West notebook: West Metro swimmers excel at state tourney

The recently completed Minnesota State High School Girls' Swimming and Diving Meet was, by all accounts, a success.

That can certainly be said not just for the teams and the participants, but also for one West Metro swim club.

Ten swimmers who compete in the offseason for the Aquajets, which operates out of their facilities on Flying Cloud Drive in Eden Prairie, competed in the state meet. And, overall, the Aquajets swimmers stood out.

In the Class 2A meet, Rachel Bootsma of Eden Prairie won the 100 butterfly and the 100 backstroke in a meet-record time of 54.07 seconds. Abby Duncan of Champlin Park won the 200 individual medley and the 100 breaststroke.

In the Class 1A meet, Breck's Taylor Foster won the 100 backstroke and finished second in the 200 individual medley.

In all, the swimmers from Aquajets finished in the top four in 11 different events, including relays.

"It's amazing swimming with so many good swimmers and to have that many on one team is incredible," Duncan said.

Lauren Lynch, a junior at Maple Grove, was one of 50 participants from around the country at the Future Leaders Forum at Walt Disney World in Florida earlier this month.

The event, also sponsored by Toro and the First Tee Program, offers an intensive weekend of leadership activities, many of them centered around the sport of golf. Lynch was selected based on an application process that included a 400-word essay about leadership.

"I was interested because it's not just about golf. Golf is incorporated, but it's also about other post-high school opportunities," Lynch said. "I don't really know what I want to do when I get older, but it's a good opportunity to see what's out there."

The girls' basketball season kicks off this weekend. One key tournament to watch is the Pat Paterson Invitational at Hamline University.

Of note to West Metro basketball fans, Hopkins, which is ranked either No. 2 or No. 3 in Class 4A depending on what poll you're looking at, plays Minneapolis North in a West Bracket semifinal game Friday at 7 p.m.

If the Royals win, they most likely will face Tayler Hill and Minneapolis South in Saturday's West Championship at 3 p.m. South, another team ranked in the top five in every poll, is expected to get past Andover in the semifinals.

From the Quality-Over-Quantity department comes the Edina Hockey Association Cake-Eater Tournament, which features Edina, Blake, Breck and Benilde-St. Margaret's in a four-team field at Braemar Arena.

Blake, ranked No. 2 in Class 1A, will play No. 3, 1A Breck in the first semifinal Friday at 6 p.m., followed by No. 12 , Class 2A Benilde-St. Margaret's playing the No. 1, 2A Edina at 8 p.m.

Game times are the same Saturday, with the third-place game taking place at 6 pm. and the finals at 8 p.m.