The Hastings Raiders girls swim and dive team stacked up two more wins this past week, first topping Two Rivers on Thursday and then taking a non-conference meet against Chippewa Falls on Saturday. The Raiders left both pools smiling, collecting standout performances in the water and on the boards.
Against Two Rivers, Hastings claimed nine of twelve events and rolled to a 102–81 win. The highlight of the night came from junior diver Chloe Aarness, who not only won the event but shattered both her own school record and the Metro East Conference record with a six-dive score of 264.05. In the lanes, freshman Lily Burks turned heads by posting best times in all four of her swims. She dropped two seconds in the 100 backstroke from her previous week’s mark and cracked the 30-second barrier in the 50 free, a milestone moment for a young sprinter. With those efforts, Burks earned swimmer of the meet honors.
The Raiders kept the momentum rolling on Saturday at home against Chippewa Falls. Hastings won 91–79, with the meet offering both strong swims and an unusual bonus for the divers. Because Chippewa’s facility does not support diving, Hastings hosted its divers in an 11-dive competition, and every Raider posted a personal best. “It was so fun to watch,” McAlpin said. “One would do a great dive and it was like it was contagious. One of my favorite things is to see the smile on their faces when they come to the surface with a huge smile knowing it was a great dive.”
In the pool, swimmers of the meet honors went to Hannah Heuer and Emilia Krause. Heuer slashed 22 seconds off her 200 individual medley, 10 seconds from her 500 free, and chipped in two more on a relay leg. Krause had her own big drops, cutting eight seconds off her 50-breaststroke split, two and a half second in the 50 free, and another second and a half in the 100 free relay leg. Their improvements in time were part of a steady stream of bests across the lineup. Sofia Kovalenko led the 200 free and 500 free with strong wins, while Emma Dehmlow took the 200 IM and 100 backstroke, and Lila Salzman claimed both the 100 fly and 100 breaststroke.
With a 2-0 record on the week, the Raiders set their sights on Mahtomedi, who visits Hastings this Thursday at 6 p.m. in a matchup with conference title implications.