Blake rebuilds on foundation

It's a season of change for the Blake School's girls' swimming and diving team. But not all the faces are new.

By Brian Stensaas, Star Tribune

Last update: September 4, 2007 - 2:54 PM

Blake School swimmer Marit Wangstad offers a quick snap of her fingers to show just how quickly her high school swimming season came to an end last fall.

Working on her starts, Wangstad hyperextended her lower back, fracturing the L-5 vertebrae. She didn't know it at first, thinking she had just pulled a muscle or two. When she woke up a few mornings later and couldn't feel her feet, she knew something was wrong.

"They put me in a [back] brace for six weeks," she said. "But as soon as I was given the OK, I was right back in the water.

"And now here I am, all healthy."

Good thing for the Blake School. With their top swimmer from last fall -- Class 1A 500-yard freestyle champion Kelly Grant -- choosing not to compete in high school this season, the Bears will need all the help they can get if they are to once again be among the top teams at the state meet in November.

During the past five years, Blake has finished in the top 10 as a team in all but one, including third place last season.

"We should be in good shape [but] we're kind of approaching this as a rebuilding year," said coach Kris Rosenberg, now in his ninth season with the team. "In order for us to be where we have been in the past, we're going to have to prepare a little better and figure out a way to have luck on our side."

The Bears are not entering the season completely full of fresh faces.

Prior to her injury, Wangstad was an all-Tri Metro Conference swimmer as a freshman and a sophomore and qualified for the state meet in each of those seasons in freestyle events. She will once again compete in freestyle events this season.

Of the nine swimmers who either qualified individually or as part of a relay from last fall, five return. Rosenberg said a focus this season will be getting swimmers qualified in the individual medley, backstroke and breaststroke.

And then there is senior Ellen Murphy. The team's lone diver admits she's not the greatest, but she has the spark-plug attitude to counter any down moments on a so-called rebuilding team.

"I bring a lot of energy to this team," she said, talking just as fast as her front two-and-a-half flips off the board. "For me and a lot of others, this is our last year. We have to get as much out of it as we can. We have to just work on the basics."

It sounds simple, but Rosenberg agrees wholeheartedly.

"We have to get the girls to be masters of the moment," he said. "If they make a mistake, learn from it. And it's going pretty well. Right now the karma is wonderful."

Brian Stensaas • 612-673-4127

Brian Stensaas • bstensaas@startribune.com

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