2 Trojans compete at state swim & dive meet

The high school girls swimming and diving season ended with the Class A State Meet at the University of Minnesota Aquatics Center November 19 to 21. New Prague had two athletes competing in three events at the meet.

While neither advanced to the finals, both diver Laura Busch and swimmer Cassie Panka had respectable showings in their sports' biggest stage.

Busch, a senior, just missed advancing to the semifinals, placing 21st in the preliminaries. The top 20 divers moved on to the next round. She posted a score of 129.15. Chloe Timm of Sauk Rapids won the event.

Panka, a junior, finished 20th in the 200-yard freestyle in 2 minutes, 2.39 seconds. The winner was Marissa Wood of Sartell-St. Stephen with a meet record 1:50.88

Panka was 18th in the 500 freestyle in 5:30.68, missing the consolation finals by 1.01 seconds. Wood won the event in 4:58.92.

Led by Wood, Sartell-St. Stephen won the meet with 236 points. Hutchinson was second with 207 and Monticello third with 185.