MINNEAPOLIS — Wearing the target again this year, the Stillwater synchronized swimming team was able to turn back its challenges once again while capturing a fourth consecutive state championship behind a dominating performance on Friday, May 31 at the University of Minnesota’s Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center.
The Ponies placed first in 10 of 12 categories to rack up 175 points and finish comfortably ahead of runner-up Wayzata (117) and Forest Lake (87), which placed third for the fourth year in a row. Stillwater was strong at the top and throughout the competition, with all 23 of its entries placing at state.
“I don’t remember the last time we have qualified every team for state and also placed every routine at state,” Ponies coach Kathy Henderson said.
Stillwater exceeded last year’s winning total of 146 points and extended a remarkable run in the 50-year history of the state meet. In addition to the program’s 22 state championships since 1978, Stillwater has placed second 28 times.
Some of the current team members have only known winning state titles, but Wayzata claimed 13 in a row from 2007 and 2019 and St. Louis Park won three in a row prior to that. Those remain the only schools to capture state titles in the sport.
“Whenever you’re at the top we have teams that are trying to knock you off. I felt the same way about Wayzata for 16 years and we’re getting to the point where maybe people aren’t congratulating us as much as they used to,” Henderson said. “Those younger swimmers, this is all they know but they also know that it’s not easy. We push them to their limits every day at practice and they are at the pool three or four hours a day. It’s not an automatic thing, we work for every point and you have to earn your score and those points are going to the team collectively.”
Five Ponies landed on the 10-member all-state team, led by sophomore Hailey Schmit and senior Paige Schmit. They were joined by teammates Annie Gritters, Isana Downing and Gabby Lalande in earning all-state honors.
Gritters, Downing and Paige Schmit, along with fellow seniors Kate Jentink, Megan Johnson and Jillian Kulzer, helped the Ponies overtake Wayzata after so many runner-up finishes — which is just one of the many reasons Henderson appreciates this year’s senior class.
“We have six seniors and all six of them started with us when they were really young,” Henderson said. “They started with club in second or third grade so they’ve been with us a long time. I do say it every year, but I swear this year is really special.”
Paige Schmit established a new standard for the Ponies while earning all-state honors for the fifth time. She entered the season tied with six other Ponies who earned all-state honors four times.
“That’s pretty special. I’ve literally known her since she was born,” said Henderson, who noted Paige and Hailey’s mother Juliet Schmit has been an assistant coach at Stillwater for nearly two decades.
Paige could have been a six-time all-state honoree if not for the 2020 season getting wiped out by COVID-19. Hailey is a four-time all-state recipient and could have an opportunity to reach six at her current pace.
Henderson recalls thinking about this current run when this year’s seniors joined the varsity program. The pandemic pushed back the timetable slightly, but the Ponies have made the most of their opportunities ever since.
“These seniors were with us in 2019 as seventh graders and they won every short division event that year, so we knew this was our future,” Henderson said.
They persevered through some challenges when the following season was canceled and the 2021 season was conducted with a number of restrictions. Participation also dipped from 57 to 34 team members, but those numbers have been trending upward ever since with 39 athletes on the roster this season.
“Even that year we came back we couldn’t have spectators and we were split into groups and could only practice at certain times,” Henderson said. “This particular group of girls is a special group in what they’ve gone through and the fact that they all came back to ride it out. It’s pretty special they won everything this year.”
The Ponies swept all three categories in the duet and trio divisions this season and claimed the top spot in the short and extended divisions in the solo and team events.
“After sections when we get to see all the other section scores and looking at our section scores compared to other teams we knew we were going to have a good meet,” Henderson said. “You have to assume the scoring will stay similar, so we felt pretty confident coming into the meet and we did feel good after figures.”
