Six State Records Fall as Edina and Hutchinson/New Century Charter Repeat as Minnesota Girls High School Champs

MINNEAPOLIS, December 28. IT was the same old same old at the Minnesota Girls High School Championships last month. The same teams that took home the championship hardware in 2003 – Hutchinson/New Century Charter and Edina – brought more back this year.

The Minnesota state girls' high school swim championships, held Nov. 22-24 at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center, produced five records, including one all-time state-meet mark.

(The boys' championship will be held early next year.)

Class A
Records were broken by swimmers in the 200 yard individual medley and 100 butterfly as the Tigers of Hutchinson/New Century Charter won their second consecutive and third overall championship.

Hutchinson/New Century Charter and Benilde-St. Margaret’s battled for the team title through the early events, trading the lead. Through four events, Hutchinson led 82-81. Neither team had any divers in the finals, so junior Julie Brummond of The Blake School, who won the event, brought her team in front by 10 points.

After seven events, Hutchinson led Blake 122-107 and Benilde-St. Margaret’s slipped to third at 90. Blake led Hutchinson by six points going into the final event, the 400 freestyle relay. However, Blake didn’t have a team make the finals. Hutchinson did and won both the race and the title.

The top three team scores: Hutchinson/New Century Charter – 209; Benilde-St. Margaret’s, St. Louis Park – 182; The Blake School, Minneapolis – 175.

Hutchinson/New Century Charter senior Lindsay Wegner broke her own Class A state-record by .03 in the 200 IM as her winning 2:08.74 bettered her record set at the 2003 state meet.

Red Wing senior Beth Kiczula knocked .86 off her 100 butterfly record that she had set a day earlier in the preliminaries. The Class A state meet mark is now 56.10 and Kiczula also won the 100 breaststroke.

Benilde-St. Margaret’s senior Lauren Bergstrom won both the 200-500 yard freestyles. Fergus Falls senior Stacy Busack also won a pair of golds in the 50-100 freestyles. St. Cloud Cathedral senior Stephanie Gross won the 100 backstroke, Hutchinson/New Century Charter won the 200 medley relay and Sauk Rapids-Rice won the 200 freestyle relay.

Wegner’s IM win, Kiczula’s breaststroke win and the double wins by both Bergstrom and Busack were all successful defenses of 2003 championships.

Class AA
Hornets, contrary to common entomological knowledge, can take to the water rather well. At least the Hornets of Edina can, as they splashed to their second consecutive and ninth overall Class AA championship.

Edina’s 200 yard medley relay team finished fourth – and that was the last time, in the very first event, the Hornets ever trailed. A first in the next event, the 200 freestyle by sophomore Megan Braun, pushed them out in front for good.

The Ponies of Stillwater Area galloped behind, keeping pace, but finished second, 18 points behind Edina. The differential after 11 events was 12 points in Edina’s favor. Both teams were entered in the 400 freestyle relay that Edina won to seal its team championship and defend its 2003 title. Stillwater Area was second in the event and in the team competition.

The top three team scores: Edina – 246; Stillwater Area – 228; Lakeville – 151.5.

Edina’s 200 freestyle relay team established a state meet all-time record of 1:35.78, .99 better than the previous mark set by Apple Valley in 1996. Ninth-grader Abbey Bishop, junior Emily Triggs, sophomore Megan Braun and junior Andrea Hanson now own that mark, which is also the state-meet mark for Class AA.

Stillwater Area sophomore Rachel Fredrickson set a state-meet AA record of 55.26 in defending her 100 butterfly title and Braun, the runner-up, also bettered the previous mark.

Burnsville sophomore Kerry Kraemer is the owner of the state-meet Class AA 100 breast record with her pr/All-America auto 1:02.94 in the 100, also a successful defense of her crown from last year. The time ranks her among the leaders nationally.

Edina’s Braun raced to her second No. 1, defending her 200 freestyle title she first won as a freshman. Rochester John Marshall senior Jenny Shaughnessy repeated in both the 200 individual medley and the 100 freestyle, and Woodbury senior Erica J. Schiffler won diving.

Cretin-Derham Hall ninth-grader Alexa O’Brien won the 500 freestyle and White Bear Lake Area sophomore Maggie Meyer won the 100 backstroke.

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