North Dakota Women’s State High School Championships

By Brian Savard

GRAND FORKS, North Dakota, November 14. SEVERAL All-American swims and new state records defined the tone of the North Dakota Women's High School State Championships.

Team Scores
Minot successfully defended its state title, winning the team title with 330 points. Fargo North placed second with 255 points while West Fargo earned the third-place honor with 240 points.

Individual Results
Dagny Knutson of Minot, a 2007-08 National Junior Team member, nearly posted national records in both the 200 IM and the 100 freestyle.

Knutson swam a race apart from the rest of the field in the 200 IM, winning the event by just less than 10 seconds. Knutson raced a strong front half and came back sprinting in the freestyle leg, touching the wall in a blistering All-American and state-record time of 1:58.58. Her time bettered her preliminary time (1:58.83) that formerly stood as North Dakota's state record in the event.

She brought back her second 50 in the 100 freestyle faster than the leadoff 50 of the second-place swimmer, winning the event in a jaw-dropping 48.80 time. The All-American time erased the former state mark of 51.49 set by Heather Harris of Fargo South in 1999. Knutson nearly claimed Kara Lynn Joyce's gold standard in the event (48.59), which stands as the national high school record.

Knutson's leadoff 50 (23.22) in the 100 freestyle also broke a state standard set by Lexie Halberstadt of Shanley a few events prior to Knutson's domination of the four-lap sprint. Halberstadt held the former standard of 23.77.

Hannah Whitehead of Grand Forks Central, the recipient of North Dakota Senior Swimmer award, pumped out All-American standards in each of her two individual event wins. Whitehead built up a two-second lead at the 100 mark, and she widened the gap on her second 100 as she took the event in an All-American 1:50.12 time. Whitehead fell just short of her state-record standard of 1:50.09 that she set in 2005.

A 4:55.78 500 freestyle gave Whitehead the state title, an All-American time and a state record. Whitehead defeated her 2005 self, resetting her former standard of 4:58.49.

Halberstadt pulled together two individual event wins and earned an All-American time in the process. Her 50 freestyle (23.77) earned her All-American status while her 100 butterfly (57.51) put her in consideration for the All-American team in the event.

Knutson helped propel two Minot relays to the top of the podium. Minot's 200 medley relay grouping of Maggi Beck, Amber Alexander, Knutson and Kelsey Beechie touched first in a 1:49.73 time while Serena Olsen, Kayla Nelson, Beck and Knutson teamed up in the 400 freestyle relay, taking the event in a 3:37.35 time.

Diving Results
In the diving competition, Megan Keidel of Bismarck won with a 410.45 score. Allison Tracy of Minot placed second (380.15) while McKenzie Rudolph of Minot took third (373.20).

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