Consolation Prizes in the Pool
The Prior Lake girls swimming team settled for consolation prizes at the Class AA state swim meet Nov. 14.
The Lakers had a rough prelims the day before at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center. They had 10 swims overall, but only four returned for the second day and all were in the consolation heat (top 16).
Meanwhile, junior Jamie Kimble qualified for the finals in diving (top 20) and scored some points for the Lakers with a 14th-place finish in her second-career state appearance. She finished with an 11-dive score of 344.70.
Overall, Prior Lake finished with 30.5 points, which placed it 17th in the team standings. Wayzata won the title (337), leading a Lake Conference sweep of the top three followed by Edina (281) and Minnetonka (192).
Junior Lauren Harris and the Lakers' 200 medley and 400 freestyle relays also scored team points.
Harris was the only Laker to earn a second-day swim in an individual event. She finished 14th in the 100 backstroke with a time of 58.67 and tied for 10th in the 100 butterfly (56.84).
Harris was seeded 14th in the 100 backstroke and 10th in the 100 butterfly. After the prelims, she was 14th (58.85) and 13th (56.92), respectively in both events.
Harris was also part of the 200 medley and 400 freestyle relays. She joined junior Alex Spinner, ninth-grader Madison Shimek and eighth-grader Skylar Welle in the medley relay that finished 12th (1:50.45). Seeded 13th, the Lakers used a different foursome in the prelims with Harris, Spinner, Welle and sophomore Claudia Mahoney taking 16th (1:51.86).
Harris, Spinner, Shimek and sophomore Elizabeth Heile made up the 400 freestyle relay that ended up 13th (3:36.29). Seeded 14th, it was right on its seed after the prelims (3:36.67).
The Lakers' 200 freestyle team of Heile, Welle and juniors Sally Stark and Maggie Andersen finished 25th (1:43.48). The relay was seeded 20th.
Meanwhile, Shimek was seeded tied for fourth in the 100 freestyle going into the prelims with a school-record time of 51.77. But she ended up 18th (53.64). She also went into the 200 freestyle with a school record from the Section 2AA meet (1:53.83) and was seeded 12th, but finished 18th (1:55.82).
Spinner also swam in two individual events. Seeded 19th in the 200 individual medley, she ended up 26th (2:13.95). She was seeded 14th in the 100 butterfly and finished 19th (58.08).
Welle ended up 27th in the 100 breaststroke (1:10.19) after being seeded 21st.
The diving prelims were held Nov. 12. Junior Brooke Manfred was also competing for the Lakers for a second straight year. She finished 32nd (118.00). Kimble was 16th after the prelims (249.85).
To see more photos of the Lakers at state, go to Scoreboard's Facebook page:https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.904790856212932.1073742289.197190936972931&type=3.