Faith Hamm named section swimmer of the year

By Chad Koenen

Publisher

Faith Hamm picked the perfect time to have one of her best swim meets of her career. The Frazee High School senior qualified for state in three events, including a section championship winning 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:35.11. She was 20 seconds faster than Fergus Falls’ Estee Vergsteeg who took second place in the event. 

Hamm also won the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 2:02.74 to edge Park Rapids’ Lizzie Seifort for the top spot. Last year Hamm qualified for state in both events and finished in the top 16 in the preliminary 200-yard race before claiming 16th place with a time of 2:02.62. 

Hamm was also a member of the 400-yard freestyle relay that qualified for state for the second straight year. She joins Marin Westrum, Emily Peterson and Rylie Wendt who finished with time of 3:55.89 to take second place. 

In addition to qualifying for state, Hamm was named as the Section 8A swimmer of the year. 

Tenth grader Hope Hamm also qualified for state in the 200-yard freestyle, as she took first place in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 2:02.74. She also took third place in the diving competition  with a score of 364.15 to qualify for state in diving as well.

In addition to the Hamm sisters, sophomore Libby Peterson swam in the 50 and 100-freestyle preliminary races at last week’s section meet. 

The state diving and swimming competition will be held from Wednesday through Friday at the Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center at the University of Minnesota campus.