Girls swimming and diving: Area athletes punch tickets to state; Hamm, Lorentz earn Section 8A honors

WARROAD – A handful of area swimmers and divers will make their way to the University of Minnesota this week.

Detroit Lakes and Perham-New York Mills qualified athletes in five events for the Class A girls swimming and diving meet at the Section 8A championships in Warroad.

Detroit Lakes’ Faith Hamm had one of the best performances of her career. She qualified in three events to punch her ticket to state again.

Hamm won the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:35.11. She was 20 seconds faster than Fergus Falls’ Estee Versteeg, the second state qualifier in the 500. Hamm also won the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 2:02.74. She beat Park Rapids’ Lizzie Seifert for the top spot.

Hamm qualified for state in both freestyle races in 2021. She finished in the top 16 in the preliminary 200-yard race before claiming 16th place with a time of 2:02.62.

For the second consecutive year, Hamm and the 400-yard freestyle relay team clinched state berths. She joins Marin Westrum, Emily Peterson and Rylie Wendt, who qualified with a second-place time of 3:55.89. Westrum and Wendt also competed in relays at state last fall.

Perham-New York Mills’ Taylor Ziemke will compete in the 50-yard freestyle after finishing in second place at sections. Her time of 25.70 was good enough to punch her second consecutive state meet ticket.

Brittney Lorentz finished in first place in the diving competition with a score of 423.15. Avery McAllister (378.40) was right behind her, followed by Detroit Lakes’ Hope Hamm (364.15). All three girls made it to state a year ago.

The Detroit Lakes and Perham-New York Mills girls teams had swimmers qualify for the Section 8A finals in every event. The two teams combined for 31 top-eight finishes.

Park Rapids won the 8A team championship with a score of 561. Fergus Falls took second (358.5), while Detroit Lakes (342.5) and Perham-New York Mills (284) finished third and fourth.

Finals results from both Detroit Lakes and Perham-New York Mills are listed below.

Area athletes and coaches collected Section 8A honors following the championship meet on Saturday.

Faith Hamm was named Swimmer of the Year, while Lorentz earned the Diver of the Year honor. Perham-New York Mills’ Amanda Fischer won the Section 8A Diving Coach of the Year award. Park Rapids’ Todd Fritz and Baylee Gartner won head and assistant coach honors for the 2022 season.