Some goals will NOT be deterred. (With the help of your teammates.)

What had me singing in the car on the LONG drive back from Mankato and the Big 9 Girls Swimming & Diving Championships? Well, besides the fact that it was too dark for other motorists to see inside my vehicle. I had just watched a Winhawk Team that had been told:

Big 9 doesn’t mean anything (unless you are good enough to win it for bragging rights) 

AND

You won't swim that well because You’ve just started your taper, you’re still going to be tired, it’s a long bus ride, it’s a six lane pool with no warm-up and taper down area after the meet gets going.

Well, after the water settled and the racing was done: out of 42 entries they swam nearly 20 personal best times, 3 season low times, and the team placed 7^th and if not for a relay DQ and a couple slip ups very easily could have been 4^th. 

This is a Winhawks team that is coming together. They're supportive, cohesive and looking out for each other to the point that those DQ’s and miscues didn’t demoralize, it made them dig harder. 

The meet started on a high note. The Winona B Relay team finished in 14^th (of 20) and the Winona A Relay of Fr. Morgan Whyte, Sr. Co-Captain Alex Zuelke, Juniors Reese Galewski ( who swam a personal best split) and Haley O’Neill swim a season low that further cements their hold on the 3^rd fastest Winhawk Medley Relay ever and big 4^th place points. 

The 200 Freestyle was hotly contested in the final heat with Danielle Nack setting a new Meet Record. Winhawk Sr. Sami Johnson and Jr McKenna Marg swim in the 3^rd heat. Sami swims her seed but swims a personal best by over 2 ½ seconds to do it. Why you ask? Because McKenna was setting the pace swimming an “out of your mind” 6 second drop season low time moving her from her 30^th seed up to finish 21^st. 3 Heats later, Morgan Whyte drops 2 ½ seconds setting a personal best for her and moved up into the scoring in 13^th. Haley O’Neill seeded 12^th swims a season low as well moving up 4 spots to finish 8^th overall. 

The 200 IM, for long a wasteland of times for the Winhawks is beginning to show some promise. In the first heat, young 8^th grader Harper O’Neill sets a personal best dropping 7 seconds. Two heats later, Jr. Razil Campbell and So McKenzie Porter are swimming side-by-side in the middle of the pool. They inspire each other with McKenzie gaining an edge through the Backstroke and Razil them catching her during the closing freestyle, to finish 15^th and 17^th respectively. Razil sets a personal best by over 4 seconds, McKenzie by 4 ½. Two heats later, Fr. Alexandra Arnold swimming as the 15^th seed, makes it a Winhawk Quintella also swimming a personal best and moving up into 9^th place overall points. 

The 50 Freestyle is a tough race this time of year. Team are just starting their taper so bodies are still tires, sore and the 50 gives them no room for hiccups. For example, of the top 24 seeds, only 1/4^th were able to better their seed time, and many were only by hundredths. By the way, the Meet record is still held by Abbey Staats, set back in 2008. Winona 7^th grader Alexa Lofgren was one of those improvers, dropping well over a half second ( which in the 50 is a lifetime) and moves from 37^th seed up to finish 25^th. Winona  Fr. Ashley Brommerich, fighting off a cold swims her seed. Cotter Jr. Emily Thurow is another mover, setting a personal best while turning her 14^th seed into a 10^th place finish! Lastly Sr. Co-Captain Alex Zuelke, capitalizes on weakness and turns her 3^rd seed into a 2^nd place finish!

I covered the 1 Meter diving in the previous blog post; suffice it to say there were ups and downs, but some great learning experiences. Crystal scored in 2^nd but first could have been a real possibility. Sarah had some great highlights and Janelle too had some great highlights and a little learning experience. 

The 100 Butterfly sees Danielle Nack of Mankato West set her second meet record of the day which is also a new pool record. Both Seniors Sami Johnson and Ashlen Haines swim their seeds as does Fr. Hanna O’Neill. In the final heat, Jr. Reese Galewski seeded 3^rd swims a season low, is just off her personal best AND is flirting with the 100 minute mark. 

The 100 Freestyle becomes one of those massive high to massive low points you experience watching the kids compete. In the 4^th Heat, Juniors Emily Thurow and Greer Kosidowski are side by side in lanes 4 & 5 with visions of sub minute 100’s in their head. They’ve worked for it, trained for it and swam it in their head numerous times, they were ready.  The two of them go out fast leading the pack with Greer flipping first at the 50 by hundredths but in 28 low, plenty of buffer to make the under minute goal. They are even at the 75, and Greer misjudges flipping early and not contacting the wall, Emily stays the course. Greer has to work to make the touch and proceed on. Emily touches in a personal best under a minute! The delay for Greer adds disastrous time, and she touches in 1:01. Distraught and discouraged she heads to the bench but her team sisters rush to her side to console, but also to get her to bolster up for the upcoming breaststroke AND another shot at the 100 in the 4x100 Free Relay. In the Final Heat, Jr. Haley O'Neill swimming in Lane 6 is just off her season mark and scores points for 8th overall!

