Winhawks seize the moment and bring home a win against a TOUGH Rochester Century team!

For the second Big 9 swim meet in a row, The Winona Winhawks took a lead into the Final event and gutted out a win!

Both teams had Invites over the weekend, Century was at the Lakeville Relays which is an all relay meet and more of a fun outing than a meet. Winona went to Blaine for their invitational and took on some power house Metro teams like Eden Prairie and Mounds View in a standard event format. 

As I reported going in to this meet, both Winona (2-2-0) (1-1-0) and Rochester Century (2-3-0) (2-1-0) were coming off emotional Big 9 wins last Thursday! Century needed to take 2^nd & 3^rd against Owatonna to preserve a victory, and Winona had to take at least 2^nd place in the 4x100 to hold onto their lead for a win.

Tonight, both coaches knew that this meet may just culminate the same way and their experience showed as this one too came down to the 4x100 relay. 

200 Medley Relay - The meet opened with the team of Cotter Freshman Morgan Whyte, Cotter Senior Co-Captain Alex Zuelke, Winona Juniors Reese Galewski and Haley O’Neill flexing their muscles a little and winning going away. The B Relay of Cotter Jr. McKenna Marg, Winona Jr. Greer Kosidowski, Freshman Hanna O’Neill and Cotter Freshman Alex Arnold almost touched out Century for 2^nd and scored much need points with a solid 3^rd.

Rochester Century         4            Winona              10

200 Freestyle – Winhawk Jr. Haley O’Neill swims just off her seed but breaks up the Century sweep in finishing 3^rd and Greer Kosidowski scores in 5^th place to keep the meet close.

Rochester Century         16          Winona              14

The 200 IM – A great race between Century’s Perkins and Cotter Sr. Co-Captain Alex Zuelke sees Alex touch 2^nd, Winona So. McKenzie Porter scores in 5^thbut the Winhawks loose a little more ground to Century. 

Rochester Century         27          Winona              19

50 Freestyle – At this point the Winhawks said enough is enough. Cotter Junior Emily Thurow touches in, what I believe is a personal best with Fellow Cotter Freshman Morgan Whyte  doing exactly the same a half second behind for a big 1-2 shot in the arm finish!

Rochester Century         33          Winona              29

Diving – The diving results did not come in until after the 200 Free Relay, but had they it would have helped the Winhawks realize they were continuing to turn this meet around.  All three divers score points with Winhawk Senior Co-Captain Crystal Franzwa bringing home the win, Jr. Janelle Mueller places 3^rd and the Freshman Sarah Scherbring adds a 5^th place finish to the total for a 10 – 6 edge and the Winhawks pull the meet to even.  All even, the meet just became a seven event contest to determine the winner. 

Rochester Century         39          Winona              39

The 100 Butterfly – This was Winhawk Junior Reese Galewski’s event from the get go, the only question was would an ill Freshman Hanna O’Neill be able to hold off the charging Century swimmers. Hanna did not let her teammates down and the duo score 9 big points to take the meet lead. 

Rochester Century         46          Winona              48

The 100 Freestyle – Winhawk Jr. Haley O’Neill leads wire to wire to win handily. Cotter Junior Emily Thurow swims her second PB of the night to place a crucial 3^rd followed right behind by Cotter Freshman Alex Arnold. The huge 1-3-4 finish makes some cushion for the Winhawks. 

Rochester Century         51          Winona              59

500 Free – Coach Steve Burt taps Winhawk Jr. Reese Galewski on the shoulder for a rare distance swim to try and preserve the Winhawk lead. Along with fellow Winhawks McKenzie Porter and Razil Campbell the gang finishes 3-4-5 and they maintain the Winhawk lead.

Rochester Century         61          Winona              65

200 Free Relay – Smelling blood in the water, the Winhawk relay of Haley O’Neill, Morgan Whyte, Emily Thurow and Alex Zuelke smoke the competition for the win. Recognizing that every point counted in this affair, the quite young B Relay of So. Kailey Kronebusch, Fr. Alex Arnold, Fr. Hanna O’Neill and Fr. Ashley Brommerich announce their presence with a convincing 1 ½ second buffer to score the 3^rd place points, extending the Winhawks’ lead back out!

Rochester Century         65          Winona              75

The 100 Backstroke – Cotter Freshman Morgan Whyte continued her winning ways with a one tenth touch out and an ailing McKenna Marg, coughing as she crouched for the start, brought home a great 3^rd to pad the lead a bit more!

Rochester Century         72          Winona              84

The 100 Breaststroke - This was Sr. Co-Captain Alex Zuelke’s race from the start, dominating wire to wire, her 2 second lead at the 50 turned into 4 seconds by the end. Jr. Greer Kosidowski added 5^th place scoring to allow the Winhawks to have their fate be in their own hands. 

Rochester Century         81          Winona              91

The 400 Free Relay - The Winhawks only needed 2^nd place to put this meet away. Historically, the Winhawks have used up all their senior swimmer entries by this point, but the up and coming crop of swimmers emerging this year means a little more gas in the tank than usual. Jr. Reese Galewski led things off and in spite of that 500 yard swim earlier, handed the Winhawks the lead going into the second leg. Freshman Hanna O’Neil, though not feeling well, swam hard keeping her relay in the thick of things. Junior McKenna Marg came next, also felling poorly, but guts out a good middle leg handing Fr. Alex Arnold a significant buffer. Alex pulls away from the closest contesting Century relay and the Winhawks hold on to score a HUGE dual meet win over Rochester Century. 

Rochester Century         91          Winona         95

JV - Rochester Century 115        Winona              67

The Winhawks (3-2-0) (2-1-0) get a much deserved break from competition and swim next in a Border Battle against Holmen/Onalaska at the Onalaska YMCA next Tuesday.