Streeter swimmers compete at sections

Tia Marthaler in the 100 breastroke.

Danielle Banal in the 100 backstroke.

Senior Jenna Tullis in the 500 freestyle.

Julie Bushard competes in the 200 freestyle relay. PHOTOS BY RANDY OLSON

Despite a valiant effort and plenty of close calls, the Sauk Centre girls' swimming and diving team will not be sending anybody on to the state meet.
The Mainstreeters swam well at the section meet Friday and Saturday in Morris, but couldn’t muster any qualifiers in what has become a very tough section. Sartell-St. Stephen’s Marisa Wood and Ellen Bloom dominated the meet in several individual categories.
Sauk’s best chance to get to state was in relays. The 400-meter freestyle relay and the 200 freestyle relay both fared well, but fell just short. The 400-relay team was disqualified in the finals. Still, even their preliminary time wouldn’t have been good enough to get them to state. The team of Sarah Nelson, Katie Schulte, Jenna Tullis and Tiana Molitor finished third in prelims with a time of 3:51.42, more than five seconds ahead of their seed time.
The 200 freestyle relay squad of Nelson, Julie Bushard, Tullis and Molitor also had a great showing, finishing fourth in the finals with a time of 1:44.50, more than five seconds ahead of their seed time.
That was the case for many Sauk swimmers, who earned improved times in the section meet.
Other top finishers in individual categories were Molitor and Tullis. Each posted a fifth place finish. Tullis, a senior who capped off a great career, was fifth in the 200 freestyle with a time of 2:02.64, more than six seconds ahead of her seed time.
Molitor was fifth in the 100 freestyle with a time of 55.64. Her preliminary time was even better at 54.84, which was ahead of her seed time of 56.00.
Molitor also finished seventh in the 50 freestyle in 25.22. Sarah Nelson was ninth in that race, capping off an impressive meet for both sophomores, who look to be great up-and-comers for the Sauk program. In addition to her ninth place mark in the 50 freestyle, Nelson was also seventh in the 100 butterfly in 1:05.46, more than two seconds ahead of her season best seed time.
Senior Katie Schulte also turned in a good meet, finishing 9th in the 500 freestyle in 5:46.08, a full eight seconds ahead of her seed time. Schulte was also 14th in the 200 freestyle in 2:11.16, two-plus seconds ahead of her season best.
Also placing for the Streeters were senior Tia Marthaler(9th, 100 breaststroke, 1:15.95), Shaylynn Wichryk (19th, diving, 93.35), Danielle Banal (15th, 100 butterfly, 1:10.67; 14th, 100 backstroke 1:08.15), and the 200 medley relay team of Kendyl Tullis, Marthaler, Banal and Bushard, who finished 9th in 2:03.64.
Despite not getting anyone through the tough section, the Sauk girls had an outstanding season, and despite losing some quality seniors such as Tullis, Schulte and Marthaler, will be a forced to be reckoned with in the next couple years with a plethora of quality young swimmers waiting in the wings.