The Mahtomedi Zephyrs paid a visit to the Hastings Middle School on Sept. 29, and they put Hastings to the test, often splitting the points earned for each race 88 or 97 to keep things close late into the meet.

Hastings took the early 104 lead taking first and third in the 200yard medley relay and Mahtomedi narrowed the gap 1713, taking first and fifth in the 200yard freestyle. The Zephyrs closed the gap even further by taking first and third in the 200yard individual medley and after three events, the score was 2422 in favor of Hastings.

The 50yard freestyle was next, and the teams split the points 88. Hastings increased the gap via diving taking first, third and fifth bringing the total team points to 4236 Hastings.

Josey Larson took first and Sophia Kovalenko took second in the 100yard butterfly to give Hastings another 10 points and to extend the team lead 5242. Mahtomedi took first, fourth and fifth, earning nine of the available 16 points to make up some ground on Hastings 5951.

Izzy Green, Annika Ries and Stella Hilgers took first, second and fifth respectively in the 500yard freestyle to extend the Raider lead 7056. The 200yard freestyle relay team of Ava McNamara, Ashtyn Stewart, Kovalenko and Kira Aarness took first place and added even more to the Raider lead, 7862.

The teams split the 100yard backstroke points at 88 and Hastings was now 10 points away from locking up the win with a score of 8670 with two events remaining. McNamara took first in the 100yard breaststroke, followed by Clara Birken in third and Emma Dehmlow fifth to give Hastings the 10 points they needed to lock up the win 9676, earning their fifth conference win.

'Thursday, we won over Mahtomedi 98 to 86,” said head coach Katie McAlpin. “This was our toughest conference win. Swimmers of the meet were Josey Larson and Fiona Olsen. Josey cut two seconds off of her season best time in the 200 IM with a fourthplace finish, a season best time in the 100 free on the relay, and a firstplace finish in the varsity 100 fly. Fiona cut four seconds off her season best time in the 100 breaststroke and seven seconds in her 100 free on the relay. Diver of the meet was Mari Hall. She had two new dives in her list and was very positive throughout the meet.”

“Saturday, we had a fun meet with Chippewa Falls,” added McAlpin. “This was a nonconference meet. Swimmers of the meet were Sofia Kovalenko and Ava McNamara. Sofia won the 50 free with a season best time and had a great second place finish in the 500 free. She had a strong swim the whole way through. Ava had two challenging races. She had a secondplace finish in the 200 free and a win in the 100 fly. Ava also had the fastest lead off splits in both free relays.”

Up next is senior night on Thursday, Oct. 6 at 6:30 at the Hastings Middle School against South St. Paul.