Throughout Feb. 7-9, the girls varsity swim team competed in the GAC South Championships, which took place at the St. Peters Rec Plex. Among the schools they competed against were FHHS, FHC, FZW, Holt and Timberland.

Prelims for all swimming events were held on Tuesday, and the diving competition was on Wednesday. Finals for all swimming events were on Thursday. The team had amazing success for this meet. Overall, they earned fourth place with a score of 232 points, just 19 ahead of fifth-place Holt.

“The team did incredibly well as a whole,” coach Karen Whitten said. “Our relays have never been as strong as they were for this meet. It was extremely exciting to watch.”

One of the most notable successes was that freshman Joanna Dohrman qualified for state in the 200m Freestyle with a time 1:59.69, breaking FHN’s school record. This marked the fourth event that Dohrman has qualified for because she had previously swum the times to qualify for state this season in the 200m Individual Medley, 500m Freestyle, and 100m Breaststroke. Dohrman’s personal best 100m Breaststroke time, 1:10.57, is also a new school record, though she plans to break it at state next week. As well as Dohrman, junior Erin Stock also qualified to go to state in the 100m Butterfly.

“I was really happy when I found out that I had qualified for state in another event as well as swimming fast enough to break a school record,” Dohrman said. “It really shows that all my hard work pays off.”

Among other successes at the meet, Kamryn Bell scored a 240.50 and Miranda Nevels scored a 192.80 to earn ninth and 12th place in diving. Both girls dove 11 times to place in the top 16 for their division. Kyleigh MacMann, Joanna Dohrman, Erin Stock and Emileigh MacMann earned third place in the 200m Medley Relay, each swimming a personal best time and dropping three seconds from their fastest time to a 2:03.21. They also dropped 10 seconds off their prelim time in the 400m Freestyle Relay to a 4:12.13. Joanna Dohrman, Maria Lindquist, Julia Haas, Kyleigh MacMann, Rebekah Myers, Anastasia Medley and Emileigh MacMann each swam their personal best times of the season at this meet. The 200m Medley Relay earned third; Joanna Dohrman earned third in the 200m Freestyle; Erin Stock earned third in the 100m Butterfly; Joanna Dohrman earned second in the 500m Freestyle; and the 400m Freestyle Relay earned fourth.

“I am so proud of the team in regards to this meet and the whole season in general,” junior Erin Stock said. “It was so fun to be able to watch all of my teammates have such successful races and also to be a part of some great ones myself.”

The MSHSAA Girls Swimming and Diving Championships will take place Feb. 17-18 at the Rec Plex. Admission will be $8 each for the Swimming Prelims, Diving and the Swimming Finals.