Kaitlyn O'Reilly (below)
State qualifier in 4 events
Elizabeth Wolfe (right)
Section 1AA breaststroke champion
The weather outside was frightful but the results inside delightful for the Tiger girls at the Section 1AA swimming and diving finals held Saturday, November 13, at the Rochester Recreation Center.
As a team, Farmington finished runner-up in the seven-team meet, trailing only champion Rochester John Marshall. The Rockets out-pointed the Tigers 458-338 to take home the championship hardware. Rochester Century took third with 310.5, followed by Faribault 272, Winona/Winona Cotter 271.5, Owatonna 221 and Rochester Mayo 164.
The second place finish matched the highest ever by a Tiger team in the section meet. The 2006 team also came in second.
"We are very excited about our runner-up finish," coach Jen Marshall said. "After Thursday's prelims, we were in fourth place, but we came back for some outstanding performances in the finals to move up."
Individually, the news was even better. The Tigers qualified for this week's state meet in five of the 12 events, claiming three gold medals and meeting the state standard time in a pair of relays.
Kaitlyn O'Reilly had a huge day for Farmington, winning the 200 individual medley and 100 backstroke and and swimming a leg on both state qualifying relay teams (200 medley and 200 freestyle relay). Only one other Farmington swimmer has ever won two individual events at the section meet, Lindsey Ternes in 2005.
Elizabeth Wolfe scored the other Farmington first, winning the 100 breaststroke. Wolfe also joined with O'Reilly. Caitlin Kracke and Kirsten Kracke in qualifying for state in the 200 medley relay.
The 200 freestyle relay foursome of O'Reilly, the Kracke sisters and Ellie Sundet also is headed for the state championships at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center.
If the second place team finish and five state qualifiers weren't enough to savor, the Tigers also shattered seven school records in the two-day meet: Caitlin Kracke in the 50 and 100 freestyle; O'Reilly in the 200 individual medley and 100 backstroke; Wolfe in the breaststroke and both the 200 freestyle and 200 medley relays.
Next up is the state meet and Marshall is confident her swimmers will perform well on the big stage.
"The girls are very focused on their swims right now," she said. "We've got good experience going in and our goal is to get to the finals in all five events.
"Kaitlyn (O'Reilly) and Elizabeth (Wolfe) are shooting for all-state honors and we have never had an all-state relay team (top eight) so that is another goal."
Other top Farmington finishes:
200 freestyle: 7. Sarah O'Reilly
50 freestyle. 4. C. Kracke
One-meter diving: 8. Kendall Novak
100 freestyle: C. Kracke
500 freestyke: 4. Sara KIntner; 5. Sarah O'Reilly
100 backstroke: 5. K. Kracke
100 breaststroke: 8. Abby Haugen
