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Friday, October 3, 2008
Blazer Domination
St. Paul, MN
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By: John Richards
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Photo(s) By: John Richards
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For the past three seasons, one word has come to define Class A girls swimming and diving in the state of Minnesota: Visitation.
The small Catholic school in Mendota Heights claimed its first-ever state title in the sport in 2005 and has held onto the top spot ever since.
“There’s been a lot of things that have gone into the success of this program,” Nate Linscheid, coach of the Blazers for the past 15 seasons, said. “We’ve had great leadership from a lot of different girls and great support from parents, who have made a lot of sacrifices themselves.”
The program has brought the school the kind of recognition it hasn’t often received since its inception in 1873. While many schools boast of the size of their football programs, at Visitation it’s clearly the aqua-bound that are at the top of the heap.
Of the nearly 650 children enrolled at Visitation in the high school level, 42 of them participate on the girls swimming and diving team.
“The size of our team has grown over the past few seasons,” Linscheid said. “We hovered around 22-25 for about 10 years, which was manageable, but not like the depth we have now.”
A combination of depth and pure star power helped the Blazers cruise to their third-consecutive Class A championship last November as Visitation recorded 298 points at the University of Minnesota Aquatics Center. They bettered second-place Breck by 112 points and more-than doubled the point total of third place Monticello.
“We’ve got a number of very good swimmers on this team,” Linscheid said. “Great leaders too.”
Leading the pack of uber-talented Blazer competitors is All-American senior Meghan Weiss, who broke the Class A record in both the 200-yard freestyle (1 minute, 52.33 seconds) and the 100-yard freestyle (51.38 seconds) while anchoring the first-place 200- and 400-yard freestyle relay teams.
“She’s been a huge contributor for us both individually and on the relays,” Linscheid said.
Sophie Pilhofer was also was part of the victorious 200 freestyle quartet and swam on the second-place 200-yard medley relay team. On her own, the All-American senior placed fourth in the 100-yard butterfly and returns for one more crack at the top spot on the podium this November. “She has steadily improved in her 50-yard freestyle as well,” Linscheid said.
Julie Steege, an All-State honoree after finishing fourth in the 100-yard backstroke and eighth in the 200-yard individual medley at last year’s state meet, also looks to move higher up the medal stand this year.
Not that the proverbial cupboard will be bare after this season, however, as freshman Olivia McNeely has more than the waning weeks of this season remaining in her high school career.
And what a career it has been already as McNeely is already a two-time defending state champion in the 100-yard backstroke, having broken the Class A record last season with a swim of 1:04.70. “She’d be a two-time All-American already,” Linscheid said. “But since she wasn’t in high school until this year, the last two years weren’t officially recognized.”
Senior Carroll Bible placed eighth in the 100-yard backstroke in the 2007 state meet and plans to return this fall as does Maddie DeMeules, who swam with Steege and Pilhofer on the 200 freestyle team.
Above the pool, junior Kaia Magnuson seeks to qualify for the 1-meter diving finals this season after a 17th-place result last November.
With both section and state meets still a ways off, Linscheid said that the Blazers will use the competitions between now and then to build towards their end-of-season goals.
“We always go into each meet with the mindset that we want to win,” he said. “Trying to win helps us develop individually and as a team.”
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