Girls swimming: Mounds View’s Ellie Bina crushes Class 2A state 500 free prelim

On Friday night at Jean K Freeman Aquatics Center in Minneapolis Mounds View senior Ellie Bina not only put up a personal best but blew the competition out of the water during the girls swimming Class A state preliminaries Bina had a time of placing her in second behind Edina junior Macy Malinski entering Friday s -yard freestyle preliminaries She finished nearly six seconds faster than the field on Friday Bina disclosed it was her best swim in the since her sophomore year and it boosts her confidence ahead of the finals on Saturday I knew swimming that I was feeling good Bina revealed So seeing the board was just like a relief like okay it was where I needed to be Bina also improved on her section time in the freestyle dropping seconds to resulting in a third-place finish Marcott continues to thrive Apple Valley senior Greta Marcott improved her freestyle time from sections by seconds to but still finished runner-up in the prelims Edina senior Libbi McCarthy leapfrogged her in the standings after posting a just seconds off a Class A record behind fellow Hornet Rachel Wittmer s time set back in Marcott led the way in the backstroke finishing in seconds improving by a second and a half on her section finals time Marcott holds school records in both the freestyle and backstroke snapping the previous records set by Jennifer Riggs back in She declared that entering high school these achievements had not been on her radar especially the backstroke I just became a backstroker last year and it s been really fun for me Marcott declared It was an exhilarating state meet for the Wyoming commit as Marcott disclosed it is the first state meet she s been in the thick of the title chase Havermann one step closer to repeating East Ridge junior Logan Havermann arrived at the prelims looking to defend two state titles Havermann is the reigning state champ in the individual medley and breaststroke Havermann ended up as the top qualifier in the breaststroke with a finish She credits her continued success to her new approach developing down each race and adjusting rather than relying on muscle memory Havermann entered the state meet second-best in the IM to Edina sophomore Bobbi Simmons Simmons maintained her edge finishing seconds ahead of Havermann s time of heading into Saturday s finals Havermann revealed she is excited about being the second seed entering the IM finals and getting to race against Simmons I know she s fast Havermann mentioned She came in with a I have a from last year So if we push each other we could both break two minutes which is super exciting Stillwater shows out in relay Stillwater set the tone for the Class A state prelims as its youthful medley relay finished ahead of the pack The Ponies squad made up of eighth grader Maddie Mathiason freshmen Molly Mahoney and Claire Christianson along with junior Lucy Paczosa put up a time of Paczosa also qualified for the and freestyle finals by placing fourth in the and second behind McCarthy s in the freestyle Related Articles High school football Kingston Allen adds to Wisconsin record as River Falls season ends in state semis High School Football Spring Lake Park beats St Thomas Academy in Class A state semifinal Girls state swimming Como Park s Aleia Lueck has top free prelim High School Football Edina wins thriller over Minnetonka in A semifinals High School Football Friday s state semifinal predictions