Girls Swimming: Warriors sitting pretty after state prelims

BRAINERD — Mya Tautges is guaranteed to walk on the podium Saturday, Nov. 16.

The Brainerd Warrior senior qualified for the championship heat of the Class 2A State swimming finals in all four of her events Friday, Nov. 15, during the state swimming prelims at the Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center on the campus of the University of Minnesota.

Tautges posted a school record 22.88 in the 50-yard freestyle to secure the top spot in the championship heat. She also helped Brainerd’s 200 freestyle relay to the top spot.

The top eight finishers in each event will compete in Saturday’s championship heat with a chance at a state title. Swimmers placing ninth through 16 will compete in the consolation heat.

“We’ve never had a night like this,” Warrior head coach Dan Anderson said when asked if he ever had a swimmer or relay enter the state finals as a No. 1 seed.

“Everybody qualified and I don’t think that’s ever happened before and they swam fast,” Anderson added. “They really swam well. They didn’t back down and they swam like they belonged there."

Tautges dropped .40 seconds from her 50 free seed time. She was seeded second with a 23.28, which she swam to win the Section 8-2A title on Saturday, Nov. 9. Teammate Isabelle Ploof was seeded 15th in 24.21 and dropped one spot to finish 16th in 24.30, but will compete in the consolation finals.

“A 22.88 is really fast,” Anderson said. “I’ve never coached anybody that fast before and I coached boys 40 years ago. That’s saying something.”

Ploof and Tautges helped Brainerd’s 200 free relay with a first-place time of 1:35.59. The foursome of Avery Duerr, Aralyn Marcelo , Ploof and Tautges dropped a second from their seed time, which they swam to win the section title.

“Avery got us out well with a huge swim for her and she got us out in front,” Anderson said. “Aralyn took it from there and then you feel pretty good when you have Isabelle and Mya at the end of it. That will be an interesting swim tomorrow because Minnetonka swims their relay from fastest to slowest. It will come down to Isabelle and Mya trying to swim down their kids.”

Duerr opened with a 24.56 followed by Marcelo’s 24.42. Ploof posted a 23.89 in the third leg and Tautges brought it home with a 22.72 to jump Brainerd from the No. 2 seed to No. 1 heading into Saturday’s final.

Tautges was seeded fourth in the 100 free at 50.45, while Ploof was seeded ninth with 52.36.

Tautges moved up one spot with a 50.58 prelim time and is third behind Rochester John Marshall’s Julia Ogren, who swam a 50.38.

Ploof dropped one spot to 10th with a 52.49.

“Isabelle was within a tenth of a second and that’s just the way this sport goes,” Anderson said. “You look up at the scoreboard and you see you’re a tenth of a second slower and you’re bummed, but it’s not much. She’ll be fine. She just needs to get a better start on her 50 and I know one of her breakouts off the wall wasn’t the best. She’ll put together a race tomorrow, but like I told her a 24.3 in the 50 is still fast. A 52-second 100 freestyler is so fast.”

Duerr was seeded fourth with her section runner-up time of 1:05.06 in the 100 breaststroke and will compete in the championship heat for the second straight year. Duerr swam a sixth-place 1:05.62 to secure her spot. East Ridge’s Logan Havermann recorded the fastest time with her 1:02.72.

“Every breaststroker went a tick slower tonight and so did Avery," Anderson said. "She looked good. I thought she swam a better technical race than she did at the section meet. Saturday, I think she’s going to bust one. I’m excited. She’s right in the hunt.”

Brainerd’s 400 freestyle relay was seeded sixth with a section-winning time of 3:33.19. The same foursome that swam the 200 free dropped 0.69 seconds to post a 3:32.5. Marcelo led off with a 54.43 followed by Ploof’s 52.05. Tautges then swam a 52.05 with Duerr finishing with a 54.37.

Brainerd snagged the fifth seed going into the finals. Shakopee dropped the fastest time with a 3:30.19.

“We changed the order by putting Avery at the end because she had to go back-to-back with the breaststroke,” Anderson said. “She was in the last heat of the breaststroke and the first heat of the 400 relay, which was the worst-case scenario for us. Avery swam great. She came off that breaststroke and put a good leg in for us at the end.

“This is a weird position for us to be going into finals in first place. Hopefully, the girls are OK with that. We’ll just go out and swim and ignore all the pressure and see if we can come home with a state championship. That would be pretty neat.”

.JEREMY MILLSOP may be reached at 218-855-5856 or [email protected]. Follow on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jeremymillsop.