The 500 Freestyle had some exciting swimming for the Winhawks as well. Lacking scorers in previous attempts, it appears the Winhawks are on to better things. Winhawk Fr. Natasha Lewis who has made great strides and time reductions this season leads off and sets yet another personal best by 2 seconds. The 4^th heat has half Winhawks. Fr. Hanna O’Neill in 6 and for the second time today, Jr. Razil Campbell is seeded next to a Winhawk teammate, only this time it is Jr. Reese Galewski looking to help her team out with much needed 500 points. The duo goes out hard leaving the rest of the heat behind. It is just the two of them 50 after 50, until the 350 yard mark. Reese turns on the jets opening a lead and talking the bell lap. At the touch she has a new 500 personal best over 8 ½ seconds. Trailing just off her, Razil touches also setting a personal best, hers by 5 ½ seconds. Both girls are sitting just outside the Winhawk Top 12 List; I would be looking to add one or both of them not so long from now. Young Hanna touches in her seed time to finish out the heat. 

The 200 Freestyle Relay sees the Mankato West Team set a new Meet Record. It has been a strong suit for the Winhawks this year and they were looking to make some points here. The B relay is seeded 15^th and finishes in that spot. The Winhawk A relay of Haley O’Neill, Morgan Whyte, Emily Thurow and Alex Zuelke is seeded 5^th and they manage to turn in a season best time only to be DQ’ed for an early leave by one of the swimmers. Loosing those 14 points points hurt, but the Winhawks rally around each other and press on.

The 100 Backstroke is up and So McKenzie Porter is the first Winhawk to the blocks. She turns at the 25 with the rest of the field and then starts to overpower them. She has one competitor just off her hip at the 50, and takes the swim home in the lead touching in a personal best that is a 5 second reduction of her previous. She converts her 36^th seed into a 20^th place finish. Young 7^th grader Alexa Lofgren is in the next heat and she too swims a personal best time but needed it to hold her seed. Jr. McKenna Marg splashes to touch in her seeded time and place and Freshman Morgan Whyte seeded 5^th, swims a personal best dipping below 1:04 finally and taking 4^th place. 

The 100 Breaststroke sees Al star Lindsey Horejsi smash the old meet and pool record by over 2 seconds. In Heat one, 8^th grader Harper O’Neill swims a personal best and Fr. Ashley Brommerich also swims a personal best stepping up to the plate and swimming the event for the first time.  A great feat considering the venue and size of the meet! Greer Kosidowski is in the 5^th heat seeded 18^th. She takes it out hard and stys with it setting a personal best and moving up two spots into the scoring! The last Winona seed is Sr. Co-captain Alex Zuelke. Seeded 2^nd, she has to swim within herself as Horejsi pulls out in front and Alex distances herself from the rest of the field. Alex remains in 2^nd, the highest finish for a Winhawk in the swimming portion of the Championships, equaled by Franzwa in the Diving!

The 400 Freestyle relay is the vindicator for the earlier DQ, it is also Greer Kosidowski’s second chance at that all elusive Minuteman Club! The B Relay of McKenna Marg, McKenzie Porter, Razil Campbell and Sami Johnson sees McKenzie and Razil swim personal best splits. The Winhawk A Relay of Reese Galewski, Emily Thurow, Alex Arnold and Greer Kosidowski swim like they have one mission, deliver Greer to the finish with a new personal best 100 split. The first three deliver solid races and Greer, swimming last has built herself up into a coiled machine. She hits the water already kicking and powers her way through the first 50 in the fastest 50 split of any of her three teammates and then hangs on in the end to not only break one minute but smash through it in a 58.12!!! Congratulations Greer! The relay also scores in 8th place overall.

The Winhawks finish in 7^th place, a mere 13 points out of 5^th.

Team scores
John Marshall              357
Mayo                            313
Mankato West             277.5
Century                        239
Albert Lea                    216
Faribault                      208
Winona                        203
Owatonna                    174.5
Austin                          143
Mankato East                54

Winhawk Big 9 Diving Summary

The first event in the 2012 Big 9 Girls' Swimming & Diving Championships this year was not the 200 Medley Relay.

This year 37 divers from the 10 high schools in the Big 9 met at Mankato East High School to score the first points of the meet.

The Big 9 Championship is an eleven dive event, consisting of 5 initial dives that pare the field down to 20 Semi-finalists.

From there an additional 3 dives are performed where the field is again reduced, this tie to the top 16.

