Woodbury girls swimming & diving: Seniors Mayer, Puglisi among 11 Royals headed to state meet

The Woodbury girls swimming and diving team turned it up to 11 at the Section 3AA championship meet.

Based on performances at the section competition, Woodbury is sending 11 swimmers and divers – seven qualifiers and four alternates – to the 2012 Class AA Swimming and Diving State Meet.

At sections, the top two individual finishers in each event qualify for state, along with any swimmer who eclipses the state-qualifying time. Teams don’t qualify for state as a whole, however, each swimmer and diver that reach state count toward the team’s overall finish at the state meet.

As a team, Woodbury finished in third place with 333 points at this year’s section meet. Rosemount was able to defended its Section 3AA team championship title with 499.5 points – ahead of second-place East Ridge (361.5 points).

Woodbury senior Mikayla Mayer led the way for the Royals, qualifying for state in four events. Mayer, who reached state in three events a year ago, won the 50-yard freestyle, took second in the 100-yard freestyle and helped the 200-yard medley relay and 200-yard freestyle relay teams advance to state.

Mayer was the Royals’ lone swimmer to earn a gold medal at sections, taking first place in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 24.45 seconds, edging East Ridge junior Meredith Ubel (24.81). Mayer also finished second in the 100 free to Rosemount freshman Megan Wenman. Mayer had a time of 52.21, while Wenman touched the wall just ahead of her at 52.17. In the 200-yard medley relay, Woodbury finished fourth, but hit the qualifying time with an All-American mark of 1:51.48. In addition to Mayer, the team is comprised of junior Sydney Swanson, sophomore Ana Sortland and senior Kelsie Carter. Rosemount won the race in 1:50.11. Woodbury’s 200 free relay team of Mayer, junior Kristina Swanson, Sortland and senior Marina Rizzo finished in second place with a time of 1:41.69.

In addition, individually, Sydney Swanson qualified for state in the 100-yard backstroke, taking second place with a time of 1:01.01. Rosemount senior Claire Tolan won the event in 59.70. Also, Sortland qualified for state in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:06.53, finishing second to only Eagan senior Nicole Stevens (1:05.63).

Woodbury senior diver Lauren “Red” Puglisi also reached the state meet - her second. Puglisi, who earned All-State last year, won the Section 3AA championship title with a 370.05 score, beating out Rosemount junior Sawyer Murray (325.80).

The Class AA State meet will be held this Thursday, Friday and Saturday at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center in Minneapolis. Swimming preliminaries will be on Friday, with the swimming finals taking place on Saturday. Diving preliminaries will be on Thursday night, with the diving finals also on Saturday. The competitions start at 6 p.m. each night.

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