When head coach Tina Tamm looks at her team’s roster, she likes what she sees. Talent? Check.  Depth? A ton. Experience? How about seventeen returning letter winners.  Put it all together and it equates with some high expectations this season in the BHS aquatics center.

“We have a great group of girls with a lot of talent . . . many of them can move around in the line up and do great things,” says Tamm, who is entering her 21st season. “We gained some very talented 7th and 8th grade girls that are going to contribute a lot to this season as well.”

Her team is off to a fast start with a pair of wins in its two meets, and while the victories are nice, she is keeping her athletes focused on continuous improvement.

“The expectations for this season are to continue to always improve, whether that is each individual girl continuing to improve their times or the team improving our win total,” says Tamm, who is being assisted this year by Avery Tamm and ten year veteran dive coach Kayla Kalinowski. “We want to continually get better with each event and race.”

On the diving board this year, Kalinowski will have a pair of top performers to work with in Sarah and Lauren Woelfel, both top 20 finishers in state a year ago.

In the swimming events, Tamm has many interchangeable parts that can present a formidable lineup in several configurations.

Some of the top performers figure to be Delaney Varney (100 butterfly), Avary Maunu (50 and 100 freestyle), Grace Wynia (200 IM and 100 breaststroke) and Laila Cook (200 IM, 100 butterfly and 100 breaststroke).  Many of the relay events could be top notch as well.

Captains for this year’s team will be Annika Howe, Sarah Woelfel and Nev Baune.

Returning letter winners include the Woelfels, Varney, Maunu, Wynia, Howe, Baune, Kyla Henkemeyer, Sarah Schmidt, Morgan Schrader, Monica Zimmerman, Kadence Cox, Nadine Super, Arleigh Pudlick, Tia Schaap, Meghan Swanson and Lucy Pink.

One big difference for this season will be that the MSHSL is not allowing fans at meets which will lead to a more somber atmosphere.

“If someone has ever been to a swim meet they know that it can get quite loud when the fans are all cheering during a race, but this year it is going to have a whole different feel to it,” says Tamm.  “The girls will still be cheering for each other, but it’s going to be a lot quieter than we are used to.”

While the pandemic has put a crimp in the spectator aspect of the meets, there was one positive to the situation, according to Tamm.

“One good thing that came out of the COVID issue was that the summer camp this year was at the end of the summer,” she says.  “The MSHSL extended that coaches contact date to the beginning of August so I was able to have the camp up to the week before the season started.  This helped the girls get in to shape and not lose the training before the season started.”

That seamless transition fit well with Tamm’s focus on having every girl focus on their individual improvement.

“I have always been the coach who tells the girls to look at the clock and not the place they finish,” says Tamm.  “When they each improve their own times, then the team benefits as a whole.” 

The final question facing the team this year is what the MSHSL plans to do with the postseason.

“At this point, we have no idea what our post season will look like,” says Tamm.  “We are hopeful that they will have something figured out soon and we are still training the girls as if it is going to happen.”

And if it indeed does happen, only time will tell how the team’s talent and experience translates into post season success.

Bulldog Swimmers Move To 2-0

With a hard fought 95-91 win last Thursday over the Cambridge-Isanti Bluejackets, the Becker swimming and diving team pushed its record to 2-0 on the season.

“It’s been a long time since we’ve started out 2-0 and we hope to keep the streak going,” said coach Tina Tamm.  “Not only have we won the meets, but the girls continue to improve their times.”

First place finishers at the meet included the medley relay team of Arleigh Pudlick, Grace Wynia, Laila Cook and Tia Schaap, with Wynia also winning the 100 breaststroke and Cook winning the 100 butterfly and 200 IM.

Meghan Swanson picked up a pair of first place finishes, winning in the 200 freestyle and the 500 freestyle.

On the diving board, Sarah Woelfel picked up the win for the Bulldogs.

Speaking about her team, Tamm is excited with the way the athletes are performing early in the season.

“They are swimming very well right now and will continue to train and keep improving,” said the coach.  “We have started strong this season and are hoping to continue the ride.”

The next match for the girls was scheduled for last night (Friday) as they traveled to Chisago Lakes for a conference matchup.  See details in next week’s Patriot.