---

He did it again, or should we say they did it again.

He- Ed Wakefield, successfully mastered the art of the taper (again). They- the Chisago Lakes swimming and diving team, successfully defended their section championship (again). 

In a sport where life is spent in the water, the 'Cats are flying.

“We were pretty excited,” smiled Ed Wakefield, Chisago Lakes head swimming and diving coach.  “That’s pretty cool that we took first and won the meet.”

Not just any meet, the section swimming and diving meet, and for the third straight year no less.  The ‘Cats defeated Milaca for the championship, the same Milaca squad that snuck past Chisago at the conference meet two weeks ago.  The same Milaca team that was considered the favorite heading in.

Adding to the story was how the Wildcats did it.  Chisago placed first in the meet, despite qualifying only three individuals for next weeks state tournament.  Just three!  In addition, all three relay teams finished second at sections meaning that they too will make the trip to state, beginning November 22 at the University of Minnesota.  Counting the alternates, a total of 14 Wildcats will head to Minneapolis next week.

“We won it with our depth.  The girls were even saying that, it was just unreal,” remarked Wakefield.  “Every single person on that team was huge.  We won it all with only three individuals making state.  It was just a total team effort.”

After the preliminaries, Wakefield tabulated the numbers on the bus ride home. Based on the results he got, he knew the Wildcats had a chance. After all, every swimmer but four made Saturday’s finals.

“I told the girls that after the first day, we were going to be down. Milaca has a much better first half than we do and I knew our divers would make their move and then the rest of the girls would make their move,” remembered Wakefield. “I felt really good heading into the finals.”

And boy did they ever make their move.

Chisago started their climb towards the top with their divers. Junior Erica Greene, last year’s section winner and section diver of the year, put together the meet of her season. In a word, Greene was fantastic, posting an All-American consideration score of 391.35 points. The point total was a new section record and a personal best for the junior. She easily took first, winning by more than 40 points. It’s Greene’s fourth consecutive trip to state.

“The one she’s been waiting to dive all season,” commented Lisa Willhite, Chisago Lakes head diving coach when asked to sum up her performance. “Erica is such a good diver but she’s been frustrated a little bit because of her scores. She dove that meet the way she always knew she could dive.”

Following Greene’s lead was fellow diver Lauren Trudeau, who also advanced to state by finishing second. Trudeau, who was trailing Vanessa Halstead by nine points with three dives left, saved her best for last. In the end, Trudeau ended up defeating Halstead by 10 points. It was a 19-point turnaround!

And that was only the beginning. After diving, the rest of the Wildcats kept the ball rolling. The 200 freestyle team of Emily Stein, Emily Merritt, Jess Tollberg, and Laura Chelberg set a new school record, and in the backstroke, Angie Dery and Caitlin Cunningham each placed in the top eight, giving the ‘Cats a nine point lead over Milaca.

Not to be out done, Molly McGurk took to the pool next and broke another school record in the breaststroke, finishing second overall, enough to qualify for the state tournament. The lead was 15 with one event left.

“As long as we didn’t DQ, we were going to beat them, but we wanted our relay team to make it to state also. I told the girls, don’t jump and then swim like mad,” smiled Wakefield.

They didn’t, then they did. The 400 freestyle relay team of Emily Merritt, Lauren Koch, Jessica Tollberg, Laura Chelberg cruised through the water, finishing second overall. It was the best of both worlds. Not only did they clinch the section title, but they also swam themselves into the state tourney (top two relay teams advanced to state).

“The taper worked the best its ever worked,” remarked Wakefield. “You could see it in the prelims, the girls were just really focused and they were cruising. In fact, counting the relays as one swim, out of 35 swims, 26 of them were personal bests.”

Now can they keep it going. Next up, the class “A” state swimming and diving meet. This year, because of a pool conflict, the meet is being held from November 22-24. Diving prelims will take place on Monday, swimming prelims follow on Tuesday. The top 16 then advance to Wednesday’s final.

Individual Results- Top 8

(CL only- Top 8 medal):

200 Medley Relay-

*2. Chisago Lakes 1:58.29

(Angie Dery, Steph Peterson, Molly McGurk, Emily Stein)

200 Freestyle-

3. Jessica Tollberg 2:07.28

6. Laura Chelberg 2:08.59

200 IM-

3. Lauren Koch 2::25.75

50 Freestyle-

8. Emily Merritt 27.22

Diving-

*1. Erica Greene 391.35

*2. Lauren Trudeau 346.20

100 Fly-

5. Steph Peterson 1:06.96

100 Freestyle-

4. Emily Stein 57.33

6. Emily Merritt 58.94

7. Jessica Tolberg 59.42

500 Freestyle-

3. Lauren Koch 5:45.90

6. Laura Chelberg 5:51.45

200 Freestyle Relay-

*2. Chisago Lakes 1:45.47

(Emily Stein, Emily Merritt, Laura Chelberg, Jessica Tollberg)

100 Backstroke-

4. Angie Dery 1:07.80

8. Caitlin Cunningham 1:10.94

100 Breaststroke-

*2. Molly McGurk 1:10.22

6. Andrea Nickelson 1:16.31

7. Caylee Nelson 1:17.21

400 Freestyle Relay-

*2. Chisago Lakes 3:52.08

(Emily Merritt, Lauren Koch, Jessica Tollberg, Laura Chelberg)

*State qualifiers

---