When everything aligns

If it was predictable, it wouldn’t be sport, or fun. 

The Winona Winhawk Girls Swimmers & Diver state qualifiers hung it all out this weekend, looking to cap their season with glory. Two relays and four individual entries were Winona’s mark on the 2011 State Championships. Not bad after a hard fought Sectionals contest. The Winhawks finished sixth at Sections, behind of course JM, Mayo, Hastings and Farmington which had more entries than I care to count, but also Rochester Century, who as it turned out, only had one state entry. The Winhawks had edged out Owatonna at Sections, a reversal of Big 9, but Owatonna only qualified a relay and four individuals (2 divers, 2 swimmers). The Winhawks were way ahead of the game already. I am not making excuses, here, the girls need none, they gave it their maximum effort, I just like to help put things in perspective for those that were there, and more importantly not there. 

The State Championships start with the Diving Prelims on Thursday evening. The University of MN Diving well consists of a separate well from the swimming, two one meter boards flanked by two 3 meter boards divided by the tower complex with platforms at 5, 7 and 10 meter heights. It is an imposing sight if you have never been there before. The divers are allowed to warm-up for a half hour by section. Many of the divers from the twin cities Sections either dive at u of MN camps or with dive clubs that work out at the Natatorium so they are familiar with the boards. The outstate divers, may not be so lucky. In groups of 8, the divers have 30 minutes to try out the two boards, pick which one feels best to them, and then practice/warm-up. After all sections have had their warm-up, there is an open period for all divers to use the boards for 30 minutes. Then competition starts. Diving features the top 4 divers from 8 different Sections. The 32 divers are allowed to perform 5 dives each, at which point the field is pared down to 20. Each dive, with the announcing, performing the dive, and the scoring takes around a minute. So from one dive to the next, you may be sitting around for 30 minutes or so. Performing well is a mixture of diving prowess AND the ability to compete under these conditions. Crystal Franzwa performed her 5 dives and missed advancing to the second round by just 5 ½ points, scoring 143.85. Her Section 1 counterparts also missed the cut, the two Owatonna divers finishing with 120+ points and the Roch Century diver ( their only State Qualifier) just 2 ½ points ahead of Crystal. As of Thursday night, half of Owatonna’s qualifiers were out and Roch Century was finished with their State Meet experience already. 

On Friday, the swimming preliminaries start. With Class A warm-ups at 10 and competition at Noon, the Winhawks had to wait all day for a 4PM warm-up, occupying their time with movies and relaxing. Come time, the Class AA Girls, nearly 300 in number, have to take turns warming up, as the pool cannot accommodate all of them at once. 

First up was the Medley Relay with their 14th place seed. The girls, MacKenzie Brosnahan, Alexandra Zuelke, Reese Galewski, and Haley O'Neill swim slightly off their seed time, and are 18th, just 8 tenths of a second out of the consolation round. Owatonna finishes 21st, and 3/5ths of their State team is headed home already. 

Next up, the 50 Freestyle. Cotter Senior MacKenzie Brosnahan has the 7th seed swimming in Lane 3 of the 3rd heat. Of the remaining 17 seeds behind her, 16 are separated from her by a mere 8 tenths of second. MacKenzie swims just off her seed and qualified for the Consolation Final with the 11th fastest time. In Saturday’s Final, MacKenzie swims The 100 Freestyle features the next swim for MacKenzie. Her Section finish places her 4th seed, Lane 5 in the final heat. The time differential between her 4th seed and the 12th seed is under a second. She places 11th swimming off her seed time. In the Saturday final she swims the identical time, finishing 13th overall. 

The 200 Freestyle Relay comes next. Having qualified by time, the girls, Alexandra Zuelke, Haley O'Neill, Emily Thurow, and MacKenzie Brosnahan swim just off their seed time but qualify for the Consolation Final, sitting in 16th place. In the Saturday Finals swimming from Lane 8, the girls kick it down a notch, Alex Zuelke delivers her teammates the lead and Haley O’Neill swims her fastest split of the season. In the end the girls swim the time that got them to State and move up to 14th overall. 

Last up, Alexandra Zuelke takes to her Lane 8 block to swim the prelims for the 100 Breaststroke. Alex swims just off her seed time and outside of qualifying for Finals. 

In the end, the Winhawks finish in 28th place with 14 points. 

For the Section 1AA schools, both Rochester Century and Owatonna go home on Friday pointless, not having qualified for Finals. The remaining 4 teams show just how TOUGH Section 1AA is. Rochester JM finishes 4th and Rochester Mayo finished ONE point behind them in 5th. Farmington takes 13th and Hastings is right behind them in 14th. So Section 1AA takes 4 of the top 14 spots, the Winhawks did well considering. 

Interestingly, Section 6 teams take 1st, 2nd & 4th as well as 20th and 30th place so their Section meet was almost a mini-state meet!