MINNEAPOLIS – Five Austin swimmers joined diver Danielle Chapek in reaching the finals of the Class A State tournament Tuesday afternoon at the Aquatic Center on the University of Minnesota Campus.

Wednesday, November 22, 2000

MINNEAPOLIS – Five Austin swimmers joined diver Danielle Chapek in reaching the finals of the Class A State tournament Tuesday afternoon at the Aquatic Center on the University of Minnesota Campus. Sophomore Megan Walsh and freshman Lauren Goettsch both qualified for the finals in individual events, the 200 intermediate medley and the 50-yard freestyle, respectively. Goettsch then anchored Austin’s 200 yard freestyle relay. Others on the team are juniors Tristen Kusterer and Lisa Champlin, and sophomore Amanda Martin.

"It was a very good day," Austin coach Lynn Gulbrandson said. "The girls swam their best times in the biggest meet."

The two other Austin swimmers competing at State – the youngest, eighth-grader Stacy Bjorlie, and the oldest, Sarah Heins -will also swim today but in the consolation finals. Bjorlie and Heins will be swimming with Walsh and Goettsch in the 400 freestyle relay.

Bjorlie was hit by the flu bug on Monday and wasn’t at the top of her game. She was to swim in three events Tuesday – the 200 and 500 free, plus the 4×100 relay. After a tough 200 in which she placed 27th with a time of 2:05.74 ( Nora Ames of Rosemount had the top time of the day, 1:57.98) Bjorlie made the decision not to swim in the 500.

"My muscles were aching after the 200," Bjorlie said.

Coach Gulbrandson double checked with the officials to make sure it was OK that Bjorlie could still swim in the relay if she didn’t swim in the 500. It was.

The 200 free was the second event of the day while the 4×100 was the last event of the day. Austin finished in 10th place in the relay with a time of 3:49.57. Blake/Minnehaha Academy got the final finals spot with a time of 3:48.74. Red Wing had the top time of 3:42.03.

"I’m pretty happy with the race," Bjorlie said. "We did a little better in the Sectionals but I hope to feel better tomorrow and we will do better."

"We were a couple of seconds slower than at Sectionals (3:47.82)," Walsh said, "which was a disappointment."

What could have been a bigger let down for Walsh was her ninth place finish in the 200 IM, 2:16.62. It was one one-hundredth of a second slower than eighth place finisher Tracy Feger of Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta (Kristen Ophaug of Northfield had the top time of 2:12.89). But it wasn’t a let down because Walsh accomplished one huge goal – a school record. The previous best time was 2:16.89.

"Breaking the school record has been a goal of mine since eighth grade," Walsh said. "Last year I missed it by a tenth of a second. I made it my expectation rather than a goal that I would break the record this year. My coach and I worked hard on my weakest stroke, the breaststroke, last week. We needed to improve my strength and stroke. I went as hard as I could in the last 50 free. It was kind of frustrating missing out on the finals. A fingernail sooner I would be there."

Walsh reversed her State finals and consolation finals swims from a year ago. She made the final in the IM and swam in the consolation final in the butterfly. This year she will be swimming in the finals of the butterfly. She finished in a solid sixth position, 1:01.42. Eighth-grader Elizabeth Kiczula of Red Wing was the top qualifier, 1:00.04.

Ironically Goettsch made the finals of the 50 free by one one-hundredth of a second. Her time of 25.14 seconds beat out Ashley Thimm of Chisago Lakes Area. Dena Quick (Proctor/Hermantown) swam the fastest, 24.33.

"It was a good race," Goettsch said. "I swam my personal best. It is really exciting to get into the finals after not doing so well last year when I missed my flip turn."

Austin finished seventh in the 200 yard freestyle relay in 1:43.05. Rosemount had the top time of 1:41.73.

"We’re looking to do better tomorrow," Goettsch said. "It will be fun to swim for a championship."

Chapek dove in the preliminaries and semifinals Monday afternoon. She was 13th after the preliminaries. The top 20 advanced to the semifinals. Chapek moved up two spots to 11th place with 217.40 points. Two-time Class A champion, junior Chelsea Haviland of Thief River Falls, was well out in front with a point total of 333.05. She is almost 75 points ahead of her nearest competitor Linda Keskey (Dassel-Cokato), 258.45. The top 16 dive in the finals.

The swimming and diving finals were this afternoon. Chapek had three final dives to move into the top eight, medalist territory, in the state. Complete results will be in Friday’s Austin Daily Herald.