After a successful Sections meet girls’ swim and dive team gears up for State

Girls’ Swim places second at Section 2A and sends several racers to State.

Matt McGonigle, Video Editor
November 15, 2018

This past weekend, BSM’s Swim & Dive team competed at the MSHSL section 2A swim meet qualifying four swimmers for this week’s state meet.

After 13 weeks of hard work and preparation, the team entered into sections confident and excited. The team managed to qualify 16 individual swimmers for section finals and collectively placed second overall, as a team.

Last weekend’s section meet went especially well for sophomore Taylor Williams. Williams swam the 200 and 100-yard freestyle events and also participated both the 200 and 400-yard freestyle relays. Williams dominated in the 200 freestyle placing first, breaking the meet and pool records with a time of 1:52.55. “It was a great meet for me. My 200 free was a good swim to get to state,” Williams said.

Williams also dominated in the 100 freestyle taking first, breaking the pool and meet record, as well as finishing with an All-American consideration time of 50.62. Williams qualified in all four events for this week’s state meet. “I wanted to see what I could do in the 100 free. It was my last individual event of the day so I decided to not think about all the small details, and instead just swim and see what happens. When I touched the wall and saw my time, I couldn’t believe what I saw. My time from finals is my all time best,” Williams said.

Along with Williams, freshman Sydney Holinka also had a very successful sections meet. Holinka competed in the 200 freestyle with Williams and the 100 backstroke. She also was a member of the 200 and 400-yard freestyle relay events. Holinka placed fourth in the 200 freestyle respectively with a time of 1:56.92. Holinka also had a strong showing in the 100 backstroke breaking a minute with a time of 59.40 taking second in the event overall.

BSM gained a lot of young talent this year but especially with eighth-grader Lauren Benedict. This is Benedict’s first year on the team transferring from Blake. “My first year on the BSM Swim Team has been very fun and I love the team! At first, I was scared to be apart of a new team, but everyone was so welcoming and I had a lot of fun with the girls on the team,” Benedict said.

Benedict competed in the 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard butterfly events this past weekend and found great success in both. Benedict placed second in the 50 freestyle with a time of 25.07 and 5th in the 100 fly respectively with a best time of 59.79. Benedict was also a member of the 200 and 400-yard freestyle relays qualifying for state in all four events.

After an extremely successful sections meet, the swim team is excited and eager to see what they can do at state. “I feel good! I have been preparing for this all season, and I feel my training this season will really help me in this meet. I’m mentally and physically ready to race at state,” Benedict said.

The girls’ team hopes for success in each other’s individual events, but also for success in 200 and 400 freestyle relays collectively. “Both the 200 and 400 relays are seeded fourth going into prelims. My goal for these relays would be to stay in the championship heat (top eight) and beyond that, I just want to see what we can do,” Williams said.

The relays composed of Williams, Holinka, Benedict, and senior Melinda Beason have great potential for this year’s state meet and hopefully can come with all-state medals. The 2018 MSHSL State Class A Swim Meet finals will be held on Friday, November 16 at the elite University of Minnesota aquatic center.