•  Stadtherr and 400 freestyle relay both fail to make State Class A finals

Four members of the Minnewaska-Morris Gators swimming and diving team competed at the State Class A Swimming and Diving Meet, Friday and Saturday at the University of Minnesota.

Lyla Stadtherr competed in the 100 breaststroke and also raced on the 400 yard freestyle relay team with sister, Soffia Stadtherr, and Melena Longtin and Becca Femrite.

Soffia Stadtherr is a senior, while Longtin and Femrite are juniors and Lyla Stadtherr is a sophomore.

Lyla Stadtherr, who set a new school record at the section meet with a time of 1:10.67, had a time of 1:11.42 during the preliminaries at the state meet, Friday, missing out on a berth in the finals by just over 2.5 seconds.

In the 400 freestyle relay, the Gators placed 24th with a time of 3:53.03 and also failed to make the 16-team finals.  The Minnewaska-Morris team placed second at the section meet with a time of 3:51.1, which also broke a school record.

“The girls had a great time at the state meet and it was a great way to finish out our season,” coach Sam Oellien said.  “We weren’t able to get any athletes to the finals, but they competed hard and we were happy with the way they closed out the season.”

It was a three-team battle for the team title as Visitation totaled 253 points to win the Class A title, followed by Orono with 186 and Monticello with 176 points.

Section 8A champion Park Rapids placed 33rd overall at the state meet, while section runner-up Alexandria placed 21st at the state meet with 48 points, Sauk Centre was 14th with 63 and Melrose Area was 16th with 48 points.

Going to the state meet as alternates for the Gators’ team were Isabel Guerra, Sage Barnstuble and Mesa Kittelson.

Seniors lost to graduation from this year’s team are Soffia Stadtherr, Katie Koenig, Grace Zenk, Sage Barnstuble, Kaia Anderson, Chaeli Zahl and Gabby Schneider.

State meet results

The Gators had a great season in 2023, going 5-3 in dual meets, placing fifth at the section meet, third at the WCC meet and fifth at the section true-team meet. 

The Gators earned two state berths as Lyla Stadtherr set a school record on the way to placing second in the 100 breaststroke and the team of Stadtherr, Becca Femrite, Melena Longtin and Soffia Stadtherr also set a school record in placing second in the 400 freestyle relay at the section meet to earn a state berth.

During the 100 breaststroke prelims, Friday, Lyla Stadtherr placed 21st overall with a time of 1:11.42, justing missing out on a berth in the finals.  Jisella Haskamp, of Alexandria, who won the section 100 breaststroke title with a time of 1:08.13, had a time of 1:09.48 in the prelims to earn the last finals’ berth and then went on to place 12th in the finals with a time of 1:08.96.

In the final event of the competition, the 400 freestyle relay, the Gators’ team placed 24th with a time of 3:53.03.  The Gators would have needed a time of 3:41.52 to make the finals.

Park Rapids, which won the Section 8A 400 freestyle relay title, also failed to make the finals with a time of 3:46.7 and placed 20th.

One of the top performers during the meet was Adalynn Biegler, a ninth-grader from Monticello, who won the 50 freestyle in 22.8 and the 100 freestyle in 50.25.  The all-time state record is 22.54 in the 50 and 49.22 in the 100 freestyle.  Oh yeah, Biegler also placed second with her team in the 200 freestyle and 200 medley relays.  Her team missed out on first in the 200 freestyle by .22 and in the 200 medley by .43. 

at State Class A Meet

Team scoring:  (1) Visitation 253  (2) Orono 186  (3) Monticello 176  (4) Breck 157  (5) Delano 154, Mound-Westonka 138, SC Tech 95, Blake 86, Mankato West 84, Cretin-DH 70 . . . (14) Sauk Centre 63  (16) Melrose 48  (21) Alexandria 35  (24) SC Cathedral 30  (28) Perham-NYM 21  (32) Willmar 14  (33) Park Rapids 9  (39) Detroit Lakes 3  (40) Montevideo 1 and Fosston-Bagley-Crookston 1

Individual results (top-two and Gator results):

200 medley relay:  (1) Breck School 1:46.63  (2) Monticello 1:47.06

200 freestyle:  (1) Andreen, Orono 1:50.77  (2) Miller, Visitation 1:52.06

200 individual medley:  (1) Dueck, Mound-Westonka 2:034.22  (2) Allingham, Breck 2:06.92

50 freestyle:  (1) Biegler, Monticello 22.8  (2) Crosby, Breck 23.66

Diving:  (1) Kennedy, Austin 432.45  (2) Monette, Benilde-SM 430.4

100 butterfly:  (1) Bixby, Blake 54.9  (2) Farley, Visitation 55.77

100 freestyle:  (1) Biegler, Monticello 50.25  (2) Gehrke, Hutchinson 50.88

500 freestyle:  (1) Miller, Visitation 5:03.22  (2) Espinosa, Mounds Park 5:06.07

200 freestyle relay:  (1) Orono 1:36.93  (2) Monticello 1:37.15

100 backstroke:  (1) Crosby, Breck 54.78  (2) Bixby, Blake 55.1

100 breaststroke:  (1) Dueck, Mound-Westonka 1:02.99  (2) Drossel, Melrose 1:04.13 . . . (21) Lyla Stadtherr, Gators 1:11.42

400 freestyle relay:  (1) Orono 3:34.16  (2) Blake 3:34.55 . . . (24) Minnewaska-Morris Gators (Soffia Stadtherr, Lyla Stadtherr, Becca Femrite, Melena Longtin) 3:53.03