'Jacks look to future

The 2019 girls swimming season came to an end recently and the Lumberjacks predict a bright future. With several swimmers making the state girls swim meet in recent years and state champion Makayla Suominen off to college in Alaska, it was a rebuilding season for Cloquet-Esko-Carlton.

"In 2018 we had 12 girls qualify in the top 16 for our section meet, eight of whom qualified in individual events," head coach Rachel Peterson said. "In 2019 we had 13 girls qualify in the top 16 for sections with 11 qualifying in at least one individual event and 3 qualifying in multiple individual events in the top 16."

The qualifiers in the section meet included only one senior, two juniors, five sophomores, and five freshmen. Freshman Hannah Sandman led CEC in the 100-yard freestyle, 200 freestyle, and was on the top-three team in the 50-yard freestyle. She also was one of the top area swimmers in the 100 butterfly.

Senior Maddie Dostal paced the Lumberjacks in the 50 freestyle with her best time of 26:90; she also was one of the top in the area in the 100 backstroke.

Sophomore Megan Chopskie performed very well in the 100-yard backstroke with her best time of 1:08:54.

Madeline Gorski topped out at 1:18:51 in the 100- meter breaststroke, as the sophomore continued to improve each and every meet.

"We are a young team with growing talent." Peterson said. "We had some amazing things happen this year. We had a ninth-grader go from a 1:10 100 free to a 59.18 100 free. That's 11 seconds in four laps. We had a sophomore drop 10 seconds in her 100 breaststroke and a ninth-grader drop 6 seconds in her 50 free."

"Those are just a few of the amazing time drops we saw this season. That doesn't even touch on Carlee Downs, a sophomore that started diving for the first time midway through the season who finished all 11 dives at sections." Peterson reflected. "Or the many girls who come in every day and swim for 2 1/2 hours without complaining about the sets or workout even when they aren't the fastest or best at their strokes, just striving to be the best they can be and beat their own personal best in their races. Or the girls that cheer on every teammate and are the first to tell opponents that they did a great job!"

The CEC swimming and diving team took home third place at the True Team section meet, was third in conference and eighth in the section meet.

The seventh- to ninth-grade girls also had an amazing season as they brought home the championship trophy from the Little Giants meet at Mesabi East.

The Lumberjacks also welcomed eight seventh-

graders to the team who all "did phenomenally well for their first year," Peterson said, adding that they also gained five new swimmers in grades 8-10.

"They are making an impact on our competitive abilities in the pool, as swimmers and divers, and the future looks bright for CEC swimming," she said.

This season's team included 13 girls from Esko, three from Carlton, 25 from Cloquet and four girls that are homeschooled. CEC also sported six sets of sisters swimming together.

"The girls would tell you that we are a 'Swamily,' proving that sometimes chlorinated water is thicker than blood." Peterson said.