HJ Sports Blog

By Stephen Wiblemo
Sports Editor
WILLMAR – Weeks of preparation led up to two days for the Dassel-Cokato girls swimming and diving team, and for many of the 19 Charger participants that were at the Section 3A tournament in Willmar, Thursday and Saturday, that hard work paid off.
For some, that payoff was being able to cut some time off their seed times. For swimmers Victoria Tormanen, Kristen Haider, Larinda Norgren, and Brooke Danielson, the payoff is a trip to the state swimming tournament at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center.
The four girls teamed up in the 200-yard medley relay team, and finished fifth in the section. More importantly, however, was that their final time of 1:56.33 was a second under the state cut time.
“It went really well,” DC head coach Erin Tormanen said about sections. “As a coaching staff, our main focus was to get three groups into state. The medley relay, Norgren (in the 50 freestyle), and Victoria (in the 100 breaststroke). Also, we wanted to medal in all three relays. We achieved everything, except getting Larinda there individually. That is pretty good.”
For most of the girls, the feeling of earning a state berth was pretty much the same.
“It hasn’t hit me yet,” Victoria Tormanen said.
“I can’t even explain it. It hasn’t even hit me yet,” Haider said. “I’m so excited, it is amazing.”
This accomplishment by the relay team, hopefully, put an end to the bad luck struck it last year. The relay team last season was also expecting to make it to the state tournament, but was disqualified due to an early start.
“It feels good to get over that hump,” Haider said about getting the relay team to state.
For Danielson, the youngest member of the team, this was her first medal, and first trip to state. Both good accomplishments, but she says she isn’t even thinking about the medal right now.
“I am very excited (to go to state),” Danielson said. “It’s crazy that we did it. I knew we could, but it is just more fun than I thought.”
While the girls are going together as a relay team, Tormanen also qualified for state in the 100-yard breaststroke. Her time of 1:11.15 beat the state cut by a second, and took fifth at sections.
While she is excited about going to state for both, between the breaststroke and the medley relay, Tormanen says she is more excited about the breaststroke.
“I think I’m going to enjoy the 100 (breaststroke), because there is more competition, “she said. “You can chase the person next to you, and there is more time to swim.”
There was a small disappointment at the tournament for DC. Norgren was also hoping to go to state in the 50-yard freestyle. She went into sections with a seed time that beat the state cut of 25.37. Despite her training, however, she wasn’t able to repeat that success, and just missed state with a time of 25.73.
“It’s hard, once you get here, with the level of stress and anxiety” Erin Tormanen said. “It isn’t a sure thing, and we knew that.”
She did finish sixth in sections, however, and isn’t letting this one blip ruin her season.
“I have all next year, and one is good enough,” Norgren said about going to state. “I’m just so happy. It’s a big relief. We’ve worked so hard, and now we achieved this in our medley relay. I’m proud of all the girls.”
Along with those achievements, the Chargers were also able to medal in the 200- and 400-yard freestyle relays. Norgren, Haider, Danielson, and Kelsey Nagel were on those teams, and took seventh in both events.
Some of the achievements girls captured weren’t as glorious, but are notable.
Senior Mary Ylitalo wasn’t able to beat the state cut time, but she did take 12th in the 100 breaststroke.
Danielson was able to cut time in the 100-yard backstroke, and just missed swimming in the finals with a 17th-place finish.
Haider also cut time in the 200-yard freestyle, and took 19th place.
Senior Hanna Keskey dropped significant time in her two events, finishing 29th in the 200-yard individual medley and 26th in the 100-yard backstroke to finish her career.
Elizabeth Kaiser made huge cuts in her two events. In the 500-yard freestyle she shaved off about six seconds to take 25th place. In the 100 backstroke, she cut about four seconds to finish 27th overall
Janna Van Overmeer cut time off her 50 freestyle time for 24th place, and in her first section meet, Carli Kirchoff cut a second off her 100-yard freestyle to take 36th place. According to coach Tormanen, Kirchoff would have also cut time from her 200 freestyle, but she twitched at the start, causing a disqualification.
The divers can’t be ignored either. Leading them was Sarah Kivisto. She was the only Charger diver to make it to the semifinal round, and she finished in 18th place with 142.1 points.
As a team, the Chargers finished in eighth place with 108 points. they beat out four other teams, including Wright County Conference rivals Mound-Westonka and Waconia.
Future WCC opponent Hutchinson won the team championship with 504 points, and Marshall was a distant second with 323. Both teams qualify for state.
After the meet, section awards were announced, and DC assistant head coach Nathan Youngs was named the Section 3A Assistant Coach of the Year.
Rory Fairbanks of Hutchinson, Nicole Peterson of Marshall, and Pete Buecher of Orono were named the head coaches of the year. Mary Pearce of Hutchinson and Rick Loge of Litchfield were named the diving coaches of the year.
Dayna Pitts of Mound-Westonka was named the diver of the year, and Alissa Tinklenberg of Willmar and Audrey Kumm of Hutchinson were named the swimmers of the year.

