Faribault and Northfield Swimmers Making Big Splash at State

Nearly all the Faribault Falcon and Northfield Gator qualified swimmers at the Minnesota State Girls Swimming and Diving Meet Class A preliminaries are in the finals tomorrow.

Northfield senior Sophia Nevin turned in the fastest time in the 100-yard breaststroke and Falcon junior Breanna Bresnahan is in fourth place after the preliminaries.

All of Faribault's swimmers have now joined their divers in the finals tomorrow and only one Northfield swimmer didn't advance to the finals Friday.

Faribault's 200 free relay team had a third-place finish during preliminary competition. The team has no seniors, with juniors Bresnaham and Malia Stone joined by eighth-grader Abby Larson and junior Megan Gehrke.

Northfield's 200 free relay is in eighth place after the preliminaries. Their team consists of eighth-grader Ellen Varley, senior Sophie Bernstorf, freshman Alice Zhang and senior Kallie Schetnan.

Falcon eighth-grader Abby Larson tied for fifth in the 200-yard freestyle and was sixth in the 500 freestyle, going four seconds faster than her seed time in the 200 and shaving 10 seconds off her seed time in the 500-yard event.

Megan Gehrke was seventh and Bre Bresnahan 16th in the 50-yard free, so they qualify for the finals. Gehrke was also seventh in the 100-yard freestyle.

The Faribault 400 free relay was 12th and Northfield 13th after the preliminaries and will also compete in the finals.

Faribault's team is composed of Gehrke, Stone, Bresnahan and Larson, and Northfield's team has freshmen Signe and Tatum Hauck, Zhang and senior Schetnan.

Northfield seniors Sophia Nevin and Carrin Baker finished seventh and 16th respectively in the 200-yard individual medley and Baker was also 12th in the 100-yard butterfly.

The Class 2D swimming preliminaries begin at 6 this evening.

The Class A swimming and diving finals begin at noon tomorrow and the Class 2A finals are at 6 tomorrow evening at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center in Minneapolis.