Bowen reigns on record-breaking night

On a night when her team re-claimed the Class AA championship, Stillwater's Hannah Bowen etched her name into the record books four times at the Girls State Swimming and Diving Meet Nov. 22. The Ponies sophomore claimed two individual records, while joining in on taking two relay records with her teammates to help propel her team to the championship over second-place Edina and third-place Eden Prairie. Bowen broke her first Class AA all-time record in the 50-yard freestyle, smashing a decade-old mark set by Apple Valley's Jen Riggs with a swim of 22.73 seconds. The former standard had been 23 seconds flat. Another of Riggs' best fell next as Bowen nipped the Eagles' alum in the 100-yard freestyle with a swim of 49.78, just two-hundredths of a second better than the former record. The new all-time best result in the 200-yard freestyle relay is actually held by two teams as quartets from Stillwater and Lakeville South improbably tied for the first-place medal and the new Class AA record with each finishing in a time of 1 minute, 34.80 seconds. Bowen joined Betsy Galenti, Torie Buberl and Monica Radecke for the Ponies, with the Cougars foursome of Melissa McMahon, Wendy Consoer, Natalie Herrild and Hailey Campbell sharing top honors. There would be no sharing of Bowen's second collaborative record-breaking effort as Stillwater iced the State title with a new standard in the 400-yard freestyle relay as Kaela Anderson, Jordan Bowen, Galenti and Bowen bettered the record they already set in 2007 with a team time of 3:26.09. Not that Stillwater was the only team to set new definitive marks on the night. In all, eight Class AA records fell. In addition to the aforementioned four: — Edina set a new mark in the 200 Yard Medley Relay as the foursome of Madeline Eden, Heather Laedtke, Annalise Colton and Mary Van Metre won the title in a record time of 1:45.49. — Cretin-Derham Hall sophomore Kiera Janzen set a new record in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:47.86. — Eden Prairie freshman Rachel Bootsma's time of 54.07 is the new fastest all-time in the 100-yard backstroke. — Champlin Park sophomore created the new standard in the 100-yard breaststroke with her swim of 1:01.30.