Hastings girls swim and dive put together one of its strongest dual meet performances of the season Thursday, Oct. 1, using wins throughout the swimming lineup and a complete sweep in diving to defeat North St. Paul/Tartan 103-70.
The Raiders established control immediately, taking the top two spots in the 200-yard medley relay. Lila Salzman, Lily Burks, Maddy Ritter and Lauren Beaudet won the opening event in 2 minutes, 16.11 seconds, while Madison Stewart, Emma Dehmlow, Alliah Clark and Emma Anderson followed in second at 2:19.02. That early depth continued through much of the meet as Hastings collected points from both individual victories and multiple top-three finishes.
Sofia Kovalenko delivered one of the Raiders' biggest individual performances. Kovalenko won the 200 freestyle in 2:01.20, finishing nearly 25 seconds ahead of the next swimmer, then returned later to win the 100 butterfly in 1:00.02. She also helped Hastings win the 200 freestyle relay, teaming with Clark, Anderson and Chloe Aarness for a time of 1:56.39.
Jenna Arneson gave Hastings another individual win in the 200 individual medley, finishing in 2:39.80. Salzman then led a Hastings sweep of the top three positions in the 50 freestyle. Salzman won in 27.13 seconds, Ritter finished second in 28.20 and Burks took third in 30.05, giving the Raiders another large collection of team points.
The diving portion of the meet belonged entirely to Hastings. Chloe Aarness won the six-dive competition with 281.15 points, Greta Larson was second with 236.10 and Kira Fuechtmann completed the varsity sweep in third with 210.70. Hastings also had Mari Hall lead the junior varsity diving competition with 207.30 points, while Ruby Fuechtmann finished second at 152.40.
Stewart followed Kovalenko's victory in the butterfly with a second-place finish in 1:18.05, and Hastings continued piling up points in the 100 freestyle. Dehmlow won that race in 59.07 seconds, while Charlotte Latch placed third in 1:06.17 and Clark finished fourth in 1:07.03.
North St. Paul/Tartan answered with its strongest stretch of the meet in the distance freestyle. Brooke Ostby won the 500 freestyle in 6:22.01, Alexis Sanders finished second at 6:49.36 and Bree Matysik was third at 6:53.93. Emery Malm led Hastings' scoring swimmers in fourth at 6:57.61, with Elayna Latch fifth at 7:16.82. Ritter also recorded a 6:35.69 in the event, although her swim was listed as exhibition in the results.
Hastings responded immediately in the 200 freestyle relay. Kovalenko, Clark, Anderson and Aarness won in 1:56.39. Dehmlow, Malm, Emilia Krause and Elayna Latch added a third-place finish in 2:04.52, giving Hastings another strong relay showing.
One of the most dominant events of the meet came in the 100 backstroke, where the Raiders swept first through third. Salzman earned her second individual victory of the night with a 1:08.01, narrowly edging teammate Burks, who finished in 1:08.35. Hannah Heuer completed the sweep with a third-place time of 1:23.92. Charlotte Latch also swam a 1:18.32 as an exhibition entry.
North St. Paul/Tartan took the official top three places in the 100 breaststroke, led by Hannah Grom in 1:24.64, but Hastings produced several faster exhibition swims. Dehmlow finished in 1:21.53, Anderson in 1:22.00, Stewart in 1:27.25 and Clark in 1:35.36. By that point, the Raiders had already accumulated enough points that several Hastings entries in the later events were listed as exhibition.
North St. Paul/Tartan won the closing 400 freestyle relay in 5:29.36. Hastings had four relay teams listed as exhibition, including Malm, Arneson, Aubriella Cox and Lucy Schluessler in 4:57.63, and Burks, Charlotte Latch, Krause and Zoey Carlson in 4:57.82.
The final score reflected the Raiders' balance. Hastings won the medley relay, 200 freestyle, 200 individual medley, 50 freestyle, diving, 100 butterfly, 100 freestyle, 200 freestyle relay and 100 backstroke before exhibition scoring became a major factor late in the meet. Salzman and Kovalenko each won two individual events, while Hastings' depth produced several sweeps and multiple-event scoring performances.
The 103-70 victory gave Hastings a convincing team result while also providing opportunities throughout the lineup, with Raiders competing in varsity, junior varsity and exhibition races across the meet.