Relays DQ, O’Reilly 12th at State

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Farmington’s Caltlin Kracke swims her leg of the 200 medley relay during Friday’s Class AA State Swimming and Diving Championships at the University of Minnesota Aquatics Center. The Tigers scored a 36th-place total of five points.

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Disqualifications in both the 200 medley and 200 freestyle relays put a bit of a damper on Farmington’s appearance at last weekend’s Class AA State Swimming and Diving Championships.

Swimmers left the boards early in each of the races, costing the Tigers a total of two points in action at the University of Minnesota Aquatics Center. They ended up 36th out of 39 scoring teams with five points thanks to eighth-grader Kaitlyn O’Reilly’s 12th-place finish in the 100 backstroke.

O’Reilly entered the consolation final ranked 15th out of the final 16 with a time of 1 minute, 88-hundredths of a second, but cut her time down to 1:00.24 in the finals to pass Beth Wenman of Rosemount, Jordan Duncan of Stillwater and Laura Schumacher of Eagan.

O’Reilly just missed her personal-best of one minute flat she posted at the section meet in Rochester, but was still recovering from her leadoff leg of the 200 freestyle relay.

“She might not have gotten enough time to recover but she had a great final and a great time to move up,” Farmington coach Jen Marshall said.

The 200 medley relay team was well on its way to breaking its own school record before disqualifying on an illegal exchange between the third and fourth legs. Had the time stood, the Tigers would have placed 17th out of 28 teams in the event.

The 200 freestyle relay qualified for the consolation final with a time of 1:41.23, but missed out on two team points when it committed another illegal exchange between the second and third legs.

“This was the first time in five years since we moved the section to Rochester that we swam faster at state. I was pleased with that, but we just had some brain farts, I think,” Marshall said. “We needed to be a little more focused, maybe.”

O’Reilly, Caitlin Kracke, Sarah O’Reilly and Elizabeth Wolfe will all be back next year. Kristin Peters will be the only state qualifier lost to graduation.

“All those girls are excited to get back to state and swim faster,” Marshall said. “The state meet is exciting. Any time you can get there it’s a great experience. This just gave them a taste of it and will make them work hard to get back.”

Tags: girls swimming, sports