River Falls saw senior diver Avery Singel qualify for State with a first-place Sectional finish and lifetime bests in 14 of 18 individual races in Hudson over the weekend.

Singel will compete in Milwaukee this weekend, marking back-to-back State appearances.

“The way she comes at practice, day-in and day-out, she is constantly taking feedback and working on improving. She’s super coachable and she has made a ton of progress,” Head Coach Michael Brudzinski said.

Last year, Singel made State, but it was not as much of a lock according to Brudzinski. Diving coaches Brady and Kendra Sievers worked with Singel to deconstruct dives and rebuild them with a higher degree of difficulty. Thanks to a boatload of hard work, Singel has not lost a meet all season long.

“Every single event she dove in this year she finished first. That is not something I take for granted, and it will be deeply missed next year,” Brudzinski said.

River Falls placed eighth of 13 teams at Sectionals, a two place and 30-point improvement from a year ago. They took seventh in the 200-medley relay, eighth in the 400 free and 10th in the 200 free. All three times were season bests.

Freshman Katelyn Dolliver took seventh in the 100 breaststroke and eighth in the 200 IM. Senior captain Elise Gulick finished fifth in the 50 free and sixth in the 100 butterfly. Of the four individual races that were not lifetime bests, three of them were season bests.

Brudzinski’s first year as the high school’s head coach has been a fun one. He expressed how proud he is of the team for fighting to improve each and every day. At the beginning of the season, he had a discussion with the team around their visions for the future of the program, which he said they followed through on the whole way.

The senior class is made up of Singel, Gulick, Ava Purfeerst and Kjersten Richter.

“It’s going to be a tough class to replace,” Brudzinski said. “Not just from the performance they bring in the pool, but from how they all have helped shape and lead this team.”

Gulick has been a team leader both in and out of the pool all year long.

“She is a great leader. She’s got a great attitude, super hard work ethic, but likes to have fun,” Brudzinski said. “She has helped the entire team lean into the fun of hard work and the fun of competing.”

If Brudzinski needed someone to be flexible and compete in new events, it was Gulick.

Purfeerst has been an “anchor” for the 200 and 500 distance race lineups. She is one of the swimmers who had a great day at Sectionals.

“She is relentless in kind of just being able to be consistent and push and slowly and steadily elevate her game,” Brudzinski said. “[She] has made our distance events a strength without me needing to worry about it.”

Richter swam as a freshman but left for two years before returning for a final season.

“She was just a great influx of positivity and joy on the team,” Brudzinski said. “She made a ton of improvement over the course of the season, and just kind of showed if you show up with the right mindset and the desire to improve and that drive, you can accomplish a lot.”