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Historic runs come to an end

MHS places third as a team, Knutson wins two titles

By CHRIS BIERI, Staff Writer cbieri@minotdailynews.com
POSTED: November 15, 2009

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GRAND FORKS - Two historic runs came to an end Saturday at the University of North Dakota Hyslop Sports Center pool.

Bismarck Century won the Girls State Swimming and Diving Championships with 290 points, ending Minot High School's streak of six consecutive titles. The Majettes (225) finished in third place behind runner-up Williston (262.5).

The other notable run that came to an end was the extraordinary prep swimming career of Majettes standout Dagny Knutson.

Knutson completed her state meet with two state titles, but wasn't able to improve on either of the National Public High School records she set during Friday's preliminary swims.

In total, Knutson ended her career with five national records, setting marks in the 100-yard freestyle and the 200 IM this season.

Her 200 IM finals time was 1 minute, 55.79 seconds, after setting the national mark with a blazing 1:53.82 on Friday.

Saturday, Knutson nearly matched her national record time in the 100 freestyle. Her swim of 48.30 was just a tick away from the record she set Friday of 48.15.

Knutson had a tough end to her day, as the MHS 400 freestyle relay team was disqualified when it was ruled that Knutson left the starting block early for her final leg.

Despite her frustration over the way the day finished, Knutson said competing with her friends on the MHS team made for lasting memories.

"I'm really sad it's over," she said. "It's going to be weird that it's over and going to college next year, but what happened, happened and I couldn't have asked for a better group of girls to finish my off my career with."

The 400 relay finish wouldn't have affected the Majettes' chances at a seventh straight title, as Century edged the Majettes with a state-record time of 3:37.03.

"Of course, Dagny's always striving for the best possible outcome," MHS head coach Jake Solper said. "She's also one, I know she will look past the score and really look into what happened this weekend and see that she and her teammates put together the absolute best meet they could put together. Our team just has to extend a congratulations out to Century. They swam so well and were really deserving of that first-place position."

She said that capturing the national records was a rewarding way to end her high school career.

"I knew that the second day of the meet I probably wouldn't swim as fast as the first day because you have relays and it's the second day, you're more tired," Knutson said. "I kind of expected that. I guess a national high school record, that's what I work for every day."

Solper said there were a number of good swims from the Majettes over the course of the weekend.

"Our girls really did a spectacular job," Solper said. "We had some time cuts that were absolutely amazing. We all swam personal bests over the course of the weekend, and that's all a coach can ask for. We can't control how well another team swims and how the points all play out."

Solper said one of the top efforts of the day came from Katelyn Webster, who won the B Final of the 100 breaststroke with an outstanding finish.

"In our 50 freestyle, we had two of our girls that cut more time than expected," Solper said. "To watch that expression and to watch how they really, truly put their heart in that swim was awesome. Katelyn Webster had one of the best finishes you can have, they way she extended her hands all the way to the wall, out-touched another girl. Just because she was swimming heads up, she was able to take the consolation heat."

Century head coach Loic Joseph said his team was able to take the title despite fielding a smaller team.

"There were so many odds against us," he said. "We're a really small team and two teams in the same town. We have a really strong bond and the girls are a really strong group, they wanted to do it together. It just came together at the right time, I guess."

Minot's Maci Bischof placed fourth in the diving competition

Williston's Kaitlin Bolinske won the 100 backstroke and was part of the Coyotes winning 200 medley relay with Sadie Miler, Madison Porter and Kelsey Stenson. Miller also won the 100 breaststroke for the Coyotes.

Courtney Funk placed fifth in both the 50 and 100 free for MHS and Jerrica Kelly placed sixth in the 200 free. Funke, Kelly, Megan Routledge and Serena Olsen placed second in the 200 free relay, while Knutson, Funke, Webster and Katie Clark took second in the 200 medley relay.

 
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