Submitted Photo Minot High diver Gracyn Bergan competes in the 1-meter diving event. Bergan won the WDA title with a score of 428.00 at the WDA Championship swimming and diving meet over the weekend at the Mandan Aquatics Center. Photo provided by the MHS swimming & diving team.

Minot High senior Samantha VonBokern defended her WDA titles in both the 200-yard freestyle and the 100 butterfly and Gracyn Bergan claimed the 1-meter diving title, but it wasn’t enough to propel the Majettes to a repeat as they settled for a third-place finish at the WDA Championship at the Mandan Aquatics Center on Saturday, Nov. 8.

The Majettes finished with a team score of 299. Bismarck Century claimed its 11th WDA title in program history, running away with the event with 459 points. The Patriots swept all three relays and took home the 500 freestyle title. Bismarck Legacy finished runners-up with 325 points. Mandan (287) and Dickinson (183) rounded out the top five. Minot North (125) placed eighth in the nine-team event.

“We’re really proud of our third-place finish at West Region,” Minot High girls swimming and diving coach Emily Jensen said. “It’s a great reflection of how hard everyone has been working. Sam and Gracyn each came away with wins, which was super exciting for the whole team. We tried a few new things with the relays this time, and while they didn’t quite pan out, it gave us a lot to learn from. We’re motivated and ready to keep improving heading into the next meet.”

The meet got off to a rocky start for the Majettes, who saw their 200 medley relay team get disqualified after initially finishing the event in third place. Had the Majettes not been disqualified, they would have received 32 points added to their team score, which would have been enough to vault them over Legacy for second place.

Minot regrouped in the following event, as VonBokern won the 200 freestyle in 1 minute, 58.27 seconds for her second straight WDA title in the stroke. She bested Legacy’s Lilyana Hochhalter by more than a second.

VonBokern also delivered a victory in the 100 butterfly, finishing in 57.47. Williston’s Dru E Zander took second with a time of 58.86. VonBokern and Bismarck High’s Madeline VerDouw were the lone swimmers to win both their individual events. VerDouw claimed the WDA title in the 200 individual medley and the 100 breaststroke. VerDouw set a new WDA record in the breaststroke with a time of 1:04.96, topping Erin Palmer’s previous mark of 1:05.02 set in 2020.

Minot High’s other victory came on the diving board. Bergan and Bismarck High’s Ellie DeForest went back and forth during the two-day event. Bergan was in first place after the preliminaries on Friday with a top dive of 198.65, while DeForest sat in second with a score of 189.55. DeForest had grabbed the advantage following the semifinal round with a score of 301.90, just ahead of Bergan’s score of 300.20. But Bergan won out in the end with a final score of 428.00 to DeForest’s 427.85.

“Gracyn battled hard the last three dives and it was so exciting to see her shine in that moment,” Jensen said. “She just started diving a couple years ago, and has made tremendous growth. We are so proud of her and excited for her future as a Majette diver.”

Williston and Legacy each won individual titles as well. Zander won the 50 freestyle for the Coyotes and Hochhalter and Brinley Steele claimed the 100 freestyle and 100 backstroke for the Sabers, respectively.

Along with the 500 freestyle, the Patriots had five second-place finishers.

Emily Dunstan (50 freestyle) and Maggie Fricke (500 freestyle) both placed third in their respective events.

“We’ve got some fine-tuning to do this week,” Jensen said. “We’re planning to rest our bodies and get in a good mental place to finish the season strong with the same aspirations we started with 13 weeks ago.”

Zoe Bahr was the top performer for the Sentinels, placing fourth in the 100 breaststroke.

Minot High placed five swimmers on the All-WDA team with VonBokern, Dunstan, Fricke, Bergan and Kirby Quam making the list. Minot North’s Abigail Wake was also named to the team.

The season concludes next weekend with the state meet at the Hulbert Aquatic Center in West Fargo beginning on Friday, Nov. 14, with the diving preliminaries at 12:30 p.m. and swimming preliminaries at 3:15 p.m. Saturday’s portion begins at 10:45 a.m.