With the Becker Bulldogs Swim & Dive team reaching mid-season, 18 of their athletes have qualified for the section meet, and with three more opportunities to achieve that goal a number of others are poised to do the same.

Last Saturday saw the team competing at the Milaca Invite, where four of the divers placed in the top 8; Sarah Woelfel took 1st, Lauren Woelfel came in 2nd, Keeley Holm placed 7th and Bella Kushel 8th.

The swimmers also did well, including Morgan Schrader, who took 9th place in the 200 free and 8th in the 500 free after dropping seven seconds in each of the events. Delaney Varney placed 9th in the 100 butterfly, and Chloe McDonald had the biggest drop of the meet, improving her 500 free time by 13 seconds, close to a Section time.

“This is always a fun meet to go to as we are very competitive with all the teams there,” said Coach Tina Tamm. 

Section qualifiers were Morgan Schrader, 200 free and Lucy Pink, 100 breaststroke.

Tuesday the team competed against Chisago Lakes for the first time.

“It was a tough night with a lot of mistakes but also a lot of good races,” said Tamm. “We were touched out on very close races which makes for a fun meet to watch.”

Annika Howe took 2nd place in the 200 IM, only 3/10 of a second behind the Chisago Lakes first place winner. Delaney Varney took the lead in the 100 butterfly and beat the second place Chisago Lakes finisher by five seconds.

Arleigh Pudlick took 2nd in the 100 backstroke, touched out by only 5/100 of a second. Meghan Swanson placed 3rd, only a half second behind Pudlick, and Sarah Woelfel continued to lead the way in diving.

Becker took the top three places in the final individual event, the 100 breaststroke, with Avery Tamm achieving the win, followed by Lucy Pink and Grace Wynia.

In their last meet of the week Thursday, the Bulldogs were back at their home pool competing against Cambridge-Isanti. 

“Cambridge-Isanti has always been a tough team,” said Tamm. “We haven’t competed against them since we were in the Mississippi 8 Conference the last time.”

Even so, the team surged ahead and took four 1st place spots; Morgan Schrader in the 200 free and 500 free, Avery Tamm in the 100 breaststroke and Sarah Woelfel in diving.

The Bulldogs Swim & Dive team’s next meet is Oct. 1 against Albany, with their final home meet two days later competing against Monticello.