Prep athletes of the week: Wayzata's Donlin values time over place

To an outsider, it would be difficult to pick out which race was Donlin's best at the Class 2A True Team state meet Saturday.

Perhaps it was the 50 freestyle, which she won by .01 over Emma Wittmer of Edina. Or leading off the 200 freestyle relay team, which won in a meet-record time of 1:36.14. Maybe it was the 400 freestyle relay, where she swam a blazing 51.77 lead leg en route to another victory.

But Donlin, a sophomore, knew right away which race was her favorite.

"The 100 freestyle," she said. "That's the race I'm most proud of."

But she didn't win that race, finishing second with a time of 51.81. A terrific result and very important to the Trojans' record-setting team championship score of 2,342 points, but how can taking second be better than winning?

"Because I dropped the most time," she said. "I think I dropped a little under two seconds from my previous best. That was a complete shock. I wasn't expecting that."

Overall, Donlin said, Saturday was an unforgettable day. "Every single person on our team swam great," she said. "It was an absolutely amazing day."

Hart may be small by quarterback standards (5-11, 175 pounds), but the senior has been has been big all season for the 7-1 Islanders. He had 535 yards of total offense — 471 passing, 64 rushing — threw for seven TDs and ran for two more in a 62-35 victory over Minnehaha Academy.

The 6-2 Polars quietly are having a superb season, largely because of the sophomore quarterback. He completed 17 of 22 passes for 306 yards and four TDs in a 40-7 rout of Roosevelt, his third game of more than 300 yards passing this season.

The Sullivan girls clearly are comfortable in the spotlight. Elena won the Class 1A singles title in 2009. Eva, a senior, pulled off a mild upset in winning the Section 5, 1A singles championship last week, beating top-seeded Danielle Gannon of Holy Family 6-3, 7-5 in the finals.

The senior receiver/defensive end stamped his name all over the Hornets' 27-7 victory over North Branch. He caught eight passes for 141 yards and three touchdowns, made 10 tackles, forced a fumble and blocked a punt.

JIM PAULSEN