WILLMAR -- As promised after Thursday's unexceptional preliminaries, the Willmar Cardinals were energized for the Section 3A Swimming and Diving Championship on Saturday afternoon.
With the intensity meter red-lining, the host team pushed through two freestyle relays, plus junior Sarah Hund and sophomore Alissa Tinklenberg in individual events.
"I've been looking forward to this meet all season," said Hund, who had individual bests in both the 50 and 100 freestyle races. "We all swam just amazing. It was a great day."
The only disappointment was in diving where Willmar placed fifth, sixth and seventh. Molly Hansvick, Litchfield senior, earned the final qualifying slot to return to the state meet a second straight year.
Diving was won by senior Jessica Stanchfield of Orono, the 2006 state champion.
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The most exceptional individual performance was posted by freshman Audrey Kumm of Hutchinson. She swam on two winning relays and won the 100 butterfly and the 200 individual medley in 2:10.87, five seconds below the existing pool mark.
The first-place team trophy went to Hutchinson in this reconfigured 12-team section that blended teams from Section 2A and 5A with the old 3A.
The swimmers rewrote the pool record book. Six standards fell in the final for seven total (the breaststroke was rewritten on Thursday).
Tinklenberg qualified in the 200- and 100-freestyle races plus anchoring both relays. It's the fourth year the 10-time state medal winner has advanced to the Class A meet in four events.
"The highlight was the 200 free relay," said Tinklenberg. "We're a second off the school record and we'll try for that down at state."
Hund, Aleasha Blokzyl and Sarah Frank joined Tinklenberg to get Willmar's one win -- a section and pool-record 1:41.34. Emily Zondervan, an eighth grader, swam instead of Frank on the 400 relay that went four seconds under the state standard.
Blokzyl swam a season-best 26.11 to take sixth in the 50 free. Hund broke 25.0 in the 50 free for the first time (24.71) and finished second to two-time state champion Megan Geyen of Watertown-Mayer/Delano. Geyen lowered the pool and section standard to 24.27.
Hund was in such good form she beat Tinklenberg for the "first time ever" when she took fourth in the 100 freestyle (55.46) to the sophomore's fifth (55.71), both under the state cut of 56.24.
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"Across the board, everyone dropped times," said coach Carl Shuldes. "The kids really stepped up."
NOTES: The order of finish in diving 2nd-5th was the same as 1-4 last year in the 2A meet at Morris when Dassel-Cokato cousins Beth and Lindsey Keskey, Hansvick and Willmar's Beth Pollack went to state. This time with Stanchfield taking over the top spot, Pollack got pushed out with teammates Alicia Alavardo and Laura Polman just behind ... Attendance was 444, down about 100 from Thursday when twice as many athletes were in the pool ... Rick Loge of the Litchfield Dragons was voted Section 3A Assistant Coach of the Year ... Class A swimming is at noon both Friday and Saturday at the University of Minnesota Aquatics Center.
Team scores
(1) Hutchinson 392 (2) Orono 385 (3) Marshall 274 (4) Willmar 237 (5) Mound-Westonka/Holy Family 196 (6) Watertown-Mayer/Delano 152 (7) Waconia 133 (8) Dassel-Cokato 131 (9) St. Michael-Albertville 117 (10) Montevideo/Yellow Medicine East 89 (11) Litchfield 70 (12) Rogers 37
Individual results
(Event (state cut) state qualifiers in bold ... area results)
200 MEDLEY RELAY (1:57.82) - (1) Hutchinson 1:54.87 (2) Orono 1:55.92 .... (6) Willmar: Cassie Yoakum, Katie Pakola, Anna Fuglestad, Aleasha Blokzyl; 2:00.80 (7) Montevideo/Yellow Medicine East: Renae Clark, Liz Devorak, Katie Burns, Melissa Varpness; 2:00.97 (10) Litchfield: Shelby Anderson, Hanna Walsh, Thomes MacKenzie, Megan Boyle; 2:06.01
200 FREESTYLE (2:03.75) - (1) Allison Maxwell, Rogers, 1:58.79 (2) Alissa Tinklenberg, Wil, 1:59.68 0.(3) Lynn Wegner, Hut, 2:01.21
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200 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY (2:22.39) - (1) Audrey Kumm, Hut, 2:10.87* ** (2) Naja Harvey, Oron, 2:18.37 (3) Kalin Webskowski, Mar, 2:19.80 (4) Heather Rothstein, Hut, 2:19.94 (5) Ariel Mccullum, Wac, 2:21.82 ... (15) Emily Zondervan, Wil, 2:29.53
50 FREESTYLE (25.40) - (1) Megan Geyen, WM, 24.27* ** (2) Sarah Hund, Wil, 24.71 (3) Kaylin Caron, Mar, 24.84 (4) Rebecca Lauer, Hut, 25.23 ... (6) Aleasha, Blokzyl, Wil, 26.11 (10) Melissa Varpness, MYME, 26.41
DIVING - (1) Jessica Stanchfield, Oro, 367.55 (2) Beth Keskey, DC, 315.40 (3) Lindsey Keskey, DC, 302.55 (4) Molly Hansvick, Lit, 279.40 (5) Beth Pollock, Wil, 263.95 (6) Alicia Alvarado, Wil, 257.95 (7) Laura Polman, Wil, 237.70 ... (14) Brooke Feichtinger, Wil, 210.25 (23) Shelbie Walsh, Lit, 85.90.