These divers then do their final 3 dives to determine the overall finish and who contributes the first points to their individual teams.

The eleven dives consist of the five required dives of Front, Back, Inward, Reverse and Twisting, and six additional optional dives made up from the five groups.

No more than one optional dive from each group is permitted and all groups must be represented through semi-finals.

That being said, the divers must determine what dives they want to place where. Get the tough/less favorites out of the way early.

Put you best dives early to make sure you get to semis or finals, spread them around, it all depends on the psycy of the diver and their coach.

The variability of dive placement also means that results at semis and finals don't mean much, as the dive lists are not necessarily apples and apples comparisons.

The diving order is determined by lot, drawing names for diving order.

With 37 divers competing in the preliminaries, after having warmed up, you can go 20 minutes or more between diver. The challenge is to

Winhawk Sr.Megan Seeley was the first up in the order, 13th overall, Megan started out well, scoring low 20's on her Inward dive pike and back 1 somersault.

Her front 1 1/2 ss, front 2 ss and Inward 1 1/2 did not score well and Megan finished in 25th missing the cut into semi-finals.

Next in the order came Winhawk Jr. Janelle Mueller. Janelle started strong scoring 5's on her Inward 1 1/2.

Her second dive was a Forward 2 ss in the tuck position, but it was incorrectly listed on the dive sheet as pike.

Janelle did not realize the announced dive was different than what she was prepared to perform, and did the dive.

An Unsatisfactory dive was declared by the Diving Referee, and the judges could award no more than 2 points. It was a major set back both points wise AND psychologically.

Janelle did not seem to get back on track for one more dive, finally scoring mid twenties on her back 1 1/2 ss tuck and Reverse 1 1/2 ss Tuck, dives 4 & 5.

Janelle finished the preliminaries in 20th place, managing the final spot advancing to the Semi-finals. Having to fight her way up to 16th got to her mentally and her next two dives were not up to her usual standards.

Janelle finished her night in 20th place not advancing on to the finals.

Sarah Scherbring, the youngest of the bunch being a Sophomore, didn't act that way, she started out consistent and maintained it through the semi-finals.

Her first and seconds dives, a Front 1 1/2 SS Tuck and Back dive Straight both scored identical 23.80 points. Her 5th dive, a Reverse 1 1/2 SS Tuck was awarded 4 1/2 - 6's for a 35.20 total.

Come the end of Preliminaries, Sara finished in 10th place overall. She started out well in the semi-finals scoring 4 1/2 - 5 1/2's on her Back 1 SS with 1/2 Twist followed by the same on her Inward 1 SS Tuck.

Then possible disaster struck and Sarah came up short on height performing her Front 2 ss Tuck. She only score 6.60 points from it and advancing looked unlikely.

When they announced the finalists, Sarah had fallen to 16th but still qualified for the Finals. Her Inward dive pike scored 4 - 5 1/2's but the remainder were not enough to move her up, Sarah finished a respectable 16th place.

The last in the Winhawk in rotation was Winhawk Sr. Co-Captain Crystal Franzwa. She scored consistently through the prelims, finishing 10 pts out of first.

In the semi-finals, Crystal's Back Dive Straight scored for 6 1/2's and her Inward dive Pike went for 5's to 7's. She stayed in 2nd but was now only 6 points out of 1st.

In the Finals Crystal gained some ground, getting as close as 2 points out of 1st on the strength of her Inward 1 1/2 ss pike. In the end she stayed in 2nd place.

A distraction along the trip to the ultimate goal

The Big 9 meet is this weekend, diving on Friday Night and Swimming on Saturday afternoon.  

While the temptation to lay it all out against your Big 8 foes is as real as any an athlete experiences, swimmers have to remember, Big 9 isn't the goal, it's a stop on the trip toward the goal. 

You've swam against all but one of the teams, you have beaten half, there is talk of tapers and the end of the season feels near.

The fact is that Big 9 is just another meet and darn good practice for how to perform in a championship format.

It is a preparation for bigger things to come. Swim fast but forget about shaving and forget about the technical suit.

Swim hard, learn, think, but remember, Big 9 is not the prize, it is a distraction on the trip to the finish line.  

And above all, HAVE FUN for gosh sakes!

State True Team Results and some recognizable highlights

Class AA Final Scores

Minnetonka               2203

Wayzata                   2100.50

Stillwater                  2066.50

Eden Prairie             1960

Edina                       1648.50

Mounds View           1500

Maple Grove            1140.50

Rosemount              1131.50

Hastings                  1087.50

Lakeville North         1087.50

East Ridge               1078.50

Blaine                        561

Class A Final Scores

Visitation                    2059

Northfield                  1888

Hutchinson               1782.50

Monticello                 1654

Breck                        1538.50

Mankato West           1484.50

Blake                        1477

Melrose                     1381

Dassel Cokato           1305

Faribault                    1188.50

Park Rapids                 998.50

Willmar                        868.50

Mankato West set a meet record at 3:39.03 in the 400 free relay.

