The MSHSL State Swim and Dive meet is the ultimate goal of every swimmer and diver. Hastings sent six to the University of Minnesota’s Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center for the three-day final event of the 2024 Girls Swim and Dive season. The Raiders earned 7^th place, 17^th place, 18^th place, 21^st place and 24^th place.

Chloe Aarness (10) started things for Hastings on Thursday night at the diving preliminaries where she finished the night in fifth place with a score of 295.50, allowing her to continue on to the finals. In the final round on Saturday, Aarness was the first female diver to reach the state meet podium in Raider history placing seventh overall with a score of 405.10. First place went to Washburn’s Madeline Kohel (11) with a finals score of 479.05.

Friday night had the swimming preliminaries with the 200-yard medley relay as the first event. The top 16 places from each race competed on Saturday. In the 4x200, the team of Emma Dehmlow (9), Kira Aarness (12), Josey Larson (12) and Lila Salzman (10) placed 17^th with a time of 1:53.05. Edina took home first place with a time of 1:46.91.

Kira Aarness placed 21^st in the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:12.20. Eastridge’s Logan Haverman (10) placed first with a time of 2:01.54.

Dehmlow joined Kira Aarness as the only two swimmers to qualify as individual swimmers for the state meet. Dehmlow qualified in the 100-yard backstroke where she placed 24^th with a time of 1:01.46. St. Michael-Albertville’s Lily Van Heel (12) took the top spot with a time of 53.99.

The final race that had Hastings swimmers was the 400-yard freestyle relay. Sofia Kovalenko (10), Dehmlow, Salzman and Kira Aarness placed 18^th with a time of 3:41.02. Edina took first place again in this relay with a time of 3:23.79.

Each race does accumulate points for a team score. Minnetonka took first place with a score of 325, Hastings tied with Waconia for 30^th with 12 team points.