State swimming update

Sauk Centre's state swimmers standing pool side at the U of M Aquatic Center today. PHOTO SUBMITTED

At the Class 1A girls' state swimming and diving preliminaries, Sauk Centre's medley relay team and individual in the 100 backstroke both met their seeds but were unable to crack the top-16 and advance to Friday's finals round.

The 200 medley relay squad of Emily Mensen, Morgan Marthaler, Alyssa Kohorst and Danielle Banal finished 21st out of 24 entries with a time of 1:56.94. Their seed time was 1:54.45, and had they met their seed time they would have finished 18th. The cutoff to get into the finals (16th place) had a time of 1:54.21.

Banal, the lone senior of the group of six Mainstreeters at the state meet (including alternates), finished 22nd out of 26 entries in the 100 backstroke with a time of 1:03.55. The cutoff for the finals had a time of 1:02.37. Banal's seed time was 1:01.75, and that time would have taken 14th place and gotten a spot in the finals.

In the sport of swimming, the differences can be extremely tight between earning medals or just earning a spot in a championship round. No matter what, we can all be proud of seeing these athletes get to state and keeping a terrific long-standing tradition going in Sauk Centre.

In a brief interview following the state meet prelims, head coach James Schreiner said, "Our girls had very good swims, but we were unable to get anyone back for the final day. We get five of these six talented and dedicated girls back in 2015. We are definitely excited about next year!"

Note: state video footage will be posted some time on Friday.