Senior Ellery Ottem continues shattering school records

The River Falls High School girls swim and dive team continues to significantly outperform expectations.

The Wildcats had a successful Division 1 Sectional swim and dive meet at Hudson High School on Saturday, Nov 5. River Falls had four individuals, three divers and one swimmer, qualify for the State Swim and Dive Championship, which is slated to be held on Saturday, Nov. 12, at the Waukesha South High School.

River Falls senior Ellery Ottem, who continues to add to her already flawless high school swimming resume, won both the girls 100-yard and 200-yard Freestyle events with times of 50.68 seconds and 1:48.88 respectively.

Despite not being fully tapered, a training process designed to methodically shave time off of her swims leading up to the state meet, Ottem swam exceptionally well and re-broke her school records in the 100 and 200-yard Freestyle events with the aforementioned times at the Sectional Championship in Hudson.

Ottem finished fourth at the 2021 State Championship meet in both of those events and according to River Falls head coach Caitlin Brudzinksi, she was expected to win both events at the Hudson Sectional – just not in the dominant fashion that she did.

“Winning was expected, but what wasn’t expected was for her to go out and break her school records in those events this weekend,” Brudzinski said. “She’s not fully tapered or rested as she will be for Saturday (State Championship). The fact that she already broke those school records is hopefully a really good sign for next weekend.”

While Ottem was busy shattering school records in the swimming events, the River Falls divers were qualifying for state in their respective events. Junior Rachel Everson won the Sectional diving event with a score of 474.60. Freshman Avery Singel finished runner-up with a 430.05 and senior Kayleigh Volkman rounded out the podium with a 425.10. All three scores qualified for the State Championship this weekend.

“They are crushing it,” Brudzinski said. “They are performing very well this year. Rachel (Everson) had a 9.5 and two 9s out of the seven scores. She’s hitting her stride at the right point of the season.”

While only four River Falls athletes qualified for state, the rest of the roster also performed well at the Sectional Championship and helped earn the Wildcats a fifth-place

See RF SWIM Page B-7 finish out of 13 teams at the meet. Even with strong showings in the past, River Falls typically finished around eighth.

River Falls performed exceptionally well in Hudson on Saturday and even beat the rival Raiders, who previously got the best of the Wildcats in the Big Rivers Conference meet less than a week before the Hudson Sectional. Brudzinksi spoke about Saturday’s success.

“As a team, we outperformed my expectations,” Brudzinski said. “Last year we ended up eighth in the Sectional and I figured we’d be there again, maybe a place or two higher. The fact that we ended up fifth overall, beat Hudson and were close with Chippewa Falls and Memorial, that was a fantastic finish for us.”

With the season ending for all but the aforementioned four State Championship qualifiers, Brudzinski and the staff have begun honing in the training on those athletes still competing going into Saturday.

The expectations for all of the athletes going down to Waukesha are quite different. Ottem expects to finish her career near the top of the Division 1 leaderboard in both the 100 and 200-yard Freestyle events, where she earned a fourth-place finish last year. For some of the divers, getting to Waukesha alone is a massive accomplishment.

“I know Rachel (Everson), she has high expectations because she barely missed State qualifying last year,” Brudzinksi said. “She had the fourth-highest score across the state among the divers. Kayleigh (Volkman) is a senior and the fact that she gets to go down there for state is pretty awesome. Avery (Singel) is a freshman, so to make it to State is phenomenal and will be a great experience for her.”

For Ottem, the trip to Waukesha is all business. After a top-five finish last year and her record-breaking performance at the D1 Sectional in Hudson on Saturday, she expects to finish in the top three in both events, which has essentially been the goal the entire season.

“Her goal at the beginning of the season was top three,” Brudzinski said. “She comes into state as the top-seeded athlete in the 200-yard Freestyle and she is seeded tied for second in the 100-yard Freestyle.”

Ottem was seeded third going into the State Championship last season in both events. However, it appears that some of her toughest competition has changed, as one girl decided to compete in different events, and another graduated and is now swimming for the Badgers in Madison.

Last season Ottem didn’t earn the top seed and she felt going into the meet as if she had to chase down some of the other top swimmers in the state. Now, she’s the favorite in the 200-yard Freestyle and second in the 100-yard Freestyle. Brudzinski spoke about a potential change in mindset.

“There are still top athletes out there, but I love that she’s seeded first,” Brudzinski said. “Hopefully that helps her take some deep breaths coming into this and doesn’t necessarily feel like she’s coming from behind. Instead, going in strong and confident and ready to swim hard.”

Ottem, Everson, Volkman and Singel will compete in the Division 1 State Championship on Saturday, Nov. 12. Diving is slated to begin at 9:30 a.m. and swimming will start at 2:30 p.m.