The Section 3AA Swim and Dive championship took place at the District 197 Aquatic Center at Two Rivers High School last week, Wednesday through Friday. The Raiders placed third as a team with a score of 352 behind the section champions, Eastview who scored 419 and Rosemount who had 392. Individually, Hastings will send six to the state meet on November 14-16. Note, after each name, their grade will appear as (#).
The 200 Yard Medley Relay kicked off the meet and the Raiders kicked the rest of the relays to the curb taking first place with a time of 1:52/10, missing their own section record by just .21 seconds. The first-place finish sends the relay of Emma Dehmlow (9), Kira Aarness, (12), Josey Larson (12) and Lila Salzman (10) to state.
Kira Aarness (12) placed second in the 200 individual medley to secure her spot at the state meet. Aarness finished with a time of 2:09.73, .42 behind the first-place swimmer from Eastview.
Chloe Aarness punched her ticket to state taking second place overall in diving on Thursday. Chloe scored 397.60 for 11 dives, just 21 points away from first place.
The final race of the day, the 400-freestyle relay of Kovalenko, Dehmlow, Salzman, and Aarness also qualified for state by having a fast enough qualifying time outside the top two spots of the race. The relay placed third with a qualifying time of 3:39.90.
Hastings will have six participants at state this year along with a couple alternates making the trip to fill in if someone must step out of one of the relays. Diving takes place on Nov. 14 at 6:00 p.m. with the preliminary round for swimming on Nov. 15 at 6:00 p.m. and the finals at 6:00 p.m. on Saturday.