GIRLS SWIMMING AND DIVING

Lumberjacks Kennedy Olson closes out senior season at state finals

Pioneer Staff Report — Sun, 17 Nov 2024 04:22:44 GMT

MINNEAPOLIS – Kennedy Olson’s diving season has officially come to an end.

The Bemidji High �� girls swimming and diving senior wrapped up her diving season at the AA state finals, finishing 16th with a score of 338.35.

In Friday’s diving preliminaries and semifinals, Olson finished 15th (169.35) and 14th (259.90), respectively.

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Lumberjacks diver Kennedy Olson qualifies for state at Section 8AA finals

Pioneer Staff Report — Sun, 10 Nov 2024 03:58:40 GMT

BRAINERD – Diver Kennedy Olson’s fantastic senior season for the Bemidji High �� girls swimming and diving team isn’t coming to a close quite yet.

Olson took home fourth place in the diving event at the Section 8AA finals, collecting a score of 343.50 and qualifying for next weekend’s state meet.

She improved one spot from her fifth-place semifinal finish (256.65) and multiple spots from her eighth-place finish (156.65) in preliminaries.

Olson will be Bemidji’s sole representative at state. As a team, the Lumberjacks finished ninth with a score of 124.

Ridley Hadrava finished in 10th place in both the diving preliminaries and semifinals (212.65, 156.65), though she finished outside the top ten in the finals (283.60,13th).

Finley Zothman notched a top-five finish for the Lumberjacks in the 50-yard freestyle, finishing with a time of 25.23, good for fourth. Zothman was fourth in preliminaries on Friday as well.

Elle Wille tied for ninth in the 200-yard freestyle final with a time of 2:04.70. The day prior, she finished 12th in preliminaries in the same event, finishing with a 2:04.57 race time.

Wille finished just outside the top 10 in the 500-yard freestyle, finishing with a time of 5:35.17 for 11th place. She was also 11th in the preliminary race (5:34.27).

Abby Daman earned a seventh-place finish in the 200-yard individual medley finals with a time of 2:20.60, improving very slightly upon her eighth-place (2:20.63) finish in preliminaries.

Daman also took home seventh in the 100-yard breaststroke finals with her 1:09.73 race time.

Daman, Zothman, Wille and Kiera Strodtman teamed up for fifth place in the 200-yard freestyle relay with a time of 1:41.98, dropping down a couple spots from their third-place (1:42.86) finish in preliminaries.

Team results

1-Brainerd 340.5; 2-St. Michael Albertville 334; 3-Sartell-St. Stephen 286; 4-Moorhead 258; 5-Buffalo 249; 6-Sauk Rapids Rice 219; 7-Elk River 164.5; 8-Rogers; 9-Bemidji 124.

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Lumberjacks finish 1st in 8 events, besting Duluth East in dual meet

Pioneer Staff Report — Sat, 26 Oct 2024 02:32:44 GMT

BEMIDJI – The Bemidji High �� girls swimming and diving team picked up a 102-81 dual meet victory over Duluth East Friday evening, earning first-place finishes in three relay races and five individual events.

Elle Wille took home first-place in the 200-yard freestyle event with a time of 2:09.22 to kick off Bemidji’s first individual swimming event of the night.

Finley Zothman was the next to secure first for the Lumberjacks, finishing with a time of 26.01 in the 50-yard freestyle. She also notched first-place in the 100-yard freestyle, winding up four seconds ahead of second with a time of 56.34.

Abby Daman had a great meet, coming in first in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:14.25) and second in the 500 freestyle (5:42.11).

The Jacks swept the top-three spots in diving, led by Kennedy Olson’s score of 205.80. Ridley Hadrava (186.6) and Aubrey Dewitt (186.40) finished second and third, respectively.

Naomi Olson took home second in the 100 butterfly, finishing just over two seconds behind Duluth East’s Kate Schiller with a time of 1:10.88. Anna Friedt finished with a 1:12.98 time to take second in the 100-yard backstroke.

