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Two divers from Chisago Lakes qualified for the state tournament this year, with Hattie Opdahl winning the section and Claudia Stipe coming in fourth place.

“It was a very exciting meet for the pair,” Head Coach Ellen Heath said.

Opdahl, who is a freshman, scored 369.90 points, just edging out second place Grace Gerton of South St. Paul, who scored 361.10.

Stipe finished with 314.25 in fourth place, but was .05 points out of third place, with Annika Overvig of Henry Sibley just ahead of her with 314.30 points.

Both girls will begin their state diving excursion on Thursday, November 14 at noon at the Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center at the University of Minnesota.

What makes the feat even more impressive is that this year, there were two new private schools added to Section 5A, bringing it up to 13 teams, the biggest in the state. Cretin Derham Hall dropped down from Class AA to A and the ‘Cats still sent two divers to state.

The field is wide open as 10 seniors were in last year’s diving field, and Opdahl’s scores stack up well against some of the top divers in the state, so she’ll have the potential to make noise in the finals on Saturday at noon at the U of M.

As far as swimming, no one qualified for state, as the section still features powerhouse Visitation as well as the new teams, but there was still some nice progress. All of the relays were top eight with the 200 free relay team of Meredith Annala-Hakes, Emily Fiorella, Sophia Janzig and Ilse Johnson placing fourth.  

Fiorella also medaled in the 50 free, coming in seventh place.  There was a swim off in the 50 after prelims - three girls had tied for seventh.  Two of the three in the swim off made top eight and Fiorella was one of them, and she moved up to seventh during finals.  

Niya Duren, Johnson, Janzig and Ellie Undem all made the consolation heats in their events.

“All the swimmers and divers worked hard this season and efforts paid off,” Heath said. “I’m proud of how well we did at section swim and section dive.”

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