A full season of hard work and dedication has paid off for the BSM girl’s swim team. On Friday, November 8th, senior Captain Harriet White, senior Siri Gudmunson, juniors Lilly Schilling and Emma Rudowsky, and freshmen Carina Gadtke and Maddie Kirkvold solidified their spots to race in the 2024 swimming state tournament.
The six swimmers that advance raced in various events. White and Rudowsky competed in the 500 freestyle and 100 fly races. Along with their events, the team also qualified for the 200-free relay with Schilling, Gudmunson, Gadtke, and Kirkvold and the 400-free relay with White, Rudowksy, Gudmunson, and Schilling. “I’m excited to have my last meet at State and show off what I’ve been working towards this season,” Gudmunson said.
The team prepared the whole week at practice, so they were ready to compete in front of a big audience. Since sections were just a week before, their practices were light, so they weren’t sore or tight for State. “We’ve had to do more yards because we just had sections so it messed up our whole practice routine, so we’ve been going hard but also light to ensure we are rested for this weekend,” White said.
The team’s run at sections was very successful. They finished second overall, and Rudowsky received first place in her individual events. The team is a part of the 2A section, which has very talented teams, including both Breck and Blake. “Everyone is good at state, but Breck and Blake I think are our biggest competition because we compete against them a lot in our sections, and Breck won our section, [so] we [wanted] to beat them,” White said.
The state tournament was a two-day event: Friday, November 8th was the state prelims, and Saturday, November 9th was the finals. It’s an all-day event on both days, so the team got to be together all day and cheer each other on. “On Friday, in the morning we go warm up at the state pool which is at the University of Minnesota, and then we’ll usually get food as a team after. The actual meet starts at noon, and then we get back to school around three, and then Saturday it’s the same thing,” Gudmunson said.