The Jacks collected first in all three relay races against the Greyhounds, as Bemidji swept the 200 medley (2:04.98), 200 freestyle (1:48.88) and 400 freestyle (3:57.98) team events.

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Zothman, Daman and Wille collect 8 top-6 finishes in Brainerd

Pioneer Staff Report — Sun, 29 Sep 2024 01:56:46 GMT

BRAINERD – The Bemidji High �� girls swimming and diving team swam against tough competition in Brainerd on Saturday.

Elle Wille, Abby Daman and Finley Zothman recorded eight of the Lumberjacks’ seven top-six times. Daman took fifth in the 200 IM (2:26.50) and second in the 100 breaststroke, while Zothman took sixth in the 50 freestyle (25.79) and third in the 100 freestyle (56.29).

Wille took fifth place in the 200 free at 2:07.55 and sixth in the 500 free at 5:50.84.

Wille, Zothman and Daman teamed up with Kiera Strodman to take fifth in the 200-yard free relay (1:47.09). Strodman swapped with Josie Carter to take fifth in the 400 free relay at 3:58.73.

Bemidji’s best finish of the day came on the diving board and in the 100 breaststroke. Kennedy Olson finished in second place in diving with a score of 340.65 — training only Monticello’s Chloe Schwietering by 12.10 points — and Daman took second in the 100 breaststroke.

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Lumberjacks handle Park Rapids at home for another dual win

Pioneer Staff Report — Wed, 25 Sep 2024 02:52:47 GMT

BEMIDJI – The Bemidji High �� swimming and diving team has another dual meet win.

The Lumberjacks beat Park Rapids 104-82 on Tuesday at the BHS swimming pool.

Ellie Wille swam the fastest time in the 200 free in 2:10.82. Abby Daman claimed the top spot in the 200-yard IM at 2:24.91. Finley Zothman made it a trio of first-place finishes in the first half of the meet, winning the 50 free in 25.61.

Kennedy Olson won another diving competition, recording a score of 217.10. Zothman won another freestyle race, this time claiming the 100 in 56.46. Wille got back in the winner’s circle in the 500 with a time of 5:54.20.

Anna Friedt won the 100 backstroke with a time of 1:12.60. Daman won her second event, taking first in the 100 breaststroke in 1:15.23.

Bemidji also won two relay races. Zothman, Daman, Wille and Josie Carter took first in the 200 free relay (1:46.08). The same four also took first place in the 400 free relay (3:57.10).

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Shorthanded Jacks tie with Fosston on the road

Pioneer Staff Report — Fri, 20 Sep 2024 02:45:48 GMT

FOSSTON – Without many of its top swimmers in the lineup, the Bemidji High �� girls swimming and diving team tied with Fosston on Thursday.

The Lumberjacks recorded 47 points, matching the Greyhounds, without swimmers like Finley Zothman, Abby Daman and Elle Willie in the lineup.

Emily Haack won the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 2:19.79. Sadie clocked the top time in the 200 IM at 2:52.08.

Josie Carter won both the 100 and 50-yard freestyle races, finishing with times of 1:03.32 and 28.09, respectively. She also swam with Jaelyece Jones, Maren Eickman and Borg in the first-place 200-yard free relay team (2:08.46).

Quinn Friedt won the 500 free with a time of 6:29.71, clocking the final first-place time for the Jacks on Thursday.

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Bemidji illustrates improvements with wins over Perham, Thief River Falls

Alex Faber — Wed, 11 Sep 2024 02:46:18 GMT

BEMIDJI – A personal record, nine first-place finishes and a pair of wins.

It was a great night for the Bemidji High �� girls swimming and diving team.

In their third event of the season, the Lumberjacks bested Perham 194-107 and Thief River Falls 206-89, moving to 2-1 in head-to-head meets this season.

