MINNEAPOLIS -- The Willmar Cardinal girls made their biggest medal haul ever at state swimming Wednesday.
Led by senior Dana Guetter, who claimed silver medals in both the 50 freestyle and the 100 freestyle, the Cardinals placed sixth in the Class A field.
Alissa Tinklenberg took third for the second year in a row in the 200 freestyle and sixth in the 500 freestyle.
Four school records were set at the meet.
"We knew we had it in us, but we had to do it (at state) and the girls really came through," said head coach Carl Shuldes.
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The 200 medley relay team came in fourth in a school-record 1:53.77, while the 200 freestyle relay was sixth. The latter was the only event Willmar swimmers didn't drop time from the preliminaries on Tuesday at the University of Minnesota Aquatics Center.
Visitation swimmers won six of 12 events for its first small-school team title. Visitation is an all-Catholic school on the south edge of St. Paul in Mendota Heights.
Willmar's sixth place was the best in school history. The Cardinals followed two other Section 2A teams: Hutchinson in fourth and Fergus Falls in fifth.
Guetter swam personal-bests both days at the state meet in each of her individual events. The second seed coming into both events, she went 24.39 in the 50 freestyle on Wednesday, losing only to top-seeded Megan Geyer of Watertown-Mayer/Delano, who posted a Class A meet record time of 23.54.
In the 100 freestyle, Guetter set a school record in the preliminaries, then lowered it in the final another .28 to 53.71. Guetter, who swam in her fifth straight state meet, was fourth in the 50 and seventh in the butterfly last year. Heather Miller held the 100 freestyle mark of 54:32 since 1994.
Like last year, Tinklenberg saved her best to the season's last meet.
Like a tiger hiding in the tall grass, she came in seeded far back in the 200 free. She cut 4.03 second in the prelims and another .9 in the final to pounce on the third-place medal a second straight year. She lowered her 2004 school standard to 1:58.53.
In the 500, Tinklenberg cut eight-plus seconds off her seed time and nearly seven seconds off her school record set in the regular season. She followed a 5:23.35 in prelims with a 5:22.92 in the final, taking sixth in both races.
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Willmar began the meet flying to a fourth-place finish in the 200-yard medley relay. Tinklenberg, senior Anita Nelson, eighth-grader Aleasha Blokzyl and Guetter clocked a record 1:53.77, which was .20 under Tuesday's time and .32 under their Section 2A time. The year-old record of 1:53.77 was the same team, except Krista Koenen was up instead of the Blokzyl.
The 200-free relay unit finished a half-second from third place. After dropping a whopping 1.68 in the prelims, the quartet of Blokzyl, Tinklenberg, sophomore Sarah Frank and Guetter went up .27 to 1:41.83 for sixth-place medals. Frank, in her first state meet, had her fastest split by a half second (26.13). Blokzyle had life-time best splits in both relays.
"Dana and Alissa, I think, were running out of gas in the last relay," said Shuldes. "It was their eight race (each) in two days, and Alissa had just finished the 500."
All six Willmar swimmers qualified as all state.
"This was an outstanding meet for the girls and an especially nice for Dana and Anita to be able to end their high-school careers on the medal stand at the state meet," concluded Shuldes
The Willmar team took 11th at state last fall.
Maggie Hansvick, Litchfield senior, took third in the consolation heat of the breaststroke. Montevideo/YME placed fifth in the medley relation consolation heat.
Class A team scoring
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(1) Visitation 292 (2) Breck 193 (3) Lakeville South 170 (4) Hutchinson 139 (5) Fergus Falls 131 (6) Willmar 119 (7) Blake 117 (8) Northfield 111 (9) Mankato West 104 (10) Watertown-Mayer/Delano 90 ... (36) Montevideo/Yellow Medicine East 8 (40) Litchfield 6
(Key: champion....Area results)
200 MEDLEY RELAY - (1) Breck 1:50.62 .... (4) Willmar: Alissa Tinklenberg, Dana Guetter, Anita Nelson, Aleasha Blokzyl; 1:53.77 (13) Montevideo/YME: Amy Johnson, Cassy Olson, Casey Schulte, Madi Eid: 1:56.97
200 FREESTYLE - (1) Jenny Steege, Visitation, 1:55.82 (2) Sammi Husband, Breck, 1:58.11 (3) Alissa Tinklenberg, Willmar, 1:58.53
200 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY - (1) Martha Cutter-Wilson, Visitation, 2:12.09
50 FREESTYLE - (1) Megan Geyen, Watertown-Mayer/Delano, 23:54* (2) Dana Guetter, Willmar, 24.39 .... (27) Madi Eid, Montevideo/YME 25.79
DIVING - (1) Julie Brummond, Blake, 390.05 ... (17) Mistie Persson, Montevideo/YME
100 BUTTERFLY - (1) Megan Geyen, Watertown-M/Del., 58.23
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100 FREESTYLE - (1) Meghan Weiss, Visitation, 52.98 (2) Dana Guetter, Willmar, 53.71 (3) Sammi Husband, Breck, 53.79
500 FREESTYLE - (1) Jenny Steege, Visitation, 5:13.98 .... (6) Alissa Tinklenberg, Willmar, 5:22.92
200 FREESTYLE RELAY - (1) Visitation 1:39.39 ... (6) Willmar: Aleasha Blokzyl, Alissa Tinklenberg, Sarah Frank, Dana Guetter; 1:41.83 ... (17) Montevideo/YME: Madi Eid, Maggie Hathway, Ali Rongstad, Melissa Varpness; 1:44.08
100 BACKSTROKE - (1) Kara Fisher, FF, 59.73
100 BREASTSTROKE - (1) Anne Gusewelle, Sauk Centre, 1:07.05 ... (11) Maggie Hansvick, Litchfield, 1:10.96.
400 FREESTYLE RELAY - (1) Visitation 3:37.95
* New Class A state meet record
