Class 2A state girls swimming: Stillwater and Woodbury competitors earn All-America titles
The Stillwater girls swim and dive team took home bronze at the Class 2A state meet at Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center Saturday night.
The team put up 192.5 total points, behind only Edina (331) and Minnetonka (303.5). Stillwater put up an automatic All-America time of 3:27.23 in the 400-yard freestyle relay, with a team made up of freshman Lucy Paczosa, senior Maddie Reed, junior Jayla Petersen and senior Norah Naatjes.
The relay was not the only accomplishment for some of the Stillwater team. Maddie Reed also put up an automatic All-America time in the 100-yard breaststroke, 1:02.73, which she said was a goal of hers that she’s been working towards all season.
“All season, I’ve been training for 100 breast, trying to get under the 1:03 mark,” she said. “Last season, I ended up getting second at the state meet with a 1:03.9, and so my goal for this season was just go under 1:03, and I did. So I’m just really happy.”
Reed was emotional as Stillwater won its final relay. As a senior, she said it was hard to accept that she had raced her last race with her team.
“It’s definitely hard to know that this was my last race with this team,” she said. “I started this team in seventh grade, and so to just grow up with some of these girls and with my coach, I was just happy to end it on a good note, with a win. It was awesome.”
Woodbury senior Gabby Mauder took second place in the 1-meter diving event, coming in behind Minneapolis Washburn’s Maddie Kohel. Mauder scored 222.45 in the preliminaries and 349.45 in the semifinals.
Competing at her fifth career state meet, Mauder was defending her title after taking first in the 1-meter dive in both 2021 and 2022. Though she fell just short of a three-peat, she said she’s still happy with her accomplishments, and congratulated her competitors.
“I was super excited to still find a way to get a personal-best score out of all my seasons at the state meet,” she said. “Me and Maddie are actually teammates, so it’s super special to share the podium and share a state championship with her. I know that feeling is amazing, so I’m super excited for her.”
Torun McGillis also qualified for All-America consideration in the 200-yard IM, with a third-place finish of 2:03.51. She said after that being at the state meet and having an All-America consideration was amazing.
“It is so cool,” she said. “This is something I never thought would happen when I started swimming 13 years ago. I never thought I’d be here, so I’m super excited.”
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