Player profile: Molly Meland

At the age of seven, Molly Meland, sophomore, became a competitive swimmer. Meland said right from the start she fell in love with the sport because she loved being in the water and how competitive the sport was.

“My aunt and a lot of my cousins were swimmers. One day, my aunt was in the lake with my cousins at our cabin practicing and I wanted to try it, so I got in and started swimming with them,” Meland said. “[Swimming] just came really naturally to me, and my aunt told my mom to put me on a swim team.”

Meland first made the varsity girls swim team in seventh grade. By eighth grade, Meland had already broken the school record in the 100 butterfly.  

“I am very happy with all that I have accomplished so far, and it just feels really good to know that all the hours I’ve spent in the pool are paying off,” Meland said.

One of her best friends, 2017-18 captain Willow Scherwinski, junior, has been friends with Meland for a while and has been very impressed by her success.  

“In addition to being one of my best friends, she is the best athlete I know. We’ve grown up swimming together and it’s always been really important to her,” Scherwinski said. “Molly works really hard to be the best she can be. It was one of the best feelings seeing all of her work pay off this season and at State.”

On Nov. 18, Meland competed in the 100 butterfly and 100 backstroke at the state meet at the University of Minnesota. Meland finished in fourth place in both events, qualifying for an All-American Consideration in each.

“It was really awesome and everyone was so happy and hopeful for her. I was with her mom when she finished the races. Michelle [Molly’s mom] was almost in tears,” Scherwinski said.

As for the future, Meland is working to become a more well-rounded swimmer by working on different strokes.

“Right now I mostly just swim backstroke and butterfly, so I would like to improve my breaststroke and freestyle to become a more well rounded swimmer and be able to compete at a higher level in those events,” Meland said.