The 100 Butterfly has two Winona entries. Cotter Sophomore Valeria Bautista-Ruiz finishes 14^th and Winhawk Sophomore Reese Galewski finishes 2^nd overall.

The 100 Freestyle sees Cotter 8^th Grader Morgan Whyte swim to a season low and 11^th place overall. Cotter Sophomore Emily Thurow finishes 10^th, Winhawk Sophomore Haley O’Neill places 5^th overall and MacKenzie Brosnahan finishes 3^rd overall in the face of tough competition that ends up relieving Winhawk alum Abbey Staats of her Meet record that has stood since 2006. 

The 500 Freestyle had 3 heats. In the first heat, Winhawk 8^th Grader Natasha Lewis improves her time for the 5^th time in 6 meets setting a new personal best time and placing 15th. In heat two, Winhawk Razil Campbell swims her seed time and improves her place up to 11^th. Winhawk Freshman McKenzie Porter swimming beside her appeared to tire early, then recovered at the 250 and started progressively negative splits on her way to a new personal best time by over 5 ½ seconds and 10^th place overall. 

The 200 Freestyle Relay saw Zuelke, Haley O’Neill, Thurow and Brosnahan seeded 1^st. They swim to a new season low and improve their time still holding onto the 6^th fastest 200 Free Relay ever, but finish 2^nd to a motivated Farmington Team. 

The 100 Backstroke started out hot with Winhawk 8^th Grader Lilly Beyer swimming a personal best time. Senior Co-Captain Kayla Berg swam to her seed to finish in 16^th place. Winhawk Sophomore Abbey Quandahl finishes in 11^th place swimming a new personal best for herself in the process!  Cotter 8^th Grader Morgan Whyte finishes in 9^th place and Cotter Sophomore McKenna Marg improves on her seed to finish in 6^th place overall. 

The 100 Breaststroke led out with Alexa Morescke stepping in for a missing Winhawk and placing 16^th. Cotter 8^th Grader Alexandra Arnold places 11^th and Winhawk Sophomore Greer Kosidowski just gets touches out and finishes 10^th. Cotter Junior Alexandra Zuelke seeded first lived up to expectations outclassing the field and wins after building a huge lead in the first 50 yards and adding a hair more to it in the final 50. 

The 400 Freestyle Relay for the Winhawks finished 5^th, swimming all youngsters as they gear for the future. 

Final Scores

Rochester John Marshall     621

Farmington                          596

Owatonna                            425

Winona                                 393

Next up – Rochester Mayo at Mayo Tuesday Evening, Oct 18^th.