Section 1AA
Teams: Farmington, Lakeville North, Lakeville South, New Prague, Owatonna, Rochester Century, Rochester John Marshall, Rochester Mayo
- 2022 Section Champion: Rochester Century – 405 pts
- 2022 Section Runner-up: Lakeville North – 391 pts
Notable Graduates:
- Paige Patten (Rochester Century) – 200 Free (2nd Sections/13th State), 500 free (2nd Sections/16th State)
- Emily Garrison (Rochester Century) – 200 IM (1st Sections/14th State), 100 Fly (1st Sections/8th State)
- Katherine Homme (Rochester Century) – 50 Free (3rd Sections /16th State), 100 Free (2nd Sections/16th State)
- Leah Loftus (Lakeville North) – 200 IM (3rd Sections), 100 Breast (5th Sections)
- Payton Warns (Lakeville North) – 100 Free (3rd Sections
- Natalie Boorjian (Rochester Mayo)- 50 Free (2nd Sections/8th State), 500 Free (1st Sections/7th State)
- Abigail Wigle (Rochester Mayo) – Diving (3rd Sections)
- Jordyn Schmucker (Farmington) – Diving (1st Sections/2nd State)
- Julianna Holy -(Lakeville South) – Diving (4th Sections)
Team Outlook
Northfield and New Prague are switching classes and sections this season with Northfield moving to 1A and New Prague moving to 1AA. For a synopsis of the section realignment, you can read our article.
Losing seniors is always tough from both a leadership and competition perspective. Rochester Century lost three Section and State point scorers in Paige Patten, Emily Garrison, and Katherine Homme. They have sophomore Sophie Blixt returning as Century’s top point scorer, placing 1st at the section meet in the 50 Free and 2nd in the 100 Back. Blixt also placed 12th at the state meet in both events.
Lakeville North appears to be the early favorite but will have to replace Leah Loftus and Payton Warns. Both solid point scorers at sections and Warns provided relay depth at State. Senior Izzy Satterlee returns as Section Champion in the 100 Free and 100 Breaststroke and will look to improve on her second and third place finishes at state in those events. Payton and Mckenna Hultgren also return as top section point scorers.
Other Notables
Sophomore Julia Ogren of Rochester John Marshall will return as section champion in the 200 Free and 100 Back where she placed third and fourth at state respectively.
Rochester Mayo will have the two top returning swimmers with Sophomore Madeline Gau Junior Gabriella Lee. Gau placed third at the section meet in the 100 Fly and placed top 16 in the event at state. She also placed fourth in the sections in the 100 Back. Lee placed third at the section meet in the 100 Breast.
Lakeville South sophomore Adrianna Clemon placed fifth in the 50 Free and fourth in the 100 Fly in the section meet and went on to place ninth in the 50 Free at the state meet. South also has the top returning diver in senior Daphne Fox, who placed second at the section meet and ninth overall at the state meet.
Taylor Gergen, the freshman from Farmington returns as the section runner-up in the 100 breaststroke and she ended up placing eighth in the 100 breaststroke at the state meet in November. Farmington also returns senior Sommer Krause who placed third in the 200 Free and fourth in the 100 Free at sections.
With New Prague moving up to Class AA, they bring Senior Peyten Schieffer, who will be a top contender in the 200 Free and 100 Fly, Sophomore Taylor Bassett who will be a top 8 sections swimmer in the 50 and 100 Free, Freshman Carolyn DeLuca with a quality 200 IM and 100 breaststroke and senior Ella Lund who will be a top 8 contender in the 100 Fly and 100 Back. The Trojans also field excellent diving with senior Nellie Dalsin placing 3rd at the Class A state meet last season.