State Records Tumble as Rachel Wittmer Leads Edina to MN ‘AA’ Title

2016 MINNESOTA ‘AA’ STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS (GIRLS)

Edina senior Rachel Wittmer, a Notre Dame commit, lit up the pool yesterday at the Minnesota AA Championships. She won the 50 free in 22.65, the event in which she holds the MN all-time state record in. While she was a touch off of that record, she would break records on both free relays later on in the meet. Wittmer also swam the 100 fly, where her 54.56 earned her the state title.

Edina’s success came largely from free relay domination. In the 200 free relay, Wittmer led off in 23.00, with three 23-low’s following for a final time of 1:32.89. That time chopped nearly a full second off of the MN all-time record, set two years back (which Wittmer was a part of). In the 400 free relay, Wittmer led-off in 49.89, and the same three girls, Ashley Post (50.94), Kelli McCarthy (50.48) and Raime Jones (50.58) followed with very strong times. Their collective 3:21.89 broke Chanhassen’s MN all-time record.

Wittmer wasn’t the only Notre Dame commit who had a stellar meet. Wayzata’s Carly Quast earned two individual wins, one of which marked a new MN all-time record. The ND commit swam a 1:47.33 to win the 200 free, breaking current ND freshman Abbie Dolan‘s MN all-time record as well as Kiera Janzen‘s 2008 ‘AA’ record. In the 100 back, Quast posted a 53.39 to take the win by almost 1.5 seconds. She led off Wayzata’s victorious 200 medley relay with a field-best 25.12, then anchored their 400 free relay with a field-best 49.13.

Edina’s Kelli McCarthy, who swam on both free relays, took an individual win in the 500 free. Her time of 4:52.03 earned her the win by over seven seconds. Other big wins came from Edina’s Raime Jones in the 100 free (50.58), Blaine freshman Isabelle Stadden in the 200 IM (2:02.81), and St. Michael-Albertville sophomore Emma Lezer in the 100 breast (1:01.43). Lezer is a young name to watch in the future– she also touched 2nd in the 100 fly (55.36) and split a 27.30 breast leg on the medley relay. That’s a split that would’ve beat seven swimmers in the medley relay finals at the 2016 NCAA Women’s Champs.

TEAM SCORES

TOP 5

  1. Edina 353
  2. Wayzata 279
  3. Minnetonka 245.5
  4. Eden Prairie 141
  5. Andover 122.5

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About Karl Ortegon

Karl Ortegon

Karl Ortegon studied sociology at Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT, graduating in May of 2018. He began swimming on a club team in first grade and swam four years for Wesleyan.

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