On November 19th, the Edina High School girls’ swimming and diving team not only won their second state title in a row, but also twice made state history by scoring over 300 points and winning all three relays.

The 200 medley relay team of junior Madeleine Eden, freshman Olivia Anderson, senior Paige Haller and senior Maryellen Campbell started the meet off with a win that was quickly followed by Nikki Larson winning the 200 freestyle. Junior Heather Laedtke placed fourth in the 200 individual medley and freshman Emma Wittmer placed ninth in the 50 freestyle. Divers Yasmeen Almog and Kim Larson, a junior and a senior, placed fifth and fourteenth. Nikki Larson came back in the 100 fly with her second win of the night, edging out Allison Schumacher of Rochester John Marshall in the final 50 of the race. Two events later, Nikki helped set a state record in the 200 freestyle relay with junior Amelia Anderson, Wittmer and Campbell with a time of 1:34.40. Edina’s best performance of the night came in the 100 breastroke, where Olivia Anderson, Campbell and Laedtke placed first, second, and third. Anderson said that it was “a great feeling to know that Edina was owning the top three podium spots.” The team capped off the meet with a win in the 400 freestyle relay by Wittmer, Amelia Anderson, Eden, and Nikki Larson.

Nikki Larson said that she was “really happy about winning twice” and was “really proud of the team. It feels good to have a lot of new kids who like the team as much as [the seniors] do. They’ll be able to carry on the tradition” of the team. She added that she was “going to miss it so much.” Kim Larson, also a captain, said the divers “had a great season” and they gave the state meet everything they had.

The boys’ team, whose first meet is on Friday, December 9th at South View, will be hard pressed to match the girls’ performance. Senior captain Andrew Petersen is optimistic about the team’s prospects, though, saying that “even though we lost some of our top swimmers, we gained a lot of possible state scorers. Though we won’t have as much firepower this year, I think we have more depth.”