BEMIDJI -- The Bemidji High School girls swimming and diving team may have concluded its season at the Section 8A finals on Oct. 23-24, but that didn’t keep Mady Schmidt from taking part in a hypothetical state meet.
By virtue of her first-place finish at the section meet, Schmidt would have been the lone Lumberjack to qualify for state. However, the Minnesota State High School League opted to not hold post-section competition for fall sports this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Instead, the Minnesota Swim and Dive Coaches Association calculated the results to a simulated Class A state meet using scores and times from section meets held recently across the state.
Schmidt’s section-winning score of 410.85 was good enough for third in the state, behind only Winona’s Issara Schmidt (510.1) and Orono’s MaKena Rasmussen (427.2). Her podium finish garnered 16 points for the Lumberjacks, who placed 27th out of the 46 teams represented.
Schmidt’s top-eight finish allowed her to secure All-State honors. Her third-place showing would have been the best finish by a BHS swimmer or diver since Kylei Grosfield was the 2013 state runner-up in diving.
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Visitation claimed the Class A team title with 283 points, followed by Hutchinson with 244 and Delano with 199.
