Flyers' Weisz places 5th, 6th
STATE HIGH SCHOOL SWIMMING AND DIVING
It wasn't what she wanted, but Whitney Weisz still visited the Class 1A state swimming and diving podium twice on Saturday.
The sophomore for the Little Falls Flyers was hoping for gold, but had to settle for a fifth- and sixth-place finish at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center in Minneapolis.
Weisz also helped the Flyers' 200-yard freestyle relay to 12th on a busy day.
Her biggest disappointment came in the 100 freestyle where Weisz couldn't match her school-record prelim time of 52.42. She dropped to 52.55 for fifth. Had she maintained her prelim time she would have placed second behind Heidi Busack of Fergus Falls, who swam a 51.56.
Little Falls sophomore Whitney Weisz swam her way to a fifth-place finish in the 100-yard freestyle Saturday in the Class 1A state swimming and diving meet at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center in Minneapolis. Weisz added a sixth in the 50 free earlier in the meet.
Bill Johnson
"She had four individual races at state and she broke school records on three of them," said Flyers head coach Tim Corbett. "She literally spent herself this weekend. This was the first time she went to state as one of the premier swimmers and I think that did weigh on her down there. She wasn't able to drop time in the 100 finals and that did disappoint her a little bit, but it was still a very good swim. She's right on par with other elite swimmers."
Weisz chopped off .25 off of her school-record prelim time to move up one stop and finish sixth in the 50 freestyle with a 24.04. Amanda Paulson of Monticello won the event with a 23.37.
Her school record times of 24.04 in the 50 and 52.42 in the 100 shattered the records that were in place at the beginning of the season. The 100 record to start the season was Weisz's 54.14 she set last year. The 50 was 25.05.
The Flyers swam a 1:41.67 in the 200 free, dropping two spots from their seed position to place 12th. The team of Megan Voss, Macy Olson, Brittany Then and Weisz improved on their prelim time of 1:42.27.
"This group was extremely disappointed that they didn't make it into the top eight, but after I told them it would have taken a school record to do it they were fine with that," said Corbett. "They knew we didn't have the horses to break the school record, but they did represent themselves well and it was a nice touch for the three seniors to finish on a good swim. They swam faster than they did the day before. It was a very good relay."
Team Score: 1-Sartell 236
200 medley relay: 1-Hutchinson 1:48.25
200 freestyle: 1-Marissa Wood (Sartell) 1:50.88
200 individual medley: 1-Taylor Foster (Breck) 2:04.28
50 freestyle: 1-Amanda Paulson (Monticello) 23.37, 6-Whitney Weisz (Little Falls) 24.04
Diving: 1-Chole Timm (SRPD) 408.30
100 butterfly: 1-Audrey Kumm (Hutchinson) 55.81
100 freestyle: 1-Heidi Busack (FF) 51.56, 5-Weisz (LF) 52.55
500 freestyle: 1-Wood (Sartell) 4:58.92
200 freestyle relay 1-Sartell 1:36.14, 12-Little Falls 1:41.89
100 backstroke: 1-Caley Oquist (Monticello) 56.62
100 breaststroke: 1-Megan Ostrom (St. Louis Park) 1:05.82
400 freestyle relay: 1-Hutchinson 3:32.14
JEREMY MILLSOP may be reached at jeremy.millsop@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5856.