100 BUTTERFLY (1:03.57) - (1) Audrey Kumm, Hut, :59.48 ** (2) Allison Maxwell, Rogers, 1:01.45 (3) Kalin Webskowski, Mar, 1:01.97 (3) (4) Samantha Lundell, Oro, 1:02.36 (5) Kate Snyder, Mar, 1:02.59 (6) Maggie Reilly, STMA, 1:03.40 ... (11) Thomes MacKenzie, Lit, 1:07.68 (12) Katie Burns, MYME, 1;08.96
100 FREESTYLE (56.24) - (1) Kaylin Caron, Mar, 53.75 **(2) Megan Geyen, WM, 53.77 (3) Rebecca Lauer, Hut, 53.39 (4) Sarah Hund, Wil, 55.46 (5) Alissa Tinklenberg, Wil, 55.71 (6) Lynn Wegner, Hut, 56.14 ... (13) Melissa Varpness, MYME, 58.89
500 FREESTYLE (5:35.32) - (1) Cali Backen, Hut, 5:37.65 (2) Mackenzie Maki, Oro, 5:37.98 ... (14) Ashlee Lundberg, Lit, 6:02.13
200 FREESTYLE RELAY (1:43.84) - (1) Willmar: Sarah Hund, Aleasha Blokzyl, Sarah Frank, Alissa Tinklenberg; 1:41.34* ** (2) Hutchinson 1:41.37 (3) Marshall 1:41.64 ... (5) Montevideo/YME: Molly Grussing, Katie Burns, Liz Devorak, Melissa Varpness; 1:46.01 ... (10) Litchfield: Amanda Turck, Hana Walsh, T. MacKenzie, Jordan Peterson; 1:50.02
100 BACKSTROKE (1:04.1) - (1) Kaylee Kucera, Hut, 1:03.85 (2) Samantha Lundell, Oro, 1:04.34 ... (10) Cassie Yoakum, Wil, 1:07.88
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100 BREASTSTROKE (1:12.39) - (1) Naja Harvey, Oro, 1:08.61 (2) Rachael Johnston, Oro, 1:10.02 (3) Anna Smaron, Oro, 1:11.85 (4) Heather Rothstein, Hut, 1:12.32 .... (10) Liz Devorak, Mon/YME, 1:14.82 (12) Katie Pakola, Wil, 1:15.70 (13) Kristin Daniels, Wil, 1:16.28 (14) Kendra Sietsema, Wil, 1:16.63
400 FREESTYLE RELAY (3:49.47) - (1) Hutchinson 3:41.60* ** (2) Marshall 3:44.41 (3) Willmar: Aleasha Blokzyl, Emily Zondervan, Sarah Hund, Alissa Tinklenberg; 3:45.04 ... (9) Litchfield: Ashlee Lundberg, Megan Rieber, December Lathem, Jordan Peterson; 4:07.25 (10) Montevideo/YME: Kortney Rhode, Abby Smith, Kelsey Norman, Molly Grussing; 4:09.16
*Section 3A record ... **Pool record
