The race to the top!

Don’t let Faribault’s record (3-4-0) (2-4-0) fool you. They have had a tough row to hoe. In the pre-season rankings, Faribault was picked by a number of coaches along with Roch Century to finish right behind Roch JM, Roch Mayo, Mankato West and Albert Lea. Guess who their four losses are to? Roch JM, Roch Mayo, Mankato West and Albert Lea. One of their conference wins is against none other than Rochester Century. 

It has been 6 years since their streak of 13 straight Conference titles was broken. That means that a senior this year started POST streak. Although none of them lived the streak, they are acting as if they want to make it back. 

Faribault finished 6^th at Big 9 last year, up two spots from the prior year. They went on to finish 4^th at Section 1A and 17^th at the Class A State Championships. They come into this season losing only four seniors off that squad. Their entire 200 Medley Relay that finished 10^th at State last year is returning. Their big gun is FINALLY a senior, Cecilia Hake, a three-time All-State swimmer, finished in the top five in the Class A state in two events last year after qualifying in four. She has kicked off this season setting pool records to leave a legacy wherever she goes. 

Besides Cecilia Hake, you can keep an eye on her sister, Lauren Hake a diver. Last year she qualified for state and took 11th overall. Also, Ana Stepaniak, a sophomore breaststroker that was part of the 200 Medley and their 200 Free Relay that qualified for state. Lastly, some of their younger folk, 8th graders Bre Bresnahan ( IM, Breast & Distance) and Megan Gehrke (Free).

Some times to take note of:

200 medley: (Hake, Dubbels, Stepaniak, Behrens) 1:55.81
200 free: Caity Angell 2:10.09
200 IM:  Bre Bresnahan 2:30.52
50 Free: Cecilia Hake 25.20; Ana Stepaniak 27.39; Marissa Olson 27:40
1m dive: Hake 218.45; Vininski 192.1; Steinberg 177.85
100 fly: Ana Stepaniak 1:09.25
100 free: Hake 54.43; Dani Behrens 58.39; Caity Angell 1:00.70; Maddie Evenstad 1:01.43
500 free: Cora Showers 5:57.28; 5:43.79; Bre Bresnahan 5:53.80; Ashley Nelson 6:14.00
200 free relay: (Evenstad, Stepaniak, Angell, Ziegler) 1:50.36; Evenstad, Behrens, Stepaniak, Olson 1:47.69.
100 back: Hake 59.95; 59.72
100 breast: Dubbels 1:15.18; 1:14.74
400 free relay: Hake, Behrens, Showers, Angell 4:02.31; Gehrke, Behrens, Evenstad, Hake 4:09.54

The Winhawks (4-3-0) (2-3-0) are on a roll of late and they too are starting to look like a team that has their eyes on bigger and better things. Their win over Owatonna last week was much more dominant than some had though it would be. The Winhawks had an air of confidence about them that had rarely been witnessed in prior meets or seasons, like they were expecting the outcome rather than just looking up to see what happened. 

Team leaders like Sr. Co-Captains Haley O’Neill, Janelle Mueller and Reese Galewski, being aided by fellow senior Greer Kosidowski have the Winhawks clicking pretty well. The young swimmers are producing and the veterans have been working more on technique and understand that personal bests and wins come AFTER hard work and attention to detail. 

There was a great story on the MSHSL website about these two teams working together during the early season training trip the Winhawks took. They have already swum together AND gotten to know each other. The familiarity, the inter team AND intra team camaraderie, the coaching and the competitive edge should all combine to make this an AWESOME swim meet. 

This meet WILL be worth the trip to Faribault!

6PM Faribault HS Pool.