CROOKSTON GIRL’S SWIMMING DROPS DUAL WITH FOSSTON-BAGLEY

The Crookston Pirates Girl’s swimming team fell 51-42 in a Section 8A dual against Fosston-Bagley in Fosston.
Crookston started the meet well winning the 200-medley relay with a time of 2:11.39 from swimmers Thea Oman, Madison Hoiland, Elizabeth Erdman, Claire Oman. Crookston’s strong start continued in the 200-freestyle with Madison Hoiland winning the race with a 31.54 finish ahead of teammate Fallon Johnson who took second place in the race. In the 200-IM Thea Oman finished atop the podium beating the rest of the field by over 5-seconds with her time of 2:27.31. Mackenzie Aamoth took second place for the Pirates in the 50-freestyle ahead of teammate Victoria Proulx. “Mackenzie got right down to one of her best times and made the section qualifying time,” noted Melbye. “As she gets more consistent with that faster pace, hopefully, that continues to improve.” In the 100-butterfly Elizabeth Erdman won the race with a time of 1:07.73. Crookston’s Madison Hoiland took second place in the 100-freestyle. The Pirates continued their strong performance in relays in the 200-freestyle when Crookston’s Claire Oman, Madison Hoiland, Elizabeth Erdman, and Thea Oman combined for a time of 1:56.22. In the 100-breaststroke, the Pirates Elizabeth Erdman won the event by over five seconds with a time of 1:18.37. “She was a little shocked with how easy she was able to finish,” shared Melbye. “She even thought she left some speed and time on the table.” Fosston was able to break a tie in the final event taking all 9 points in the 400-freestyle relay, which Crookston was unable to enter a team in with too few swimmers available. “The girls swam excellent again today,” summarized Melbye. “Truly, you come up short due to lacking of athletes. We didn’t put up our best times, but we don’t need to be right now in the season. We’re working day in and day out for November.” As the Pirates head into the final few meets of the year, Marley Melbye stressed the shift in mindset the rest of the season, “as we continue to go through our season I think now we’re going to stop the playing around and we’ve really got to hone in on what events the girls are going to do come section time, but the True Team meet is going to be a good caption of what the section meet is going to look like because the majority of the teams will be there. That will give the girls a good idea of what the competition will look like.”
The Pirates return to the pool on Saturday when the Pirates compete in the Section 8A True Team Meet in Warroad beginning at 1 p.m.