Park girls swimming & diving: Wolfpack hits the pool

The Park girls swimming and diving team hit the pool for the first time this year with the annual Suburban East Conference relays, held Thursday, Aug. 26, at Stillwater Junior High and Cottage Grove Middle schools.

Park finished in 10th place in the 10-team meet with eight points. Defending Class AA state champion Stillwater won the meet with 154 points. Woodbury (141 points) finished in second place.

Park’s best finish in the meet was eighth place, which it did in two events — the 800-yard freestyle relay and the 200-yard backstroke relay.

In the 800-yard free relay, Emily Frazer, Marit Christianson, Gabby Niewind and Alexandra Burd raced to a time of 9:29.91. Niewind had Park’s best time with a 216.99 split. Stillwater won the event in 8:03.13 and Woodbury’s Britta Sortland had the best individual time with a 1:58.64 finish.

In the 200-yard backstroke relay, Emily Oswald, Jennifer Breault, Sarah Schiemann and Alyssa Dorsch finished with a 2:14.98 time to take eighth place. Dorsch had the Wolfpack’s best individual time in the event with a 31.58 split. Stillwater won the event with a 1:54.10 time and the Ponies’ Claire Rutscher had the fastest time with a 27.21 split.

Additionally, Park’s Niewind, Frazer, Burd and Dorsch finished in ninth place in the 400-yard freestyle relay with a time of 4:15.23 and Park’s Christianson, Stacy Strickland, Abby Cuttell and Peyton Adams took 10th in the 200-yard breaststroke relay with a 2:38.57 time.

In the 400 free relay, Niewind had the fastest split with a 30.14 100-yard sprint. Woodbury won the event with a 3:42.73 time led by Sortland’s 25.94 first-place time. In the 200 free relay Strickland led the way for Park with a 36.34 split. Woodbury won the event with a 2:14.56 time led by Kelsie Carter’s 31.92 first-place time.

Next, Park travels to Mounds View on Thursday, Sept. 2, at Chippewa Middle School in Shoreview.

Tags: cottage grove, sports, swimming, park, wolfpack, preps