The Menomonee Falls High School baseball and boys basketball teams both went to state this year. But the Menomonee Falls-based Dolphinettes, an affiliate of the Menomonee Falls recreation department, also made a huge splash this season.
For the first time, the girls in the age 16 to 19 division placed second in the Junior Olympics for the free team competition in artistic swimming, formerly called synchronized swimming. The free team competition uses creative and artistic choreography.
The competition was held in Gainsville, Florida, from June 25-July 2.
The team also took third place as a tech team, the artistic swimming competition that relies on technical skills; seventh in the free competition, another competition that relies on creative choreography; and 12th in duet, with artistic swimmers Johanna Luo and Grace Xue.
The Menomonee Falls Dolphinettes, who practice at the pool at Menomonee Falls North Middle School, have won the state competition for the last 35 years. There are just two other artistic swimming programs in Wisconsin, in Wauwatosa and Middleton.
More than ‘dancing in the water’
Linda Loehndorf, who has coached the Dolphinettes since 1980, calls artistic swimming a “combination of dance, gymnastics and…
