Editor's Note: Sports writer Roger Merriam is compiling a "20 Favorites" series highlighting some of his favorite athletes in a variety of high school/other sports since he started working at the Watertown Public Opinion in December 1984. The series is about northeastern South Dakota athletes, but some played at colleges all over the state and others have moved to other areas.
Of all the "20 Favorites" series stories so far, this one on the Watertown Area Swim Club has probably taken the most time to not only research but also write.
In recent years, the numbers of the Watertown program have grown to some 180 kids or more and that's a large number of swimmers to try to whittle down to a list of 20 or so. Also making it hard is that the swim program is available to swimmers 6-and-under all the way up to college age. Some swim a year or two, others will compete all the way through.
But I still wanted to recognize the Watertown Area Swim Club just as I have all the other Watertown and area athletes in all the other sports so far in the series. My apologies to anybody we've missed, it's just a story to get people talking and remembering about some of the many swimmers who have made their mark on the program since December of 1984.
I need to thank a couple of WASC coaches, without throwing them under a bus, for their assistance with this project. They know who they are.
Again, don't worry about the order until we get down to the last few spots.
Only two stories remain in the series. One of Watetown's high school softball program and then a final story on some other names that were missed or overlooked from previous stories.
Let's get started.
20. Others
Normally, I take this spot and mention a bunch of athletes that narrowly missed the cut. But as previously discussed, there are so many swimmers for the Dolphins from the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s and 2020s that are also very deserving.
19. Burke Lauseng, Ross Ritter, Madi Cyrus, Madelynne Storm, Emma Pickrel & Alayna Falak
Wonder what these five swimmers have in common. They are all former WASC swimmers who competed this winter for colleges across the Upper Midwest. There are others, who will be mentioned further down the list.
Lauseng is at Nebraska Wesleyan, Ritter at South Dakota State, Cyrus at Southwest Minnesota State, Pickrel at Jamestown (N.D.) and Falak at Minnesota-Morris.
Storm is also swimming at Southwest Minnesota State. Her brother Payton also swam for the ...
