Park seniors Caitlyn Greenwalt and Ellen Jensen bowed out of their brief but award-winning swim and dive efforts at state.

Greenwalt finished fourth overall in the 1-meter diving with a final score of 362.25 in the 2021 MSHSL Girls AA Swim and Dive Championships Saturday at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center.

Jensen was 13th in the girls’ 100-yard freestyle with a time of 54.47 in the consolation finals. Greenwalt and Jensen were both one-year wonders for the Wolfpack. Greenwalt competed for Park this season after transferring from Woodbury High School. Jensen is a foreign exchange student from Denmark. Both set standards of excellence for their Wolfpack teammates to emulate.

“I feel like they’ve each brought something to our group, whether the diving girls or the swimming girls, and maybe showed them how to have that attitude of winning and attitude of working and we couldn’t be more happy to have them,” said Park swim and dive coach Amanda Johnson. “We’re excited and very proud of how they did.”

Greenwalt’s highest score in the 11-dive event was her third – a forward one-and-ahalf somersault pike — where she recorded a 19.5 score from the judges. She also had two 18.0 scores and two 17.5 scores.

“I feel pretty good,” said Greenwalt, who finished fifth at state as a sophomore competing for Woodbury. “I was very confident going into my last three so it feels good.

“My best dive today was definitely my back twister,” Greenwalt added. “I jumped up and I climbed it upright. It just felt good and it scored well, too.

“I had one whole year here with the team, well the three months I guess, a year of diving technically and it was great,” Greenwalt concluded. “I loved all my teammates, they were all very welcoming. I’ll be managing the boys’ team. That’s what I’m looking forward to. It was a good season to end my diving career on for high school season.”

Greenwalt was seventh after Thursday’s preliminary and semifinal rounds with a score of 257.05.

In the preliminaries, Jensen finished tied for 11th in the 100-yard freestyle in 53.95. She came into the meet with the 13th fastest qualifying time of 53.54.

“I feel okay about my swim, but it’s not my best time and I’m a little disappointed in myself because I feel like I have some things that I really wanted to do better and I missed the wall in my turn down here, my last turn,” said Jensen. “I’m glad that I made it here and I was really glad I had this opportunity. But sometimes it just isn’t your day and it wasn’t my day today.”

Park senior Caitlyn Greenwalt lifts off the diving board on her final dive in the MSHSL swim and dive championships Saturday. Greenwalt finished fourth in the Class AA diving competition. Photo by John Molene