East Ridge girls swimming & diving: Raptors fall to Hastings; place second at South Invite

Last week, the East Ridge girls swimming and diving team swam in two of its toughest meets so far this season.

On Thursday, Sept. 27, the East Ridge girls swim and dive team traveled to Hastings to take on the Raiders. Hastings won the meet 95-88, delivering the first loss of the season for the Raptors.

“Hastings has a very good team, it was cool to see how well we stayed with them,” East Ridge head coach Billy Cuevas said. “They had a bit more depth in the events at the end of the meet and they ended up pulling away.”

East Ridge had ‘quite a few girls swim personal best times’, according to Cuevas, including Molly Hamer and Sara Press. Hamer, a junior, broke a personal record in the 100 breaststroke and Press had a season-best time in the 50 freestyle.

Juniors Lindsey Lewis, Maddy Peters and Taylor Johnson, and eighth grader Olivia Burleigh all brought home first place finishes as well (in the 500 freestyle, 50 freestyle, 200 individual medley, and diving respectively).

On Saturday, Sept. 29, East Ridge traveled to the University of Minnesota for the South Invite.

“It’s not very often that we get the opportunity to swim at very nice facilities like this, so that’s something I always hope the girls get excited about,” Cuevas said. “Plus we had competition like Woodbury, St. Michael Albertville (STMA) and Hutchinson- who all had a legitimate shot at winning the meet.”

Woodbury did end up on top with 309 points, and East Ridge in a close second with 302 points. STMA placed third with 296 and Hutchinson was fourth with 281. East Ridge broke two school records and had a number of first place finishes in the meet.

Junior Meredith Ubel broke her own school record in the 100 backstroke (with a time of 1:02.15 and a second place finish), and the relay team of Peters, Lewis, Johnson and Ubel broke the 400 freestyle relay school record with a time of 3:43.55. East Ridge also had what Cuevas called their “super heat” in the 100 butterfly, with three girls in the final (fastest) heat of the race. East Ridge not only had three girls in the race, they placed first, second, and third. Ubel won the race (1:00.19), Johnson took second (1:00.96), and freshman Kayla Maatta earned third (1:02.41).

“That was a really exciting race, it was really cool to see how far the girls can push themselves,” Cuevas said.

In addition, Lewis also placed second overall in the 500 freestyle and Olivia Burleigh placed second in the diving competition.

This week, the Raptors swim against Mounds View at home, on Thursday, Oct. 4, at 6 p.m.

“It’s another meet where the competition should be really strong, it’ll probably come down to the last relay,” Cuevas said.

The Mounds View girls are coached by the East Ridge boys swim team’s head coach Steve Webb, which Cuevas said, “makes the meet fun because he has a connection with our school and our swimmers.”

Tags: swimming and diving, east ridge, sports, raptors, prep, updates