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Both Kalli Jo Olson and Payton Nelson improved considerably in their second showing at the state tournament.

Nelson, who has gone two years in a row now for diving, made a much bigger splash this year, almost making it to the finals after finishing well off the pace in 24th place last year.

After the preliminaries, Nelson was sitting in 16th place, which put her on the cusp of making the finals. She put together a five  dive score of 143.20 and was just ahead of section foe Lauren Kroschel of Mahtomedi and Emma Trettin of Hutchinson.

Trettin made a big jump in the semis, however, and that pushed Nelson from 16th to 17. She finished the eight dives with 215.80, just one point away from Emma Disse of Detroit Lakes in 16th place.
Olson swam better than her finals time last year in prelims, but didn’t break one minute, and like Nelson, was left just on the outside in ninth place when the top eight make the finals.

She finished the prelims in 1:00.37, .15 seconds behind Bella Pittinger of Breck, who claimed the last championship finals spot.

In the consolation finals, Olson slowed a bit and went 1:01.04, finishing in 12th place overall. The junior is making strides to be the best swimmer she can be when she’s back for her senior year.

Her five points that she earned for the 12th place finish put the Wildcats in 33rd place in the team competition, tied with Sauk Rapids-Rice, Princeton and Minnewaska.

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