By Bruce Karnick

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The Hastings girls swim team is seeing a lot of improvement in the early season.

They had a narrow loss, 9492, to Farmington Aug. 30.

“It is always a battle with Farmington,” said Head Coach Katie McAlpin. “We had a lot of great swims. Swimmers of the meet were Greta Larson and Annika Ries. Greta got personal best in all three of her swimming events. She cut 12 seconds in the 100 back, seven seconds in the 100 free, and 1.5 sec in the 50 free. Annika had two personal best times. She cut one second in the 100 free and 12 seconds in the 500 free. Annika had two third place varsity finishes. Diver of the meet was Greta Larson. Greta had a great meet. She had a thirdplace varsity finish and faced a challenging dive.”

Their first conference meet was Sept. 1 at Two Rivers. Two Rivers is a program that has grown significantly over the last few years, often competing for the top three spots in the conference. The meet came down to the final race. Had Two Rivers placed first and third in the relay, the meet would have been tied at 93. Instead, Hastings won the relay and the meet 97 to 89.

Coach McAlpin spoke on the performers of the meet: “Swimmers of the meet were Clara Birken and Savannah Pechacek. Clara had a lifetime best time in her 200 free by three seconds and a season best time in her 100 breaststroke by a secondandahalf with a second place varsity finish. Savannah had three best time swims, cutting over 10 seconds combined in her freestyle events. Diver of the meet was Chloe Aarness. Chloe had beautiful dives. Even when she had a dive that was maybe not up to her standards, she still had a smile on her face. Chloe had a thirdplace varsity finish.”

This past week, the Raiders played host to two events, first a dual meet on Sep. 8 against Tartan where they easily dispatched the Titans. At one point, Hastings had a 9949 lead. Swimming has a guaranteed win threshold of 96 points. Once that is reached by a team, the team can then choose to go into exhibition. That means they still race. The times count for the swimmers regarding state and school records, but they do not accumulate any team points. It is a show of good sportsmanship by the winning team. It allows the final score to be closer and not be detrimental to the opposing teams development. Hastings won 9974.

“Thursday’s meet against Tartan was our second conference win,” explained McAlpin. “Swimmer of the meet was Stella Hilgers. Stella had best times in all four of her events. She cut six seconds in the 100 fly, two seconds in the 100 breast, five secomds in her 100 free and 1.5 in the 50 breast. Stella also had a thirdplace varsity finish in the 100 fly. Diver of the meet was Mari Hall. She achieved a lifetime best score and was very upbeat and positive throughout the meet.”

On Saturday, the Raiders held a four team invite meet where they placed second behind Woodbury. Other teams at the invite were Mahtomedi and St. Paul Highland Park.

“Swimmer of the meet was Elianna HerreraCarlson,” said McAlpin. “Elianna cut two seconds in her 50 fly and two seconds in her 500 free. She took ninth in the 500 free and 14th in diving which also earned her diver of the meet. This was Elianna’s first big meet. She did great and stayed very consistent the entire meet.”

Up next, the Raiders will host Hill Murray at Hastings Middle School on Sep. 15 at 6 p.m.

Lauren Jenkins competed on the 200-freestyle relay at Two Rivers where the Raiders took first with a time of 1:46.43. Jenkins swam the second leg of the relay with a time of 27.31 seconds.Photo by Bruce Karnick

Ashlyn Stewart, the top diver for Hastings, also competes in a variety of swimming events. Here, Stewart performs one of her dives that earned her second place behind Grace Marek of Two Rivers. Photo by Bruce Karnick