Teams: Hopkins, Minneapolis Southwest, Minneapolis Washburn, Richfield, Robbinsdale Armstrong, St. Louis Park, St. Paul Central, St. Paul Highland Park
- 2023 Section Champion: Robbinsdale Armstrong– 415 pts
- 2023 Section Runner-up: St. Paul Central – 282 pts
Notable Graduates:
- Madeline Wandmacher (Armstrong) – 50 Free (8th Sections), 100 Back (7th Sections)
- Lila Charlesworth (Central) – 50 Free (5th Sections, 100 Free (7th Sections)
- Greer Jones (Central) – 200 IM (7th Sections), 100 Fly (8th Sections)
- Lauren Restad (Central) – 200 Free (9th Sections), 100 Breast (2nd Sections)
- Elise Belina (Southwest) – 200 Free (5th Sections), 500 Free (7th Sections)
- Grace Davis (Southwest) – 100 Breast (6th Sections)
- Irene Howard (Southwest) – 100 Fly (4th Sections)
- Ida Kozlowicz (Hopkins) – 200 Free (2nd Sections), 500 Free (2nd Sections)
- Annabelle Spears (Hopkins) – Diving (4th Sections)
- Ana Lesmeister (South-Roosevelt) – 200 Free (1st Sections), 100 Free (2nd Sections)
- Clara Hofmann (South-Roosevelt) – 100 Fly (6th Sections)
- Georgia Brennaman (South-Roosevelt) – 100 Back (5th Sections)
- Stephanie Stone (St. Louis Park) – 50 Free (3rd Sections), 100 Free (4th Sections)
- Mae Truman (St. Louis Park) – 100 Breast (3rd Sections)
- Charlotte Mook (Richfield) – 200 IM (3rd Sections), 100 Fly (5th Sections)
- Sydney Ebner (Richfield) – 100 Back (8th Sections)
- Ashley Fisher (Richfield) – Diving (6th Sections)
- Milla Downing (Washburn) – 100 Back (2nd Sections)
- Quinn Harvey (Highland Park) – 200 Free (7th Sections), 500 Free (9th Sections)
Team Outlook
It’s a fairly large gap for anyone to make up on Robbinsdale Armstrong and becomes even more of a challenge when Armstrong doesn’t graduate a lot of points. Senior Joy van Learhovren returns as state qualifier after finishing 2nd in the 100 Fly. Van Learhovren also finished 3rd in the 100 Breast. Joining her from the senior class is Evelyn Neese, who placed 7th in the 50 Free in 2023. The junior class is their core, starting with double event winner Lucia Freed. Freed was section champion in both the 200 IM and 100 Back. Natalie Gustafson was section champion in the 500 Free and placed 3rd in the 200 Free. Riley Sheffer is another junior who fared well last season with a 4th place finish in the 200 and 500 Free. The sophomore class is led by another double event winner in Ella Cooley. Cooley returns as section champion in both the 50 Free and 100 Free. Fellow sophomore Maya Fadlalla was right behind her at the section meet with a 2nd place finish in the 50 Free and 3rd place finish in the 100 Free. Mackenzie Woods rounds out that class with a 6th place finish in the 200 IM and 7th place finish in the 100 Fly.
Other Notables
St. Paul Central will be led by seniors Turin Johnson and Ella Neal as well as junior Cecily Jones. Johnson finished 6th in the 200 Free and 8th in the 500 Free last season, while Neal scored a 4th place finish in the 50 Free and was 11th in the 100 Free. Jones returns looking to build on her 6th place finish in the 50 Free and 3rd place finish in the 100 Back. Senior Aria Chermack also had a top 8 finish in the 100 Back last season with a 4th place finish.
Minneapolis Southwest will be led by junior Erin Prekker. Prekker was section champion in the 100 Breast and section runner up in the 200 IM. At the state meet, Prekker placed 10th in the 100 Breast. Freshman Evie Rome showed some promise last year, scoring an 8th place finish in the 100 Free and 11th place finish in the 50 Free. Senior Maren Boehnke will look to build on her 12th place finish in the 200 Free and 8th place finish in the 100 Free.
Hopkins senior Harper Buschmann looks to defend her section championship in the 100 Fly this season. Buschmann also scored a 3rd place finish in the 200 IM. As always, Hopkins is deep in diving. They scored four divers in the top 8 last year at sections and return three of those. Junior Addie Walter placed 2nd, senior Cassie Kaplan 3rd and junior Ari Berglund 8th.
Minneapolis South-Roosevelt returns a couple top 8 seniors this season. Lennon Wendelberger placed 4th in the 100 Breast and Scarlett Wight 3rd in the 100 Fly. Junior Layla Pichler will also be a top contributor this season. Pichler placed 8th in the 200 IM and 10th in the 500 Free in 2023.
St. Louis Park senior Emily Foster will lead the Orioles in 2024. Foster placed 8th in the 200 Free and 5th in the 500 Free at the section meet last season. Freshman Maeve McCarren will look to improve on her strong eighth grade season where she finished 15th in the 200 IM and 7th in the 100 Breast.
Richfield senior Emma Govenat placed 6th in the 100 Back last season and junior Maddie Friel was 10th in the 200 Free and 5th in the 500 Free. They will lead the way for the Spartans this season.
On the swimming side for Washburn, juniors Brooke Lundgren and Maggie Huisken are the top returning point scorers. Lundgren placed 9th in the 50 Free and 5th in the 100 Free, while Huisken placed 5th in the 200 IM and 3rd in the 500 Free. On the diving side, junior Madeline Kohel returns as section champion, state champion and state record holder. Junior diving mate Parker Stob will also have an impact after placing 5th at the section meet.
St. Paul Highland Park-St. Paul Academy sophomore diver Avital Coleman placed 7th in diving last season and will be looking to make her way up the leaderboard this season.