by Dennis Dalman
news@thenewsleaders.com
Jennifer Thompson just can’t seem to stop winning.
Not long after being part of the Sartell Sabre Swim Team’s state championship, she went on to win two of three individual swimming events in the YMCA competition last week at the University of Minnesota.
Thompson, a ninth-grader at Sartell High School, placed first in the 50-yard freestyle race with a time of 25:24, first place in the 100-yard freestyle race with a time of 55:52 and a squeaky-close second place finish in the 500-yard freestyle, which she lost by a sliver of a second – seven-tenths of a second, to be exact.
At the State YMCA Meet, there were 1,100 boys and girls competing in many age divisions.
“It was pretty cool to win,” Thompson said. “And it was fun to go there to the U. of M. We drove down, and my parents and sister Melissa came with. Melissa also loves swimming. She loves doing the butterfly.”
When the Sartell Sabre Swim Team won the state championship, Thompson was a member of a four-member relay team that took top honors in one of the events.
Thompson’s favorite school subject is math. In the summer she loves to play soccer for the Central Minnesota Youth Soccer Association. Another favorite hobby is – well, naturally – swimming.