Girls swimming: Yaeger, McNeary lead Lakers in state prelims

The Prior Lake girls swimming team had just five swims in the prelims at the Class AA state meet Nov. 20 at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center.

And the Lakers made them all count and will get more five more in the finals Saturday, Nov. 21, starting at 6 p.m.

Ninth-grader Alex Yaeger and senior Keeli McNeary will swim in the finals (top eight) in the 100-yard butterfly and the 100 backstroke, respectively.

Yaeger qualified fifth in the butterfly with a time of 57.05 seconds, which was off from her seed time of 56.38. That was her winning time at the Section 2AA meet, which seeded her second at state.

Last year, Yaeger finished fifth in the 100 butterfly with a school-record time of 56.20. So she'll have time to shoot for in the finals, as well as trying to improve on her fifth-place finish.

Yaeger will also swim in the consolation heat in the 200 freestyle for the second straight year. She finished 12th in the prelims with a time 1:55.18, which was faster than her seed time (1:56.31). Yaeger finished 12th in that event last year.

McNeary will not finish ninth in the 100 backstroke for a fourth straight year. That's because the worst she can finish is eighth (outside of getting disqualified). She qualified for the final heat by finishing sixth in the prelims with a time of 58.18. That time was two seconds faster than her seed time 1:00.19 and close to her own school record of 58.01 in which she set in 2008.

Meanwhile, both Laker relays will swim in consolation heats Saturday.

The 200 medley team of Yaeger, McNeary, sophomore Samantha Anderson and eighth-grader Monica Banasikowski was 15th in the prelims with a time of 1:52.21. That time was off from its seed time of 1:51.40, which was a school record the foursome earned at the Section 2AA meet.

The 400 freestyle relay team of Yaeger, McNeary, senior Linay McCrady and eighth-grader Elizabeth Cunningham was also 15th, setting a new school record that has stood since 2005 with a time of 3:40.26.

The Lakers also had two divers competing at state. The diving prelims were held Nov. 19. Senior Elizabeth Kuntz finished 26th with 139.20 points, while junior Stephanie Keller was 30th with 120.30 points. The top 16 divers qualify for the finals.

For complete results from the state prelims go to http://www.mshsl.org/mshsl/upload/MSHSL210756AASwimmingPrelimsResults.htm