Cecilia Hake from Faribault wins the 100 back at 59.30

500 Free Winner is Chantel Nack from Mankato West at 5:23.00

Mankato West wins the 200 Free Relay 1:40.22

Another meet record for Danielle Nack in the 100 Fly 55.01

Danielle Nack sets a new meet record at 23.61 in the 50 Free

Southern Winhawk college news

Emory Women Defeat D-I UNC Wilmington; Men Fall to Seahawks

In the opening intercollegiate dual meet of the 2012-13 season for the Emory University swimming and diving teams, the Emory women bested NCAA Division I UNC Wilmington 193-102.

Event 1  Women 200 Yard Medley Relay

============================================================================

    School                                            Seed     Finals Points

============================================================================

  1 Emory University-GA  'A'                               NT    1:48.12   11 

     1) Nennig, Sadie E JR              2) McKenzie, Kylie A JR          

     3) Hackler, Leslie E SR            4) Dobben, Anna L SR             

       27.71    30.38    25.96    24.07                                   

  2 University of North Carolina W-NC  'A'            1:47.95    1:48.68    4 

     1) Sears, Rachel A JR              2) Engen, Jenson N FR            

     3) Gargula, Catherine M FR         4) Miller, Nicole I SR           

       27.53    30.17    26.49    24.49                                   

  3 Emory University-GA  'B'                               NT    1:51.06    2 

     1) Schneider, Jackie J SR          2) Carr, Allison N FR            

     3) Woodward, Brooke D JR           4) Larson, Nancy E SO            

       28.55    31.51    26.70    24.30                                   

  4 Emory University-GA  'C'                               NT   x1:51.72 

     1) Thompson, Ellie S FR            2) Aronoff, Lizzie B FR          

     3) Zook, Nina B SO                 4) Brosnahan, Kenzie J FR        

       27.93    31.22    27.53    25.04                                   

Event 13  Women 50 Yard Freestyle

===========================================================================

    Name                    Year School               Seed     Finals Points

===========================================================================

  1 Rosenkranz, Renee E       SR Emory-GA                  NT      24.16    9 

  2 Tanner, Carly R           SR UNC Wilmington-NC      23.88      24.17    4 

  3 Dobben, Anna L            SR Emory-GA                  NT      24.29    3 

  4 Schafer, Ellen C          JR Emory-GA                  NT      24.86    2 

  5 Wolber, Ann M             SR Emory-GA                  NT     x24.90 

  6 Miller, Nicole I          SR UNC Wilmington-NC      24.81      25.27    1 

  7 Grose, Katie E            FR UNC Wilmington-NC      25.99      25.83 

  8 Dangremond, Courtney L    SO UNC Wilmington-NC      26.16     x25.94 

 -- Brosnahan, Kenzie J       FR Emory-GA                  NT     X25.17 

Event 31  Women 200 Yard Freestyle Relay

===========================================================================

    School                                           Seed     Finals Points

===========================================================================

  1 University of North Carolina W-NC  'A'            1:36.84    1:38.27   11 

     1) Tanner, Carly R SR              2) Shaver, Heather D FR          

     3) Sears, Rachel A JR              4) Miller, Nicole I SR           

       24.32    25.60    23.92    24.43                                    

  2 University of North Carolina W-NC  'B'                 NT    1:41.82    4 

     1) Grose, Katie E FR               2) Washburn, Cameron W JR        

     3) Wilson, Rachel G SR             4) Lohr, Katie M SO              

       25.83    25.46    25.38    25.15                                   

  3 University of North Carolina W-NC  'C'                 NT   x1:44.35 

     1) Gargula, Catherine M FR         2) Schwartz, Emily R JR          

     3) Kelly, Grace A JR               4) Dangremond, Courtney L SO     

       25.84    26.37    26.19    25.95                                   

 -- Emory University-GA  'A'                               NT   X1:37.74 

     1) Rosenkranz, Renee E SR          2) Dobben, Anna L SR              

     3) Larson, Nancy E SO              4) Wolber, Ann M SR              

       24.89    24.30    24.19    24.36                                   

 -- Emory University-GA  'B'                               NT   X1:39.22 

     1) Carr, Allison N FR              2) Brosnahan, Kenzie J FR        

     3) Pak, Jennifer M JR              4) Lemberg, Suzanne G JR         

       25.44    24.48    24.61    24.69                                  

Women - Team Rankings - Through Event 32                    

  1. Emory University    193   2. University of North Carolina W      102