Stillwater put on a show with two strong entries in the extended team competition. Downing, Andelyn Filandrinos, Gritters, Jentink, Johnson, Lalande and the Schmit sisters combined to place first with a gaudy total of 152.3665. Stillwater other extended team of Cyra Brazzell, Gabbi Chau, Emily Dicks, Ava Fox, Kaelyn Grecian, Kulzer, Elaina Lokken and Hanna Wiese finished with the second highest routine score and placed fourth overall with a total of 142.7166.
“Our second extended team was incredibly strong,” Henderson said. “Usually they place sixth or seventh in a good year, but our routines scores were first and second. (The second team) figures scores brought them down so we ended up first and fourth, but the judges ranked our routines scores first and second so that was really cool to see. That was really strong this year and we had so many comments from the judges on both of those teams. Everything was really fun at that last event.”
The scoring was impressive throughout the lineup.
“The quality of swimming and the scores,” Henderson said when asked about what stood out from the meet. “We’ve won before, but we are winning with scores we haven’t seen — getting high 7s and 8s, and getting 80 or 84 points on a routine. I don’t think we’ve ever done that before, but the judges are rewarding our team athletes with really high scores and that was really awesome to see this year.”
Stillwater placed first and seventh in the short team competition and landed second in the long team event.
Hailey Schmit’s total of 160.2111 was more than 10 points ahead of runner-up Grace Chatwin (149.5009) and third-place Alex Ready (145.0537) of Forest Lake.
Stillwater’s Amelia Bonestroo (124.2648) won the short solo event while Lalande (132.2306) and Johnson (133.6065) placed second and third in the long solo.
The Ponies finished first in all three duet categories, led by Paige and Hailey Schmit in the senior division with a score of 157.5413. They had plenty of company as the teams of Gritters-Downing (142.6236) and Filandrinos-Lalande (140.7181) placed third and fourth.
Downing, Gritters and Downing also claimed the top spot in the extended trio to sweep that division for the Ponies. Alex Kruse, Kulzer and Audrey Funk won the long trio with a total of 128.9568 while teammates Eleanor Kautzman, Sienna Nordman and Mackenzie Kroma took top honors in the short trio with a score of 119.7876.
“I think going into the meet we thought we were going to be weakest in our long division just because we’re a little bit less experienced — not the soloists, but the duet, trio and team,” Henderson said. “But we took first in the duet and the trio and our back-ups in duet and trio also placed, which gave us more points. Those were our biggest surprises in the long duet and trios. With our long team we knew that would be tough because it’s essentially the same group as last year’s short and Wayzata’s long team was very good so they were hard to beat there. We figured we would come in second in long team, but are still very happy with that result.”
The coach was also impressed with the Ponies’ second entry in the short team event, which placed seventh.
“Our second short team is brand new swimmers and had never done synchro before and they took seventh place,” Henderson said.
Team standings
1. Stillwater 175; 2. Wayzata 117; 3. Forest Lake 87; 4. St. Louis Park 38; 5. Hopkins 20; 6. Osseo/Maple Grove/Park Center 17; 7. Eden Prairie 16; 8. Prior Lake 13; 9. Blake 10; 10. Edina 6; 11. Richfield 4; 12. Bloomington 1; 13. Columbia Heights 1.
Individual results
Routines (Top 3, Stillwater finishers)
Solo
Short — 1. Amelia Bonestroo (St) 124.2648; 2. Alaina Dallum (SLP) 120.8879; 3. Lauren Mertz (EP) 120.3611.
Long — 1. Mae Turman (SLP) 144.2528; 2. Gabby Lalande (St) 142.2306; 3. Megan Johnson (St) 133.6065.
Extended — 1. Hailey Schmit (St) 160.2111; 2. Grace Chatwin (FL) 149.5009; 3. Alex Ready (FL) 145.0537.
Duet
Short — 1. Amelia Bonestroo-Eleanor Kautzman (St) 125.3477; 2. Emily Kohorst-Eliana Romero (Way) 119.1236; 3. Taylor Vosdingh-Mackenna Young (FL) 116.2421; 8. Khaliah Hunt Hollie-Sienna Nordman (St) 113.0352.
