Olivia Walsh advances to finals in two events at State Class A Girls Swimming and Diving Meet

Individuals and relay teams from the Austin Packers girls swimming and diving team attempted to qualify for the finals in the preliminaries of the State Class A Swimming and Diving Meet at the University of Minnesota Thursday, and advancing to the finals in the 50 freestyle was senior Olivia Walsh, who qualified with a time of 24.61 seconds, which was good for sixth overall out of a group of 26 swimmers.  Walsh also moved into the finals in the 100 freestyle with a time of 53.58 seconds, which was good for 9th place overall in the preliminary round.

Also competing for Austin in the preliminaries Thursday was 8th grader Gracie Greenman in the 500 freestyle, and she finished 20th with a time of 5:31.71.  Austin’s 200 freestyle relay team of Greenman, Walsh, freshman Alivia Hemry and 8th grader Abbie Boysen were also in the pool in the preliminaries Thursday, and they finished 18th with a time of 1:43.36, which puts them as a second alternate for the finals with Mahtomedi.

Sophomore divers Alayna Kennedy and Reese Norton for the Packers moved out of the preliminaries Wednesday in the 1-meter diving competition with scores of 235.95 and 253.20, respectively, and they, along with Walsh will compete in the finals this (Friday) afternoon at the Jean C. Freeman Aquatic Center at the University of Minnesota.