This has been a banner season for the St. Louis Park High girls swimming team, and the Orioles will have a chance to wrap it up in style at the state Class A meet this weekend.

State prelims start at noon Friday, Nov. 16, at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center, and the finals will start at noon Saturday, Nov. 17, also at the Aquatic Center.

Park is sending a delegation of five swimmers to the state meet after placing fourth in the team standings at last weekend's Section 2A meet.

"In the past our section meet was at the University of Minnesota pool," said Oriole head coach Jake Schwietering. "This year's section meet was at the College of St. Catherine, so we had to earn our way to the U of M pool."

The dream of every high school swimmer is to swim on the University campus, Schwietering said.

"It is a special pool, a very fast pool," he said.

Leading Park's state contingent is sophomore Megan Ostrom, who won the Section 2A 100-yard breaststroke title for the second year in a row.

"Megan has been outstanding all season," said Schwietering. "She was only halfway through her taper at the section meet and she still broke her own school record."

The new record Ostrom set in the 100 breaststroke is 1 minute, 8.89 seconds.

Ostrom's sister, Kathryn, a seventh-grader, joins her as a state qualifier in the 100 breaststroke. Kathryn advanced by time standard.

Also going to state as a time-standard qualifier is Park's 200-yard medley relay team of Hannah Hein, Ostrom, Amy Beck and Theresa Akers.

"They qualified by .02 seconds," said Schwietering.

The Oriole foursome swam a time of 1 minute, 57.80 seconds in the finals.

Two other Park entries just missed qualifying for state. Lilly Reed was .70 seconds away from qualifying in the 100 breaststroke.

"Lilly improved a lot this season, going from a 1:27 to a 1:13," said Schwietering.

Hein was close to qualifying for state in the 200-yard individual medley and also made huge improvement this fall, said her coach.

Schwietering said he is looking forward to the state meet because it is a great honor to be there.

"I think Megan has a chance to hopefully place in the top three," the coach said. "She's an athlete who rises to the occasion."

The same could be said for the entire Park High team this season.

"We went 7-1 in the North Suburban Conference [second place]," said Schwietering. "That is our highest finish since I've been here; our highest finish in years. Our only loss in the conference was to Benilde-St. Margaret's.

"We also finished second in the section True Team meet and placed second in the Orono and Simley invitationals."

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