Wayzata Dominates Section 5AA Championship; Qualifies 11 For State Meet

The Wayzata Girls Swimming and Diving team used great depth to
dominate the 2009 Section 5AA Championships Saturday at the Minnetonka
Aquatics Center. Wayzata won eight event titles and tallied 645 points
while Mounds View was a distant second with 386 points and Armstrong
was third with 282.

Wayzata set itself up for the Section Final by qualifying all four of
their swimmers in each event at the preliminaries on Thursday.
The Trojans qualified at least one swimmer for the State AA
Championships in all 12 events and will send 11 competitors to the
meet held next week at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center.
Junior Heather Arseth set the tone for the Trojans, claiming titles in
the 50 and 100 freestyles and contributing to Trojan wins in the 200
and 400 freestyle relays. She shared the 5AA Section Swimmer of the
Year honors with Armstrong’s Emily Blasko.

Freshman Emma Paulson (100 backstroke), senior Stacy Caprio (100
butterfly) and freshman Ashley Patras-Lancey (200 individual medley)
also won section titles for the Trojans. They also swept the three
relays.

The Trojans started on the right foot, taking the title in the 200
medley relay with a time of 1:52.49. Freshman Emma Paulson, junior
Alex Alviani, Stacy Caprio and junior Katie Kemmitt combined to take
the title with Armstrong taking second in 1:53.46.

In the 200 freestyle, junior Sarah Deis punched a ticket for the State
Meet, taking second place in 1:55.99, behind Blasko’s time of 1:53.40.
Junior Megan Vezzosi just missed the state qualifying time of 1:57.63,
touching the wall in third place with a time of 1:58.07. Junior
Christa Sauer placed fourth in 1:59.54 and freshman Kirsten Olson
placed fifth in 2:03.63.

In the 200 individual medley, Patras-Lancey dropped almost four
seconds off her prelim time to take the championship with a time of
2:13.27. Teammate Jacqueline Stenroos also earned an invitation to the
State Meet, taking second in 2:14.35. Junior Keely Hunt also picked up
valuable team points for the Trojans, finishing fifth in 2:17.47 while
senior Jessica Eastman placed sixth in 2:20.70.

Arseth picked up her first section title in the 50 freestyle, touching
the wall first in 24.22. She broke the section record on Thursday
night with a time of 23.97. Also competing in the championship final
was Kelly Caprio, who finished fourth in 25.23, junior Laura Peterson
who took fifth in 25.57 and senior Sarah Rocca who placed sixth in
25.69.

The Trojans posted their most dominant performance of the night in the
100 butterfly, finishing 1-2-3-4. Stacy Caprio surged past her
sister, Kelly, in the final 15 yards to take the section title in
59.86. Kelly also punched a ticket to the state meet, finishing second
in 59.92. Peterson placed third in 1:00.84 while Stenroos was fourth
in 1:00.97.

Arseth was back on the blocks for the 100 freestyle where she
dominated the field with a winning time of 52.85. Armstrong’s Brooke
Evensen was second in 53.34 but Paulson also claimed a spot at the
state meet, posting a qualifying time of 53.37 to finish third. Rocca
placed fifth in 55.38 and Kemmitt was sixth in 56.03. Arseth shattered
the section record in the prelims with a time of 52.30.

Blasko cruised to a win in the 500 free in 5:04.66 but Deis posted a
strong time of 5:10.81 to finish second while Vezzosi also qualified
for the state meet with a time of 5:14.14. Sauer dropped an amazing
nine seconds from her prelim time to finish sixth in 5:30.46 while
Patras-Lancey was seventh in 5:23.88.

Wayzata crushed the field in the 200 freestyle relay as Arseth, Kelly
Caprio, Kemmitt and Deis turned in a section record time of 1:38.27 to
finish first, easily ahead of the second place effort of Mounds View
(1:42.51).

Paulson broke her own section record in the 100 backstroke, touching
the wall first with a time of 58.20. Irondale’s Breanna Loeschke was
second in 59.04 while junior Tara Williams placed third in 1:02.73.
Sophomore Ellen Stowe finished fourth in 1:03.76 and senior Briana
Daniels was sixth in 1:04.32.

It was an exciting finish in the 100 breaststroke as Wayzata’s Alviani
went to the wire with Mounds View’s Kara McClement. McClement was able
to touch out Alviani at the wall with a time of 1:10.65 but Alviani
earned a state berth with the runner-up finish in 1:10.75. Hunt placed
third in 1:12.45 and junior Alese Halverson was fourth in 1:13.88.
Freshman Abby Larson was seventh in 1:15.59.

The Trojans finished the meet with another section record en route to
taking the title in the 400 freestyle relay. Arseth, Paulson, Kemmitt
and Deis clocked a record mark of 3:34.58 to easily beat the second
place effort of Armstrong (3:39.40).

On a side not, Elizabeth was named Head Coach of the Year and I shared the Assistant Coach of the Year honors.

Overall, an awesome meet by our team.