Suominen swims to her best times at state

Over the course of her swimming career, the Lumberjack's Makayla Suominen has grown from a quiet and reserved eighth-grader who qualified for the state swim meet to a wily senior veteran who offers advice and a steady calmness to her teammates.

This past week Suominen swam in her final state meet and offered up some of her best efforts to date. She finished second in the 50 freestyle and fourth in the 100, but punched out her PR in the latter and tied her PR in the former.

"I won't lie to you that I didn't want to win the 50 again like I did as a sophomore," Suominen said. "But I went into the meet telling myself to 'swim the best you can and let things fall where they may.' To swim a PR and tie another is about the best I could do on that day and you can't ask for anything more than that."

Suominen has relished the opportunity to prove that a small-school swimmer from northern Minnesota can compete on the big stage. She has proven that repeatedly at the state meet held annually at the University of Minnesota. Despite blasting out to an impressive 23.37 in the 50, she finished second behind Grace Hanson of Hutchinson, who swam an incredible time of 22.94 to take top honors. In the 100 freestyle, Suominen swam her career best time of 51.38, but Taylor Williams of Benilde-St. Margaret's finished first in 50.44.

"When I first made it to state as an eighth-grader, things were so intimidating and stressful," recalled Suominen. "Just doing a flip turn at the end of the pool was difficult because the end of the pool is a bulkhead and it isn't like anything we see anywhere else that we swim. Now, I've been here enough that I know I will be fine and I just knew what to expect so I was very comfortable with everything and that makes a big difference."

While Suominen was competing in yet another state tournament, her first year coach Rachel Peterson was absorbing the entire event - realizing that this would be Suominen''s last meet.

"Being there with Makayla was so bittersweet. She is such a champion," explained Peterson. "She had so much on her plate, but focused on her races. I can't imagine the added stress of having to recognize the end of a chapter, but still get on with giving your all. It was incredible to watch."

Suominen was also part of a CEC 200 freestyle relay team that also featured junior Maddie Dostal, eighth- grader Hannah Sandman and sophomore Kashmir

Mercer, which qualified for the state meet as well.

"For both Hannah and Kashmir, it was their first time swimming in the state tournament," Suominen said. "I think it was a little bit of a shock for them as we tried to show them how to be careful not to exert too much energy prior to race day and how to make sure you were taking care of your legs. We were at the Mall of America a day before and we had to explain to them we were not going to walk all over the mall and how we needed to sit down and rest and take care of our bodies so we were fresh going into the race."

Those sentiments were also echoed by Peterson.

"State was nerve-wracking, but really rewarding. We had girls who had been at the state meet before who were more 'old hat.' They were pretty deliberate about being there, competing, and matter-of-fact about the process, but we also took a couple girls who had never been to the state meet. It was kind of like watching a kid at Christmas with those girls. Big eyes, awe at the venue and excitement about competing at that level," Coach Peterson said, adding that the repeat attendees were really good at getting the new ones stabilized, grounded and on track.

"Although our relay did not make it to finals, the girls swam well, with one dropping time on her split. It is a big stage and nerves affect everyone's performance differently. Regardless of the time and place taken, the girls were supportive of each other and did a great job representing CEC!"

The only senior other than Suominen on this year's roster is Abby Johnson, a diver who finished sixth in sectionals.

"I would be remiss if I didn't highlight the amazing season our divers had in the first year of the program," Peterson said. "They consistently placed very well at conference and invitational competitions. Our senior, Abby J., took sixth overall at the section meet before state. While sixth doesn't seem all that amazing on paper, you have to recognize that placing at all at that level of competition for a young lady who had only been diving since August is nothing short of amazing."

Peterson said the two volunteer diving coaches, Nanette Snyder and Nancy Cooper, deserve all the recognition for starting a program from scratch and taking two fully qualified divers to the section meet to place sixth and 11th with only three months of diving experience under their belts.

"Many of the divers they competed against have been diving for years," she added.

Suominen was also quick to give praise to longtime volunteer coach Tom Cannon, who has been an important part of a program that has seen three head coaches during Suominen's career.

"Tom is an inspiration and always said that 'the most important thing about swimming is that swimming is not the most important thing," the senior said. "I am so excited to have been part of a cultural change in our program and it has been so exciting to watch the transformation of the team where everyone gets along so well as a group."

Suominen accepts full-ride to Alaska

Suominen will now prep for her freshman year next season in, of all places, Fairbanks. The University of Alaska, Fairbanks is a Division II school known more for thir hockey and skiing programs than their swimming program.

"I always said to myself that I would go somewhere warmer, but their coach swam for the University of Minnesota and was one of my idols," explained Suominen of Nanooks head coach Rebecca Weiland. "I first met her at a camp and she remembered me and reached out to me. I had a visit to the school and I loved it. I am excited to get the chance to see what the next challenge will be."

Incidentally, Suominen also got to have lunch with Anja Maijala, a 2017 Cloquet grad who is a Nordic skier and cross-country runner for the Nanooks.

Suominen's prep career, and who she is as a person, was summed up best by Peterson earlier this week.

"Like any athlete at that level, she was under intense pressure to do well, do better and win," Peterson said. "She had the additional stress of it being the end of a chapter in her story this season. She handled all of it with grace. She was truly grateful to have done as well as she did and fully recognized the quality of the competition she had. She is truly an amazing person. She is giving, caring and supportive of her family, friends and teammates."