Erika Badger first saw synchronized swimming as a path toward fulfilling a childhood dream to perform alongside dolphins and whales at SeaWorld.

Badger, a sophomore with the Maple Grove/Osseo/Park Center Gators varsity synchronized swim team, is already parlaying swimming and creative expression into a form of aquatic stardom. She won the Figures Short competition at the state meet last spring and helped the Gators place third in the Team Short division.

With Badger, a talented sophomore class and senior Marisa Lee, the Gators plan to further solidify their status as a synchronized swimming team on the rise. The Gators finished ninth overall at state after not placing in 2011.

"This year we're expecting a lot," sophomore Mary Eckberg said. "With the girls we have we believe anything is possible. There is a lot of determination."

Coach Joanne Neumann, a former Gators swimmer, has been counting the days to this point in her team's evolution. She came in nine years ago and directed fewer than 20 swimmers. This spring, the pool party has more than doubled.

Sophomores such as Badger and Eckberg form the team's core. The Class of 2015 started as seventh-graders and has grown together. They have developed continuity and familiarity that is needed, Eckberg said, "when you're not wearing goggles in the water and you have to be aware of what's around you."

Marisa Lee practiced her flamingo routine. A senior praised for her work ethic, Lee said, “Everyone believes we can be successful.”

The results showed last year as the Short Team placed in the top three at state for the first time. It included Badger and Eckberg, along with returning swimmers Lindsay Breidenbach, Sarah Dill, Lauren Durdin, Meghan McBride and Christina Wall.

Earning third place with the team, Badger said, meant as much as taking first alone.

"To be successful as a team, you have to know each other as well as you know yourself," Badger said. "We've grown together and learned to trust each other."

Placing in the top seven at state means qualifying to move up to the Team Long division, an additional 30 seconds of performance that the girls are finding to be a considerable challenge.

"That doesn't seem like a lot of time until you're in the water," joked Eckberg, a basketball player who said swimming taxes different muscles.

Neumann suggested some members of the group swim up in the Team Extended division. No way, the girls said.

"The whole group wants to place at state and move to extended on their own," Neumann said.

Similar pride runs through Gabby Marick, Abby Rolfs and Hailey Wasti, who as eighth-graders placed fifth in the Trio Short division last spring.

"They line-jumped everybody," Neumann said. "It was so exciting watching them in sections. You watched and we're like, 'What's happening in the pool right now?' "

On the other end of the experience spectrum is Lee, a senior who trains in the offseason with the Minnesota Synchronettes club. Neumann considered Lee "the best we've ever had," and cited second-place finishes in figures in meets against powers Stillwater and Forest Lake this season as proof.

"I never did that well in past meets against those teams so I was really proud," Lee said.

Neumann credited Lee for possessing the "sunniest disposition" on the team along with a dogged work ethic. Lee will "try something 10 times in a row just to make it a little better," Neumann said. Lee believes her approach flows through many of her teammates.

"I'm really proud of the team," Lee said. "Everyone believes we can be successful and wants to show what we're capable of."

David La Vaque • 612-673-7574