Swim & Dive: Kracke, Wolfe, Fitzgerald win events at Hutch

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Farmington swimming and diving coach Jen Marshall figured Thursday's meet at Hutchinson was a good time to do some experimenting.

Competing against a Hutchinson team she figured would be tough to beat, Marshall tested out her athletes in some different events just to see what they could do. The final meet result was as expected with the host Tigers cruising to a 98-83 Missota Conference victory, but the visiting Tigers managed to win three varsity events and claim the JV portion of the meet, 94-90.

"The meet against Hutch went well. They are a very strong team and we knew heading into the meet the odds of us winning were slim," Marshall said. "We moved girls around to different events and had some fun."

The fun began in the meet's second event where Caitlin Kracke posted her best time of the season and won by nearly three seconds in a time of two minutes, 4.71 seconds. Kracke was also part of three second-place performances, taking runner-up honors in the 500 freestyle in 5:45.03 and completing legs of the 200 and 400 freestyle relays. Rilee Carufel was also part of both relays, while Kristin Peters and Biff Donner completed the 200 freestyle relay and Callie Rossel and Kaitlyn O'Reilly rounded out the 400 freestyle. O'Reilly picked up her second runner-up finish in the 100 back stroke where she clocked in at 1:07.46.

Chloe Holton tacked on a second-place performance, swimming to a time of 1:23.98 against an incomplete field of swimmers in the 100 breaststroke.

Three events after Kracke's individual title, Katrina Fitzgerald continued her run of strong performances in the 1-meter dive with a victorious total of 188.70 points. The Tigers' third and final first-place finish came in the 100-yard breaststroke, where Elizabeth Wolfe clocked in at 1:13.52.

Wolfe opened the meet by teaming up with Donner, Peters and Calista Huls for a second-place 2:02.10 clocking in the 200 medley relay. The 200 medley was one of the three relays Marshall switched up as she continued to evaluate her swimmers.

"I'm still playing around with relays to see which four girls will give us the most success in each of the three relays," she said. "It's nice to have meets like this early in the season to move girls around and see which foursome swims the fastest."

The Tigers continue their schedule tonight with a Missota Conference meet against Northfield at Farmington Middle School West. The first event gets under way at 6 p.m.

Tags: sports, swim, dive, kracke