If a top five finish at the state meet is a goal of the Eden Prairie High School girls swim/dive team, Eden Prairie’s section-meet performance(s) put itself in a good spot.

“I scored it out,” said Eden Prairie Head Coach Kelly Boston, “and right now, we’re sitting in fifth place.”

What’s left is to swim it out.

At Friday’s Section 2AA finals, Eden Prairie qualified six individual swims and all three relays.

Jennie Novak, Section 2AA’s Swimmer of the Year, was a double qualifier. In her first individual event, she won the 200 individual medley with a pool-record time of 2:04.06.

“A best time,” adds Boston. “She was 07 early in the regular season, 05 late and then 04 on Friday.

“She’s not fully rested,” she adds, “so we’ll see where she goes.”

Novak would also finish fifth in the 100 freestyle, clocking a 52.80.

Kaylen Hou would also qualify in two events, finishing fourth in the 100 breaststroke (1:06.12) and fifth in the 50 freestyle (24.48).

Kylie Rydland punched her state-meet ticket by swimming 1:05.30 (second place) in the 100 breaststroke, Chloe Skogg by clocking 57.73 (second place) in the 100 backstroke.

Both Rydland and Skogg are ninth-graders.

“Chloe came into the season having never been under one minute,” adds Boston. “Since then, she’s had one best time after another.”

Skogg is seeded sixth in the backstroke event heading into Thursday’s preliminary meet, Rydland fourth in the breaststroke.

Eden Prairie’s three relays (200 medley, 200 freestyle and 400 freestyle) finished second, first and second.

“All three are seeded in the top eight,” said Boston. “It’s been a long time since we’ve had that.”

Eden Prairie (Skogg, Rydland, Blair MacGibbon and Olivia Swanson) counted a 1:47.78 in the 200 medley, 1:37.22 (Hou, Swanson, Boston and Novak) in the 200 freestyle and 3:34.78 (Novak, Boston, Hou and Lauren Murphy) in the 400 freestyle.

Minnetonka won the team competition, netting 609 points. Eden Prairie finished second with 409.5. Chaska (259), Prior Lake (245.5) and Chanhassen (237) finished three, four and five. The field included eight teams.

BEST OF

While a number of Eden Prairie’s state qualifiers qualified with best times, best times weren’t limited to state qualifiers. Got it?

Kathryn Cronin, for example, busted out a 1:01.15 in the 100 butterfly.

“Her best time coming into the season was a 1:04,” said Boston.

Adrienne Peterson did the same thing in the 500, turning a previous-best 5:22 into a current-best 5:18.

Senior Katelyn Axelson saved her best for last. Swimming in her last-ever high school meet, Axelson counted best times in both 200 (2:03.70) and 500 (5:33.56) freestyle races.

Lastly, Eden Prairie was honored with the Gold Award, an award honoring the team’s 3.85 GPA.

“How cool is that?” asks Boston.

So cool.

The state swim meet is scheduled for Thursday (preliminary meet) and Friday (finals) at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center. Sessions begin at 6 p.m.