Girls Swim and Dive Building a Winning Culture
By Lisa Thomas, Head Coach
The Girls Swim and Dive season is well underway with early successes to be proud of! With a growing team of 44 athletes, we are proud of our team with nine juniors and seniors leading the way with excellence in and out of the pool. Senior captains Leah Hausmann ’22, Grace Wethington ’22, and Saela Schwab ’22 have not only set an example in the classroom, on the pool deck and in the pool but have organized service and bonding activities helping to foster a positive team culture. Our other senior leaders Val Krinke ’22, Anabel Pritchard ’22, Natasha Krieger ’22 and Sofie Heer ’22 continue to lead by example continuing a tradition of work ethic, academic excellence and leadership.
Swimmers and Divers spent a fall weekend as a team raising awareness at the MN Alzheimer’s walk at Target Field while continuing six days a week of strong training.
“I’ve had a lot of fun meeting the freshmen and doing more activities outside of the pool as the covid regulations allow for more opportunities this year,” said Natalie Seng ’23
With a current conference record of 3-1 and a 2nd place finish in the Laker Invite this past weekend, CDH swimmers and divers are beginning to settle into a season of racing with their eyes on the True Team Section competition in mid-October. Highlights from fall competition so far have been the CDH relay team of Hausmann, Lillian Moore ’24, Izzy Macheel ’24, and Molly Magnuson ’24, which took first place in the 400 yard freestyle relay at the annual Laker Invite this past weekend. We swam amazing as a team through sore muscles and a long day of competition, way to go Raiders!
With three conference wins so far, Raiders beat Mounds View in an exciting dual meet that brought amazing swims and dives by the team across the board! The meet started with the 200 medley relay where the Raiders relay team of Josie Thomas ’24, Olivia Reeder ’24, Hausmann, and Macheel raced to first place winning by .2 seconds. This energy lasted event for event ending in an exciting win for the Raiders! Stand out first-place swims came in the 50 freestyle by Sara Lindner ’25 who won the 50 freestyle with a best time of 25.99! Joined by Moore, Thomas, and Magnuson, Lindner went on to swim a 24.99 sec. 50 freestyle split in the 200 freestyle relay later in the meet for another Raiders first place swim.
CDH Swimming and Diving is one team but two sports, with coaches working collaboratively to encourage our athletes to be the best version of themselves in and out of the pool at all times. Not only are we growing our swim program, our diving program is the biggest it has been in years with seven divers; one 8th grader, two ninth graders and four sophomores. With a young group and lots of diving experience between all of them, we only see this program getting stronger going forward. "I was unsure about joining diving, but Danika Rubbelke ’24 ( a current CDH diver) told me it was more like a family over everything else and she was right! It was all that and more! I am very happy with my decision, especially because of my two coaches who have made me the good diver that I have become," said Charlotte Stewart ’24.
With the state meet being cancelled last year, CDH swimmers and divers are looking forward to a full and more normal season involving consistent training, home meets, service in our community, team bonding and a postseason! With our season in full swing, training, conference meets, and taper will be leading up to a JV Conference meet on November 6, section meet on November 12 and 13th and the state meet November 17-20. Locations for the meets are still being finalized.
Good luck Raiders!