Section prep swim meets take to the pool

Grand Rapids seeks to defend its Section 7A girls swimming and diving title as this year’s meet kicks off today at the Robert J. Elkington Middle School in Grand Rapids.
The Thunderhawks claimed two relay titles and three individual events, including in 1-meter diving where Morgan Justus is back to defend.
Duluth Denfeld, Two Harbors-Silver Bay and a host of Iron Range schools are vying for state berths.
Swimming preliminaries begin at 5 p.m. today, with diving prelims held Friday and finals at 3 p.m. Saturday. The top two in each event qualify for next week’s Class A state meet.
-- The Section 5A meet runs Friday and Saturday afternoons at Lincoln Middle School in Duluth.
Cloquet-Esko-Carlton and Proctor-Hermantown compete in 5A. Proctor-Hermantown junior Megan Mensinger is attempting to qualify in the 500-yard freestyle for a second straight year.
-- Duluth East competes in today’s 7AA preliminaries at Northdale Middle School in Coon Rapids, Minn. Senior Alissa Marlow qualified for the Class AA state meet in the 50 free and the 200 free relay a year ago.
-- Katilin Heinen leads Superior in the Wisconsin Division 1 sectional meet, beginning Friday in Hudson. Finals are at 1 p.m. Saturday.