State Finals Recap- 4th Place!!

The Wayzata Girls Swimming and Diving team finished an impressive
fourth at the 2009 Minnesota State High School Championships Saturday
night at University Aquatic Center. The Trojans, who were seeded
seventh entering the meet, scored 157 points and improved on a 10th
place finish from 2008.

Wayzata was led by a runner-up finish in the 200 freestyle relay and a
third-place showing the 400 freestyle relay. Wayzata received 11 point-
scoring performances and had seven championship finalists. Juniors
Heather Arseth and Sarah Deis led the way for Wayzata, each reaching
two individual championship finals. Arseth finished fourth in the 50
free and fifth in the 100 free while Deis took fifth in the 200 free
and sixth in the 500 free.

Stillwater won the title with 265 points, followed by Edina (205) and
Minnetonka (192). Finishing behind Wayzata was Eden Prairie (133),
Woodbury (130) and Maple Grove (126). The fourth-place finish is the
best for the Trojans since 2006 when they also placed fourth.

The turning point for the Trojans came in the 200 freestyle relay. The
Trojans ‘ team of Arseth (24.03), Jacqueline Stenroos (24.62), Katie
Kemmitt (24.20) and Sarah Deis (23.35) dropped 1.61 seconds off their
prelim time to take State runner-up honors in 1:36.20, shattering the
school record in the process. The story of the relay was the anchor
leg by Deis. Less than 10 minutes after finishing sixth in the 500
freestyle, Deis stepped up with a blistering 23.35 to close the relay
and touch out Maple Grove (1:36.42) at the wall. Deis’ split was the
second-best of the entire event, topped only by the anchor split of
Stillwater’s Hannah Bowen, who won the 50 freestyle earlier in the
meet. Stillwater claimed the title in 1:34.94. Wayzata’s time was also
an automatic High School All-America mark.

Wayzata’s relay confidence continued into the championship’s finale,
the 400 freestyle relay. The Trojans’ team of Arseth, Emma Paulson,
Stenroos and Deis finished third and broke the school record with a
time of 3:30.36. The Trojans’ trimmed 1.29 seconds from their prelims
effort and earned automatic High School All-America honors. Arseth led
off the relay in a sizzling 52.41, followed by strong splits from
Paulson (52.89) and Stenroos (53.68) before Deis brought it back with
an amazing 51.38. Stillwater finished first in 3:27.64, followed by
Minnetonka in 3:29.64. Wayzata held off Maple Grove at the end
(3:30.50).

Deis began an amazing finals session, claiming fifth place in 1:53.22.
She shattered the oldest standing school record in the Wayzata books
in the preliminaries, clocking a 1:52.83 to break the record set in
1990 by Cathy Beach. Deis improved from a seventh-place finish in 2008.
Deis also placed sixth in the 500 freestyle with a time of 5:06.40.
She trimmed .06 seconds off her prelim time from Friday evening.
Junior Megan Vezzosi just missed the consolation final, placing 18th
in the prelims with a time of 5:14.63.

Arseth scored Wayzata’s best individual finish of the state
championships by finishing fourth in the 50 freestyle with an All-
America consideration time of 23.95. She improved .10 seconds from her
prelim time to pick up 15 important team points. Arseth also moved up
from a 15th place performance as a sophomore.

Wayzata’s top scoring event came in the 100 freestyle with Arseth and
Paulson, a freshman, reaching the championship final. Arseth nearly
matched her 50 free showing by placing fifth in a career-best 52.41.
Paulson also clocked a career-best 52.73 to finish seventh. The
Trojans picked up 26 team points.

Paulson picked up huge team points for Wayzata by winning the
consolation final of the 100 backstroke to finish ninth in 59.13. She
improved .42 seconds from her prelim time and was the second-best
freshman performer in the event.

Senior Stacy Caprio placed 15th in the 100 butterfly with a time of
59.79. Junior Kelly Caprio narrowly missed the consolation final in
the prelims by .02 seconds, finishing 17th in 1:00.07.

Freshman Ashley Patras-Lancey placed 15th in 2:12.52 to lead the
Trojans in the 200 individual medley. In the prelims, Stenroos placed
25th with a time of 2:16.24.

To open the finals session, the 200 medley relay team of Paulson,
Stenroos, Stacy Caprio and Kemmitt placed 12th in 1:51.97.

In the 100 breaststroke, junior Alex Alviani wrapped up an amazing
junior year that saw her drop more than eight seconds off her time in
the 100 breaststroke by finishing 25th in the prelims with a time of
1:11.68.