The Gators’ swimming and diving team competed at two meets last Saturday, Sept. 23 with the varsity team placing third of five teams at the Fergus Falls Invitational.

Melena Longtin had two individual firsts at Fergus Falls, while Becca Femrite won the 200 freestyle and the 400 freestyle relay was also victorious.

“The Gators had a fantastic day at their invites,” coach Sam Oellien said.  “We split in two on Saturday with our junior high going to Sauk Centre and the senior high going to Fergus Falls.”

Minnewaska/Morris did not have any meets last week as the Gators got ready for a meet at Holdingford, Tuesday (tomorrow) followed by a meet at UM-Morris, Thursday against Perham-Dent.

“We didn’t have any meets last week so we ramped up the yards at practice and worked on perfecting the little things,” coach Oellien said.  “The dual meet season is almost over. We have two meets this week and on Thursday’s meet, we will be honoring our seniors.  This is a wonderful opportunity for you to see the Gators in action.”

JH at Sauk Centre

The junior high Gators competed at the Sauk Centre Invitational last Saturday.  Melrose Area won the meet with 391 points, followed by Sauk Centre with 365, the Gators with 288, Bemidji with 170 and Albany with 111.

“The Junior High took 3rd at their invite and saw a lot of good swims and dives,” coach Oellien said.  “The Medley started the meet off with a third place finish (Aranza Guerrero Lara, Yavonne VanHorn, Alejandra Garcia Bernabe, and Sadie Daniels); eighth-grader Ella Larson came in third in the 200 freestyle with a time of 2:35.09; eighth-grader Yavonne VanHorn earned fifth in the 100 IM; seventh-grader Sydney Gibson finished third in the 50 freestyle with a time of 30.76; seventh-grader Adelyn Ferrian finished fifth in diving; eighth-grader Alejandra Garcia Bernabe came in fourth in the 50 butterfly; eighth-grader Ella Larson placed third in the 500 freestyle with a new personal record of 6:52.19; the 200 free relay took third (Shelby Hoberg, Sadie Daniels, Yavonne VanHorn, Sydney Gibson) and seventh-grader Lizeth Vazquez Carmona took fifth in the 100 backstroke. 

“In addition, Sydney Gibson and Yavonne VanHorn battled it out in the 100 breaststroke, both getting personal records 1:31.45 (5th) and 1:32.37 (6th) respectively, and finally, the 400 free relay took third (Ella Larson, Shelby Hoberg, Sadie Daniels, and Sydney Gibson).

“Overall, it was a great meet for our young Gators. It is great to see their hard work in the pool pay off during an invitational just for them.”

Fergus Falls Invitational

The Gators placed third of five teams at the Fergus Falls Invitational, Saturday, in a meet won by the host Otters.  The top 10 relay teams and top 12 individual scored points for their team.

The Gators won four events, including two individual titles by Melena Longtin.  The 400 freestyle relay team of Soffia Stadtherr, Sage Barnstuble, Becca Femrite and Longtin placed first with a time of 4:05.17 in the final meet of the contest, while earlier in the meet, Longtin won the 50 freestyle (26.22) and 100 freestyle (58.18), and Femrite added a first in the 200 freestyle (2:11.41).

Adding runner-up finishes were Mesa Kittelson in the 100 butterfly (1:12.89), Femrite in the 500 freestyle (6:12.72), Lyla Stadtherr in the 100 breaststroke (1:16.88) and the 200 freestyle relay team of Soffia Stadtherr, Isabel Guerra, Lyla Stadtherr and Longtin (1:50.34).

“Becca has been working hard on the 500 and dropped more time coming in second with a time of 6:12.72,” coach Oellien said.  “We ended the meet with an amazing 400 free relay (Soffia Stadtherr, Sage Barnstuble, Becca Femrite and Melena Longtin) placing first with a time of 4:05.17.”

Fergus Falls, which is in the Gators’ new section this year (Section 8A), won six events to claim the title with 577 points, while Detroit Lakes was second with 361.5 points.

“Other notable performances for our team include:  Jillian Schott dove at her first invite and did wonderful, she started diving this year and has come so far, she is also a talented swimmer and has been able to do both; Berdine Kleindl dropped more time in the 100 free and met her season goal; Phemie Oeltjen is a hard worker and continues to drop time in all her events; Vylet Frank stepped up in the 500 free and was able to score some points for us . . . we have such talent across the pool and it is hard to talk about all 53 amazing athletes,” coach Oellien said.

at Fergus Falls Invitational

Team scoring:  (1) Fergus Falls 577  (2) Detroit Lakes 361.5  (3) Gators 277.5  (4) Perham-NYM 256  (5) TRF 250 

Individual results (winner and top-12 Gators):

200 medley relay:  (1) Fergus Falls 2:00.51  (4) Gators #1 (Soffia Stadtherr, Lyla Stadtherr, Becca Femrite, Isabel Guerra) 2:07.21  (10) Gators #2 (Sage Barnstuble, Gabby Schneider, Vylet Frank, Jillian Schott) 2:23.37

200 freestyle:  (1) Becca Femrite, Gators 2:11.41

200 individual medley:  (1) VerSteeg, FF 2:25.24  (4) Mesa Kittelson, Gators 2:46.76  (9) Phemie Oeltjen, Gators 3:03.71

50 freestyle:  (1) Melena Longtin, Gators 26.22  (3) Lyla Stadtherr, Gators 26.6  (11) Guerra, Gators 29.72

Diving:  (1) Lorentz, Perham 230.1  (4) Ella Roering, Gators 182.6  (5) Clare Barnstuble, Gators 179.4

100 butterfly:  (1) Hamm, DL 1:04.6  (2) Mesa Kittelson, Gators 1:12.89  (10) Gabby Schneider, Gators 1:35.19

100 freestyle:  (1) Longtin, Gators 58.18  (8) S. Barnstuble, Gators 1:04.53  (12) Berdine Kleindl, Gators 1:11.09

500 freestyle:  (1) VerSteeg, FF 5:42.5  (2) Femrite, Gators 6:12.72  (9) Jillian Schott, Gators 7:12.21  (10) Vylet Frank, Gators 7:21.98  (11) Tommi Devick, Gators 7:38.28

200 freestyle relay:  (1) FF 1:46.36  (2) Gators #1 (S. Stadtherr, Guerra, L. Stadtherr, Longtin) 1:50.34  (10) Gators #2 (Kittelson, Grace Zenk, Kleindl, S. Barnstuble) 2:06.56

100 backstroke:  (1) Cox, FF 1:08.59

100 breaststroke:  (1) Petersen, FF 1:15.85  (2) L. Stadtherr, Gators 1:16.88  (5) S. Stadtherr, Gators 1:23.36  (12) Oeltjen, Gators 1:29.43

400 freestyle relay:  (1) Gators #1 (S. Stadtherr, S. Barnstuble, Femrite, Longtin) 4:05.17  (7) Gators #2 (Schott, Kleindl, Kittelson, Guerra) 4:40.88  (12) Gators #3 (Kaia Anderson, Zenk, Schneider, Abbigail Peterson) 5:14.46

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