“It’s been awesome, super fun getting to know the girls,” co-head coach Danielle Bartz said. “They’re working super hard. It’s great to see them encouraging each other and just all the hard work that they’re putting in and seeing that transition or play out at the swim meet.”

At Bemidji’s first swim meet of the season a few weeks ago, Bartz and fellow head coach Lisa Friedt focused on using that initial competition as a learning opportunity, figuring out what areas of development each swimmer could work on in practice.

Tuesday’s win seemed to validate those strides toward improvement.

“We had some time drops (and) consistent swims, which is awesome,” Bartz said. (We’ve) been working a lot with their under-the-water and starts. We saw that play out tonight, which was fun to see.”

Kennedy Olson had an especially impressive night for BHS, breaking a personal record in the diving event. She tallied 225.30 points, good for first place.

“I saw some great dives today,” Bartz said. “We have some young (divers) and some veterans, so it’s a nice (mix).”

Elle Willie took home the Lumberjacks’ first in the 200 freestyle with a time of 2:08.64.

Bemidji took first in the next four events: Abby Daman in the 200 IM (2:26.32), Finley Zothman in 50-yard freestyle (26.13), Zothman again in the 100 butterfly and Olson in diving.

The Lumberjacks took first in four of the last five events as well. Wille and Daman both notched second first-place finishes in the 500-yard freestyle (5:54.41) and 100 breaststroke (1:13.54), respectively.

Bemidji’s relay teams also took first in the 200 freestyle and 400 freestyle relay.

“They’ve been doing fabulous,” Bartz said. “You can gain and lose a lot of time under the water with breakouts, and everything and we’ve been hammering that, they have been doing their job. It’s awesome.”

The Jacks’ seniors, including the aforementioned Olson, have been crucial in helping along development both in and out of the pool.

“I think it’s always nice when you have those older girls to kind of show you the ropes,” Bartz said. “Not even just about diving and swimming, but all the other things – pool etiquette and all the team bonding, the team dinners, just pulling them in and encouraging building up their confidence.”

The Lumberjacks are back in action next Tuesday, Sept. 17, taking on Warroad in a dual meet at home.

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Lumberjacks clock 10 top-5 finishes, take home 3rd in home invite

Pioneer Staff Report — Sat, 07 Sep 2024 22:08:28 GMT

BEMIDJI – Hosting its first invitational this season, the Bemidji High �� girls swimming and diving team collected 10 top-five finishes.

The Lumberjacks took third place in the six-team invite, finishing with a score of 426. Moorhead took first at 569, while Melrose finished second (548).

Abby Daman notched the lone BHS first-place time in the 100 breaststroke in 1:13.44. She also teamed up with Finley Zothman, Emily Haack and Elle Wille to finish in second place in the 200-yard freestyle relay (1:47.35). The same group took third in the 400 free relay (3:55.58).

Zothman clocked a third-place time in the 100 butterfly at 1:06.71. Naomi Olson took fifth in 1:11.07. Wille took home a pair of third-place times in the 200 free (2:08.58) and the 500 free (5:52.67). Josie Carter also took third in the 50 free (27.59).

Bemidji’s divers also recorded top-five scores. Kennedy Olson finished in second place with a mark of 195.60, while Aubrey DeWitt took fourth (171.35).

Team Results

1-Moorhead 569; 2-Melrose 548; 3-Bemidji 426; 4-Detroit Lakes 382; 5-Ogilvie-Mora 188; Warroad 127.

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Danielle Bartz, Lisa Friedt lead 1st swim meet as Bemidji’s new co-coaches

Alex Faber — Wed, 28 Aug 2024 03:32:04 GMT

BEMIDJI – When the Bemidji High �� girls swimming and diving team looked to replace long-time head coach Woody Leindecker, the program turned to not one, but two solutions: Danielle Bartz and Lisa Friedt.

The duo is tag teaming the head coaching role for the Lumberjacks, and Tuesday evening’s season-opening meet hosting Brainerd was their first competition in that co-leadership role.