Long — 1. Cyra Brazzell-Ava Fox (St) 133.2149; 2. Gabby Chau-Alex Kruse (St) 130.9343; 3. Destiny Schauer-Hannah Dunaway (FL) 130.4857; 6. Jillian Kulzer-Emily Dicks (St) 129.3005.
Extended — 1. Hailey Schmit-Paige Schmit (St) 157.5413; 2. Grace Chatwin-Hailey Johnson (FL) 147.3774; 3. Annie Gritters-Isana Downing (St) 142.6236; 4. Andelyn Filandrinos-Gabby Lalande (St) 140.7181.
Trio
Short — 1. Eleanor Kautzman-Mackenzie Kroma-Sienna Nordman (St) 119.7876; 2. Julia Steinle-Josie Thomasson-Taylor Vosdingh (FL) 114.0923; 3. Claire Germscheid-Savannah LaCroix-Penelope Pickens (O/MG/PC) 113.1102.
Long — 1. Alex Kruse-Jillian Kulzer-Audrey Funk (St) 128.9568; 2. Avni Mishra-Hannah Shteyman-Kasey Freadrich (Way) 128.4139; 3. Maren Beecher-Kate Jaynes-Divya Brahmbatt (Way) 128.4139; 4. Kayla Crooks-Sienna-Audrey Banna (St) 127.5182; .
Extended — 1. Isana Downing-Annie Gritters-Paige Schmit (St) 147.4395; 2. Brynn Brady-Hailey Johnson-Alex Ready (FL) 143.0991; 3. Jaliena Forbes-Aila Knoot-Sam Miller (Way) 139.9559; 6. Kate Jentink-Elaina Lokken-Megan Johnson (St) 136.2788; 8. Andelyn Filandrinos-Kaelynn Grecian-Hanna Wiese (St) 134.7213.
Team
Short — 1. Stillwater (Amelia Bonestroo, Khaliah Hunt Hollie, Maggie Jones, Eleanor Kautzman, Mackenzie Kroma, Sienna Nordman, Natalie Schmitt and Varya Simochkina) 121.2610; 2. Forest Lake, 116.2051; 3. Wayzata, 116.1009; 7. Stillwater (Avery Cook, Riley Schmitt, Masha Simochkina and Morgaine Fitzgerald) 110.8401.
Long — 1. Wayzata, 129.8098; 2. Stillwater (Audrey Banna, Freya Borchardt, Averie Charpentier, Sienna Cruz, Claire Haaland, Mariela Rodriguez, Roxy Seeger and Autumn Vang) 124.1777; 3. Hopkins, 121.6591.
Extended — 1. Stillwater (Isana Downing, Andelyn Filandrinos, Annie Gritters, Kate Jentink, Megan Johnson, Gabby Lalande, Hailey Schmit and Paige Schmit) 152.3665; 2. Forest Lake, 144.9226; 3. Wayzata, 143.4414; 4. Stillwater (Cyra Brazzell, Gabbi Chau, Emily Dicks, Ava Fox, Kaelynn Grecian, Jillian Kulzer, Elaina Lokken and Hanna Wiese) 142.7166.
Figures (Stillwater top 10)
Short — 1. Eleanor Kautzman (St) 62.2639; 3. Varya Simochkina (St) 61.6574; 4. Amelia Bonestroo (St) 61.2315.
Long — 1. Mae Turman (SLP) 72.1528; 2. Gabby Lalande (St) 69.7639; 3. Megan Johnson (St) 67.1065; 5. Alex Kruse (St) 66.1620; 7. Emily Dicks (St) 64.9306; T10. Ava Fox (St) 64.3241.
Extended — 1. Hailey Schmit (St) 78.7778; 3. Paige Schmit (St) 73.1713; 6. Annie Gritters (St) 70.3102; 7. Gabby Lalande (St) 69.7639; 10. Isana Downing (St) 68.5370.
Contact Stuart Groskreutz at stuart.groskreutz@apgecm.com
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