The State Swimming & Diving championships were held November 14 - 16 at Jean K Freeman Aquatic center at the U of MN. Following is how Becker athletes fared:

Diving Prelims - Thursday, Nov 14

Karli Kirk (second appearance) and Maggie Graning (first state appearance) set to compete their first five dives for the prelims.  The field gets cut from 32 divers to 20 after five rounds.  Both Becker divers moved on to the semifinals where they completed three more dives and hoped to finish in the top 16 so they can move on to the finals Saturday.  Both girls made the cut and finished their final three dives Saturday.

Swimming Prelims - Friday Nov 15

The team started the day with the 200 Medley Relay with swimmers Laila Cook, Izza Mork, Grace Mork and Josie Reckelberg competing.  It was reported this relay was tough for a lot of the teams at state as many added time to their entry score - which is what happened to the Bulldogs.  

“It was a tough ending for the relay but they earned Becker a relay entry at the state meet,” said Head Coach Tina Tamm. “They fought hard all season to get there and we are all looking forward to them doing it again next season.”

Up next was Grace Mork (second state appearance) in the 200 free.  Grace swam a great race dropping her time again but just missed the podium round by .20 seconds.  Grace will compete in this event in the consolation round on Saturday.

Izza Mork (first state appearance) swam the next event, the 200 IM.  

“It’s another tough event to swim as you have to do all four strokes,” said Tamm.  

Izza finished in 20th place.

Grace had another turn when she get to the 500 free.  

“She is a great distance swimmer and knows how to trust Laila (her lap counter) and Avery (asst. coach) to tell her where she’s at in the race and what she needs to do throughout the race,” said Tamm.  

Grace accomplished a few things with this prelim race by dropping 5.5 seconds off her time for a personal best time. She  broke the school record by almost six seconds and secured herself a spot in the championship finals round on Saturday.

Izza’s second race of the day was the 100 breaststroke.  

“It’s a tight race for the finals round as seven swimmers in this event have a time all within one second of each other,” said Tamm. 

Izza dropped enough time to secure her spot in the consolation heat on Saturday

Swim/Dive Finals - Saturday, Nov 16

Grace swam her 200 free and finished in 12th place. In her 500 free, she finished with a medal in fifth place.

Izza swam her 100 breaststroke and finished in 16th place.

Kirk completed her last three dives giving her a 13th place finish.

Maggie finished her final three dives putting her on the podium with a seventh place finish.

“All the girls competing gave it their all,” said Tamm.  “There were a lot of great athletes there and our girls were right there with them.”  

Becker finished 17th (out of close to 50 teams that were there) and they look forward to being there again next year.  

“Laila, Karli, Josie, Grace, Maggie and Izza represented Becker very well and had many other coaches congratulating them throughout the weekend,” said Tamm.  “It was a great weekend in the pool.”