MEGAN PHILLIP
Edina • diving
Heading into her final dive of the Class 2A meet, the Edina junior knew exactly what was at stake.
By that point, she'd already sewed up her third state championship. Now, a spot in state history was there for the taking. All she had to do to break a 21-year-old state diving record was not mess up her last dive.
It didn't hurt that the dive she was prepared to do was one of her favorites.
"A back 1½-pike," she said. "My [club] coach says it's my signature dive."
She was spot-on, posting a single dive score of 25.5, tied with one of her previous dives for the best single-dive mark of the meet. Her cumulative dive score of 517.0 was 10 points better than the previous state record, set by Jaime Sanger of Wayzata in 1997.
"I was nervous but I was pretty confident," Phillip said of her final dive. "One of my goals going into the meet was to get the record."
Phillip knew she'd nailed it as soon as she hit the water. So did everyone else. As she emerged from the diving well, Edina teammate Jozie Meitz, who finished fifth, made a beeline for her and threw her arms around Phillip.
"She's one of my best friends," Phillip said. "We practice together every day. It's amazing to get that kind of support."
While thrilled to set a state record, she said helping Edina to the team championship felt a little better.
"It's cooler for my team winning," Phillip said. "I wasn't about me going into the meet. It was about all of us working together. It was a goal we all wanted."
LANDON CARTER
Lakeville North • football
The junior may not get the publicity of some of his defensive linemates, but he's just as essential to that unit's success. In the Panthers' 35-13 victory over Lakeville South on Friday, Carter notched eight tackles, seven of them solo, made two tackles for loss and had one sack.
SYDNEY LANGSETH
Eden Prairie • hockey
The high-scoring junior forward picked up where she left off last season with seven goals in the Eagles' first three games. Four came in a season-opening victory over Lakeville North and two in a 3-1 victory over Rochester Lourdes. She got the game-winner in a 2-1 victory over Hill-Murray.
ISAI MAZARIEGO FERNANDEZ
St. Paul Humboldt • adapted soccer
The sophmore center was a leading scorer for the Hawks in their run to the physically impaired division state championship. He scored four goals in the quarterfinals, an 8-3 victory over Mounds View/Irondale/Roseville, and four more in the finals, a 5-4 victory over Dakota United.
TAYLOR SMITH
Mound Westonka • hockey
The senior goalie has helped the White Hawks get off to a 4-0 start, giving up just one goal. She has stopped 108 out of 109 shots for a 0.27 goals against average and a .991 save percentage. She has two complete-game shutouts.
JIM PAULSEN
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