Though the visitors ultimately won, it was a solid experience for the two new head coaches.

“It went great,” Friedt said. “We juggled all the things that came at us.”

Bartz and Friedt were well prepared for this start to the season. The two are very familiar with BHS swimming, boasting a good amount of coaching experience with the program before ascending to the top leadership roles on the girls side.

Friedt was an assistant coach with the boys team last winter and has been working with the club program, the Bemidji Area Super Swimmers. She also has two daughters on the team – Anna and Quinn Friedt.

Bartz coached the girls with Leindecker in each of the previous two seasons. Before that, she was coaching middle school boys swimming.

The duo were named co-head coaches in May when Leindecker stepped down from the girls team. Over the summer, Bartz and Friedt kept in touch, keen to ensure a strong partnership for the swimmers.

“I feel like it’s been an easy transition, Lisa’s been wonderful (to work) with,” Bartz said. “The communication is awesome. If I’m not thinking of something, she’s thinking of everything.”

They are bound to put their own stamp on the program, entering their newly-found roles with their own coaching experiences and beliefs. However, Bartz and Friedt each picked up a thing or two from Leindecker, who’s been coaching with BHS swim and dive since 1996.

“He’s patient, he definitely knows not to get ahead of yourself and let the process happen,” Friedt said. “Really our focus is the end of the season and anything that happens in between these meets, whatever they want to work on. … We’re going to hammer it in practice.”

Bartz and Friedt have been applying a few of those lessons and working with the team for a while now, starting the coaching process in practice leading up to Tuesday’s meet.

“You can tell that they’re working hard during practice,” Bartz said. “We’ve been working on (just) building their confidence and getting them confident in their pool, in their race and who they are – being able to show up and race their race and feel good about it.”

The meet against Brainerd on Tuesday offered a strong coaching opportunity beyond what’s already been accomplished in practice.

“We’re going to see trends during a meet, what we need to work on as a whole,” Friedt said. “That’s the beauty of swimming, and then each swimmer gets their own individual goal and we can help that girl accomplish their individual goal and then work as a team.

There were some coachable in-game moments Tuesday evening as well.

“We moved a couple of the brand new, young (swimmers) around last minute, and they handled it really well,” Friedt said.

Bemidji earned a few first-place finishes at the meet. Ridley Hadrava took first in diving with 154.70 points, followed closely by fellow Lumberjack Aubrey Dewitt (154.20).

Abby Daman finished atop the 100-yard breaststroke event with a time of 1:14.27.

Finley Zothman came less than a second shy of besting Brainerd's Aralyn Marcelo's time in the 50 free, finishing at 26.62, good enough for second place.

As the season progresses, the dual head coaches will continue to lean on each other as the new experiences keep rolling in.

“It’s definitely a team approach,” Friedt said. “I think we both have our strengths that we’re naturally stepping into and going into. It’s just been (flowing).”

Brainerd beat Bemidji 129-57.

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Woody Leindecker steps down as BHS girls swimming coach; Jacks hire co-head coaches

Pioneer Staff Report — Mon, 13 May 2024 17:59:43 GMT

BEMIDJI — None of the Bemidji High �� girls swimmers and divers were alive the last time the Lumberjacks had a head coach that wasn't Woody Leindecker.

The 24-year head coach announced he was stepping down on Monday morning. Leindecker took over the program in 2000, serving all but three seasons as head coach. He was co-head coach with current activities director Kristen McRae from 2018-20.

McRae and Leindecker began coaching together in 1996. Leindecker served as McRae's assistant, then the roles would switch for the boys swimming and diving season.

BHS is going back to the co-head coaching format in the fall. McRae announced Danielle Bartz and Lisa Friedt will assume the roles after serving as the program's assistant coaches.

"Both were former swimmers of ours, and both are amazing women who will work cooperatively to coach our girls," McRae said in a release. "I am super excited about what they will bring to the program."

Leindecker will stay on as head coach of the boys swimming and diving program.

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