Sat., Nov. 14
Section 3A Finals
Teams – 1. Hutchinson 504, 2. Marshall 323, 3. Orono 312, 4. Litchfield 207, 5. Willmar 170, 6. St. Michael-Albertville 154, 7. Rogers 133, 8. Dassel-Cokato 108, 9. Mound-Westonka 100, 10. Waconia 98, 11. Holy Family 73, 12. Montevideo 51
Top 8 of each event
200 medley relay (11) – 1. Hutchinson 1:51.26, 2. Orono 1:54.72, 3. Litchfield 1:55.72, 4. Willmar 1:55.93, 5. Dassel-Cokato 1:56.33, 6. Marshall 1:57.97, 7. Rogers 1:58.30
200 freestyle (40) – 1. Allison Maxwell (R) 1:56.04, 2. Mercela (Mar) 1:59.09, 3. Abbey Machtemes (Hutch) 2:00.09, 4. Mackenzie Maki (O) 2:01.72, 5. Sidney Fairbrother (O) 2:03.60, 6. Brittany Launderville (R) 2:03.60, 7. Kylie Vermeire (Mar) 2:04.14, 8. Chelsey Ross (Hutch) 2:05.21
200 individual medley (33) – 1. Audrey Kumm (Hutch) 2:10.06, 2. McKenzie Vermeire (Mar) 2:12.45, 3. Maggie Reilly (STMA) 2:16.37, 4. Naja Harvey (O) 2:16.79, 5. Heather Rothstein (Hutch) 2:18.52, 6. Marissa Warren (Lit) 2:19.12, 7. Rachael Johnston (O) 2:19.22, 8. Kumm (Hutch) 2:24.93
50 freestyle (42) – 1. Kaylin Caron (Mar) 24.76, 2. Rebecca Lauer (Hutch) 25.07, 3. Katelyn Roepke (Hutch) 25.40, 4. Haley Cassens (Hutch) 25.47, 5. Aspen Billiet (Hutch) 25.51, 6. Larinda Norgren (DC) 25.73
Diving – 1. Dayna Pitts (MW) 305.55, 2. Krista Erickson (STMA) 278.45, 3. Shelbie Walsh (Litch) 268.55, 4. Brittany Van Houtte (Wac) 254.05, 5. Zoe Johnson (HF) 248.20, 6. Olivia Bordson (O) 246.35, 7. Kristen Sherburne (MW) 240.50, 8. Anna Dollerschell (Lit) 231.00
100 butterfly (33) – 1. Kumm (Hutch) 58.42, 2. Marcela (Mar) 59.08, 3. Kaylee Kucera (Hutch) 1:00.56, 4. Reilly (STMA) 1:00.88, 5. Warren (Lit) 1:01.11, 6. Cassens (Hutch) 1:01.94, 7. Kalin Webskowski (mar) 1:02.93, 8. Kumm (Hutch) 1:03.76
100 freestyle (42) – 1. Maxwell (Rogers) 53.72, 2. Caron (Mar) 53.73, 3. Lauer (Hutch) 55.42, 4. Jordan Ford (Hutch) 56.38, 5. Lundberg (Lit) 56.61, 6. Casie Carlson (Hutch) 56.84, 7. Launderville (Rogers) 57.09, 8. Billiet (Hutch) 57.22
500 freestyle (35) – 1. Alissa Tinklenberg (Wil) 5:17.88, 2. McKenzie Vermeire (Mar) 5:20.92, 3. Machtemes (Hutch) 5:23.78, 4. Fairbrother (O) 5:23.95, 5. Maki (O) 5:24.63, 6. Machenzie Braden (HF) 5:25.32, 7. Kylie Vermeire (Mar) 5:27.59, 8. Ross (Hutch) 5:36.03
200 freestyle relay (12) – 1. Marshall 1:40.02, 2. Hutchinson 1:40.04, 3. Litchfield 1:43.80, 4. Willmar 1:44.26, 5. Orono 1:44.52, 6. Montevideo 1:46.13, 7. Dassel-Cokato 1:46.74, 8. St. Michael Albertville 1:46.85
100 backstroke (40) – 1. Tinklenberg (Wil) 1:00.27, 2. Kucera (Hutch) 1:00.75, 3. Roepke (Hutch) 1:02.63, 4. Bruner (Wac) 1:02.71, 5. Maria Wikstrom (O) 1:03.51, 6. Casie Carlson (Hutch) 1:04.92, 7. Cassie Yoakum (Wil) 1:04.93, 8. Abby Surprenant (Mar) 1:06.29
100 breaststroke (33) – 1. Naja Harvey (O) 1:08.13, 2. Rachel Johnston (O) 1:09.09, 3. Rothstein (Hutch) 1:09.51, 4. Ford (Hutch) 1:10.22, 5. Victoria Tormanen (DC) 1:11.15, 6. Walsh (Lit) 1:12.50, 7. Emily Zondervan (Wil) 1:13.56, 8. Anna Smaron (O) 1:13.96
400 freestyle relay (12) – 1. Hutchinson 3:37.47, 2. Marshall 3:37.54, 3. Orono 3:49.19, 4. Willmar 3:50.05, 5. Rogers 3:51.35, 6. Litchfield 3:55.65, 7. Dassel-Cokato 3:57.12, 8. Waconia 3:57.45