Sports

Westonka Swim and Dive Team Caps Memorable Season, Preps for Postseason

The Mound Westonka-Holy Family swim and dive team beat a pair of powerhouses for the first time in school history and finished 3rd in competitive Marauder Invitational.

The Mound Westonka-Holy Family swim and dive team’s remarkable season continued with a win at home against Marshall on Oct. 2.

"This was an emotional meet for our team," said head coach Gretchen Rouse. "We have never beaten Marshall before, and it was Senior Night and our final home meet of the season. All of our seniors contribute greatly not only to our score, but to team morale. We are going to miss each and every one of them next year."  

The team honored Westonka seniors Paige Beyer, Grace Polusny and Marilee Saatzer, and Holy Family's Mackenzie Braden, Kayla Lindeman, Alex Mason and Libby New during the meet.  

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"It's crazy to think that was the last time I will ever be competing in my home pool," Beyer said. "I couldn't have asked or a better way to end it."

Meet highlights included personal records set by freshman Shea Braden in the medley relay 50-yard backstroke leadoff and 100-yard backstroke; eighth-grader Rhiannon Mailey, 200-yard freestyle and 500-yard freestyle; junior Sari Mailey, 500-yard free; Libby New, 500-yard free; seventh-grader Eleanor Erdman, 200-yard individual medley; and eighth-grader Maddie Roehrig, 200-yard individual medley.  

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"The girls had great team spirit and showed good sportsmanship," Rouse said. "It's nice to see them developing out of the pool, as well as in, as the season progresses."

The final score was MWHF, 120, Marshall 63.  

MWHF vs. Waconia, Oct. 4

The White Hawks faced a deep Waconia team at an away meet on Oct. 4.  

After a rocky start in the 200-yard medley relay and the 200-yard individual medley, the White Hawks began to rally in the 50-yard freestyle.

Freshman Clare Simon finished the event in 1st place (26.38), followed by sophomore Hannah Daly in 3rd and Ryann Beyer in 4th. The team was down by two points going into the diving event, which was a new experience for the season.  

"I think that pushed us to believe no meet is going to be easy and we have to keep trying our hardest to win," said captain Maggie Green.  

Senior divers Lindeman and Saatzer finished in 1st and 3rd place; junior Emily Minzel was 5th. Junior Sydney Rudy won the junior varsity event.  

"The divers did a fantastic job and really got the girls pumped up," said Rouse. "After diving, everyone on the team stepped up and we had a great meet." 

Maggie Green and Shea Braden were 1st and 2nd in the 100-yard fly; freshman Brie LaVelle, Simon and Paige Beyer were 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the 100-yard free; Polusny and Stark were 1st and 2nd in the 500-yard free.

In the 200-meter freestyle relay, the White Hawks were 1st and 3rd; Lavelle was 2nd in the 100-meter breaststroke. The 400-meter freestyle relay of Paige Beyer, Simon, Polusny and Daly won the event, while the team of Green, Sari Mailey, Rose Inglis and Ryann Beyer was 2nd.  

Personal recordss were set by Rhiannon Mailey, Inglis, LaVelle, Lauren Crawford, Elsa Capistrant-Kinney, Chloe Gruman, Liz Mason, Sally Stark, Lauren Miller, Christina Schindler, Daly, Stephanie Begalke, Green, Mara Isaacson, Emily Staunton, Rudy, Maddie Gutekunst, Sarah Neve, Ryann Beyer, Simon and Shea Braden.  

The final score had the White Hawks on top with 108 points to Waconia's 78.  

"The captains played a huge role in motivating the team," Rouse said. "It is always great to see the captains and older girls take pride and ownership in getting the team ready to go. This meet was a big deal to us/ We had never won against Waconia before."

Marauder Invitational at St. Kate's, October 6

The White Hawks' perfect season suffered a minor dent on Saturday, Oct. 6, as the girls faced two of the state's top-ten Class AA teams at the annual Marauder Invitational at St. Catherine University.

The girls finished 3rd out of six teams behind powerhouses Rosemount and Lakeville North.  

"Going into the meet, I knew there would be a lot of tough competition," said Rouse. "The girls took it as a chance to see what they could do against not only really good athletes, but really good teams."  

The divers started the morning off right, with Lindeman finishing first, and Saatzer coming in second. Lindeman set a personal record high score of 211.25.

Points went to the top-16 in individual events, and junior divers Rudy and Minzel earned theirs with 5th and 7th place finishes. The 200-yard medley relays also performed well. The team of Shea Braden, LaVelle, Green and Daly came in 2nd; the team of Stark, Sari Mailey, Erin Haug and New was right behind in 3rd place.  

Also earning medley relay points were the teams of Crawford, Rhiannon Mailey, Katie Uhas and Kate Rogers; and Begalke, Liz Mason, Staunton and Gruman.  

"Conference, sections and State will all be very competitive," coach Rouse said. "It was good to get some practice against high level teams before we close out the regular season of competition."  

The MWHF White Hawks will compete in the Wright County Conference championship meet on October 27 at Hutchinson.


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