The varsity girls’ swim team finished up one of the best seasons Westminster has ever had at their state meet at the St. Peter’s Rec Plex on Feb. 15 and 16. One of the state qualifying events included the 200 Medley Relay team of Lauren Massot, freshman, Kaitlin Kittelson, sophomore, Leah Votava, junior, and Ellie Straub, senior.

This relay was extremely successful this season, breaking the school record a total of 5 times and finishing first at their conference meet in mid-January. They went into the state meet seeded 15th, and they qualified for the top-16 finals on Friday by placing 15th in the preliminaries. The next day, the relay swam an outstanding and school-record breaking time of 1:54.35, placing 13th overall. Another interesting fact about the relay is that it consisted of a freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior, giving the girls a unique opportunity to bond closely with each other despite their differing ages and come together for their common goal of breaking the school record and never letting each other down. Because of their amazing team chemistry and trust that these girls shared, they were able to go beyond their goal and accomplish something amazing to finish off their season perfectly.

Other state qualifying events included Massot in the 100 freestyle and the 100 backstroke. She finished 22nd in the 100 free. In the 100 back, she moved on to the finals in the top 16 and placed 11th overall, breaking the school record in the process.

Kittelson also placed an outstanding 18th in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:11.36.

The last event that the Wildcats swam at the state meet was the 200 free relay of Votava, Lauren Vanek, junior, Megan Galvin, sophomore, and Straub. They placed 35th overall.