The Prior Lake synchronized swimming team hopes to have its skills honed come time for the postseason meets.

The Lakers have a smaller team than in year's past, and there are no seniors or juniors on the roster. The team does return three performers who competed at state last year — ninth-grader Nora Dileva and sophomores Alesi Evavold and Addison Leveille.

The three competed in trio shorts finishing 11th. The Lakers also tied for 11th in the team standings last year with three other schools with one team point.

The bigger news was Wayzata had its streak of 13 straight state titles come to an end. Stillwater won the crown with 154 points, followed by the Trojans (84) and Forest Lake (80).

Overall, Prior Lake had five routines competing at state last year. State and the four section competitions include three different levels for the four events: solos, duets, trios and teams. The top level is called extended, followed by longs and shorts.

The top four routines at each level from each of the four sections make the state competition. There was no state meet in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"This year we have a small and young team, but they are filled with enthusiasm and work very hard," Lakers coach Katy Bohnsack said. "We will be working hard on developing our skills and swimming great routines. All of the girls will be swimming in the shorts division this year, so we have the ability to do well as we get to the end of the season."

The rest of Prior Lake's this spring roster includes ninth-graders Natalie Nguyen, Sadie Stimmler, Claire Hilzendeger, Emily Forster, Maddie McCarthy and Jasmine Duhadway, eighth-graders Elisabeth McNair, Sofia Suarez and Hanna Evavold and seventh-grader Lilly Cordova.

Prior Lake opened the season March 24 with the first of three figures meets. Richfield earned a 23-6 win over the Lakers. 

Prior Lake had three performers in the top 10 with Leveille taking third, Evavold in seventh and Dileva in eighth.

"The team scored well against an older and more experienced team," Bohnsack said. "Our team is setting high goals and working extremely hard to reach those goals."

Prior Lake's routines season starts April 28 at home. The Lakers' annual Dolphin Show will be May 13 at Hidden Oaks Middle School, which is a prelude for the West Section meet.

Sections starts May 14 with figures and ends May 21 with routines and both days are at Edina High School.

This year's state competition is set for May 26-27 at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center.