Hutchinson Wins Class A, Edina Takes Class AA, at Minnesota High School Champs

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn., February 24.

Class A
Hutchinson won its second Class A state high school championship title convincingly, accumulating nearly 60 more points than defending champion Red Wing.

Runner-up Northfield finished 40 points ahead of Red Wing. Red Wing, the three-time defending champion, had to settle for third. Hutchinson, which won the first Class A title in 1997, scored 222 points; Northfield scored 205.5; Red Wing finished with 165.5. Hutchinson won two of the three relays, which carry double the points of the other events, and set a new Class A meet record of 1:49.54 in the 200-yard medley relay.

Four individuals returned for more gold in six events. Only two were successful, however, each was twice successful. Hutchinson junior Lindsay Wegner defended her 200-yard individual medley and 100-yard butterfly titles. Wegner’s defense of the IM title was accomplished in Class A meet record time.

Rosemount’s Patti Wegner set the previous mark of 2:09.09 in 1999. Lindsay Wegner’s time of 2:08.77 is the new mark. Lauren Bergstrom, a junior at Benilde-St. Margaret’s of St. Louis Park, also defended her 200-yard freestyle and 500-yard freestyle titles.

Three other Class A meet records were also established. Fergus Falls junior Stacy Busack set two of them. Fourth last year in the 50-yard freestyle, Busack not only won the event this year but in record time of 23.59 seconds, 26-hundredths of a second faster than the previous mark. Busack, second last year in the 100-yard freestyle, returned this year to win it, again in record time of 51.74 seconds, 83-hundredths of a second faster than the previous mark. Hutchinson ninth-grader Nikki Bakke set a record in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 58.41 seconds, 42-hundredths of a second better than the previous mark.

Class AA
The Hornets of Edina returned to their winning ways, winning two of the three relays and one individual event, but high-enough finishes in others to tally 275 points. Defending champion Burnsville had to settle for second place with 187.5 points. Eagan was third with 160 points.

The Class AA swimmers also accounted for one new all-time record and two new Class AA records. Eagan senior Roxanne Akradi won the 100-yard backstroke in state meet all-time record time: 55.37 seconds. She had actually set the new mark of 55.83, a tenth-of-a second better than the previous record, during her preliminary heat on Fri., Nov. 14. The new record is now 55.37. Akradi also won the 50-yard freestyle.

The two Class AA records came in the 200-yard freestyle relay with Edina’s 1:36.80 performance, just three-hundredths of a second off the all-time record, and in the 100-yard breaststroke with Burnsville ninth-grader Kerry Kraemer’s swim of 1:03.32, nearly a full second faster than the previous mark.

Three teams defended their relay titles: Burnsville in the 200-yard medley relay and Edina in the other two. Champions in five individual events returned to defend titles: Rochester John Marshall junior Jenny Shaughnessy succeeded in the 200-yard individual medley; Burnsville senior Emily Gregory succeeded in the 100-yard butterfly; Akradi repeated in the backstroke; and Kraemer repeated in the breaststroke.

The 2003 State Girls’ Swimming and Diving Meet was held Nov. 13-15 at the University of Minnesota Aquatic center in Minneapolis.

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