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The Wildcat swimming team went 1-1 at home last week, losing to Mahtomedi before beating NSC opponent Totino-Grace. Tuesday, September 18, The Zephyrs won by a score of 109-75 and Thursday CL beat Totino 101-82.

Against Mahtomedi, Wildcats took two individual firsts. Alex Thomsen picked up six team points by winning the diving with a total score of 150.45. The other CL individual first went to Leah Secord. Her time (1:00.14) in the 100 freestyle took her to the finish .71 seconds before the competition.

The freestyle relay team (seniors Secord and Andrea Olson and freshmen Brogan Lee and Heidi Willhite) had a good night. The Wildcat foursome swam to a first in the 200 with a time of 1:54.41 and they took second in the 400 (4:06.41).

Other second places went to Secord (200 freestyle - 2:10.34), Olson (200 individual medley - 2:36.68) and Willhite (50 freestyle - 28.49).

The 'Cats also had four, third-place finishes. The 200 medley relay team (Laura Goosen, Sarah Kopp, Anna Stein and Rishawn Radziwill) earned the Wildcats' first points. Other thirds went to Sam Thomsen (diving), Olson (500 freestyle) and Kopp (100 breast stroke).

"Mahtomedi is a very fast team and really took it to us," said Wildcat head coach Ed Wakefield.

Totino-Grace at Chisago Lakes

The freestyle relay team (Willhite, Lee, Secord and Olson) led the way against the Eagles. In the 200, CL cut its time to 1:53.67 to win easily. They also won the 400 relay with a time of 4:08.68.

Secord, Olson and Alex Thomsen collected the other first place finishes for the Wildcats. Secord won the 200 freestyle in 2:11.59, Olson came in first in the 200 individual medley (2:37.35) and Alex Thomsen led a sweep of diving by scoring 156.00.

Lee added two seconds for the 'Cats. She was runner-up in the 200 freestyle (2:13.59) and the 100 butterfly (1:16.99). Other individual seconds went to Kopp (200 individual medley - 2:49.67), Willhite (50 freestyle - 28.89), Sam Thomsen (diving - 138.275), Secord (100 freestyle - 59.88) and Olson (500 freestyle - 6:00.16). The other Wildcat second came when Kopp, Mallory Schneider, Leah Hathaway and Radziwill swam the 200 freestyle relay in 1:59.92.

The 200 medley relay team (Goosen, Kopp, Stein and Radziwill) took third for CL. Other thirds went to Stein (200 individual medley), Hathaway (50 freestyle), Cassie Schlegel (diving), Willhite (100 freestyle), Goosen (100 backstroke) and Kopp (100 breast stroke).

Coach Wakefield said, "We swam very well against Totino. This is the time of the season when some swimmers will get a little discouraged with the fact that their times stay the same, or even get slower. This is pretty normal as they are working so hard in practice every day. The main goal, of course, is to train hard for the end of the season so the taper works.

"It was nice to see things like the 200 freestyle relay where our second relay team swam under two minutes. That shows a little depth on such a young team. It is also always nice to get a conference win," Wakefield commented.

The swimmers are scheduled to take on the Orioles at St. Louis Park at 6 pm today, Thursday, September 27. The next home meet is Tuesday, October 2 against Fridley, also at 6 pm.

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