On Friday night at Jean K. Freeman Aquatics Center in Minneapolis, Mounds View senior Ellie Bina not only put up a personal best but blew the competition out of the water during the girls swimming Class 2A state preliminaries.

Bina had a time of 5:00:65, placing her in second behind Edina junior Macy Malinski entering Friday’s 500-yard freestyle preliminaries. She finished nearly six seconds faster than the field (4:56:17) on Friday.

Bina said it was her best swim in the 500 since her sophomore year, and it boosts her confidence ahead of the finals on Saturday.

“I knew swimming that I was feeling good,” Bina said. “So, seeing the board was just like a relief, like okay, it was where I needed to be.”

Bina also improved on her section time in the 200 freestyle, dropping 1.58 seconds to 1:51:23, resulting in a third-place finish.

Marcott continues to thrive

Apple Valley senior Greta Marcott improved her 50 freestyle time from sections by 0.09 seconds to 23.12 but still finished runner-up in the prelims. Edina senior Libbi McCarthy leapfrogged her in the standings after posting a 22.55, just 0.01 seconds off a Class 2A record behind fellow Hornet Rachel Wittmer’s time set back in 2015.

Marcott led the way in the 100 backstroke, finishing in 54:37 seconds, improving by a second and a half on her section finals time.

Marcott holds school records in both the 50 freestyle and 100 backstroke, snapping the previous records set by Jennifer Riggs back in 1998. She said that entering high school, these achievements had not been on her radar, especially the backstroke.

“I just became a backstroker last year, and it’s been really fun for me,” Marcott said.

It was an exhilarating state meet for the Wyoming commit as Marcott said it is the first state meet she’s been in the thick of the title chase.

Havermann one step closer to repeating

East Ridge junior Logan Havermann arrived at the prelims looking to defend two state titles. Havermann is the reigning state champ in the 200 individual medley and 100 breaststroke.

Havermann ended up as the top qualifier in the breaststroke with a 1:03:91 finish. She credits her continued success to her new approach, breaking down each race and adjusting, rather than relying on muscle memory.

Havermann entered the state meet second-best in the 200 IM to Edina sophomore Bobbi Simmons. Simmons maintained her edge, finishing 0.79 seconds ahead of Havermann’s time of 2:04:04 heading into Saturday’s finals.

Havermann said she is “excited” about being the second seed entering the 200 IM finals and getting to race against Simmons.

“I know she’s fast,” Havermann said. “She came in with a (2:01:84), I have a 2:00:00 from last year. So, if we push each other, we could both break (two minutes), which is super exciting.”

Stillwater shows out in relay

Stillwater set the tone for the Class 2A state prelims as its youthful 200 medley relay finished ahead of the pack. The Ponies squad, made up of eighth grader Maddie Mathiason, freshmen Molly Mahoney and Claire Christianson, along with junior Lucy Paczosa, put up a time of 1:45:42.

Paczosa also qualified for the 50 and 100 freestyle finals by placing fourth (23.37) in the 50 and second (50.81) behind McCarthy’s 50:00 in the 100 freestyle.

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River Falls’ dream season ended with a bit of a thud Friday at D.C. Everest High School, and the legs of Kingston Allen were a major reason why.

The Notre Dame Academy junior — who already sports collegiate offers from the likes of Wisconsin and Northwestern — ran 27 times for 146 yards and four scores in the Division-2 state semifinal … in the first half.

He finished with 33 carries for 246 yards and six touchdowns as Notre Dame (13-0) downed the Wildcats 42-6. Notre Dame — which won the Division 3 state title last season — advances to next week’s state title game at Camp Randall on the University of Wisconsin campus.

Allen now has 3,213 yards and 55 rushing touchdowns — a Wisconsin state record — on the season. So, it wasn’t a surprise River Falls had a difficult time containing him Friday.

But the Wildcats’ offensive struggles were unexpected. River Falls (11-2) had scored 40-plus points in each of its last seven games, all against stiff competition.

Quarterback Tino Massa entered the night with 2,583 yards passing on the season to go with Joseph Tarasewicz’s 1,915 rushing yards.

But River Falls hurt itself with first-half errors. A field-goal attempt hit off the upright. Massa had a fumble and an interception, both of which came in Notre Dame territory when he was hit in the backfield.

The Wildcats trailed 28-0 at the half.

Allen kept coming in the third. He scored on a 53-yard touchdown run two minutes into the second half. The Wildcats then fumbled the ensuing kickoff, and Allen scored again a few plays later from 15 yards out on his final carry of the evening to put the game into running time at a score of 42-0.

River Falls finally got on the board on a 2-yard, end-around touchdown run by Mason Novak late in the third frame.

It was a historic season for River Falls, who won 11 games and a section title for the first time in program history. The names of Massa, Tarasewicz, Sam Simpson and many other seniors will be remembered in the town for decades to come.

Senior safety Anthony McPherson properly summed up the feelings of the team’s accomplishments earlier this week.

“(This is) usually something that you hear about, and then you wanna live up to that,” he said. “So, being a part of that team and being kind in the moment is just — it’s surreal.”

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President Donald Trump has publicly called it quits with one of his most stalwart MAGA-world supporters, calling Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene “’Wacky’ Marjorie” and saying he would endorse a challenger against her in next year’s midterms “if the right person runs.”

The dismissal of Greene — once the epitome of MAGA, sporting the signature red cap for President Joe Biden’s 2024 State of the Union address and acting as a go-between for Trump and other Capitol Hill Republicans — appeared to be the final break in a dispute simmering for months, as Greene has seemingly moderated her political profile. The three-term U.S. House member has increasingly dissented from Republican leaders, attacking them during the just-ended federal government shutdown and saying they need a plan to help people who are losing subsidies to afford health insurance policies.

Accusing the Georgia Republican of going “Far Left,” Trump wrote that all he had witnessed from Greene in recent months is “COMPLAIN, COMPLAIN, COMPLAIN!” adding, of Greene’s purported irritation that he doesn’t return her phone calls, “I can’t take a ranting Lunatic’s call every day.”

In a response on X, Greene wrote Friday that Trump had “attacked me and lied about me.” She added a screenshot of a text she said she had sent the president earlier in the day about releasing the Jeffrey Epstein files, which she said “is what sent him over the edge.”

Greene called it “astonishing really how hard he’s fighting to stop the Epstein files from coming out that he actually goes to this level,” referencing next week’s U.S. House vote over releasing the Epstein files.

Writing that she had supported Trump “with too much of my precious time, too much of my own money, and fought harder for him even when almost all other Republicans turned their back and denounced him,” Greene added: “I don’t worship or serve Donald Trump.”

Trump’s post seemingly tied a bow of finality to fissures that widened following this month’s off-cycle elections, in which voters in the New Jersey and Virginia governor races flocked to Democrats in large part over concerns about the cost of living.

Last week, Greene told NBC News that “watching the foreign leaders come to the White House through a revolving door is not helping Americans,” saying that Trump needs to focus on high prices at home rather than his recent emphasis on foreign affairs. Trump responded by saying that Greene had “lost her way.”

Asked about Greene’s comments earlier Friday as he flew from Washington to Florida, Trump said reiterated that he felt “something happened to her over the last month or two,” saying that, if he hadn’t gone to China to meet leader Xi Jinping, there would have been negative ramifications for jobs in Georgia and elsewhere because China would have kept its curbs on magnet exports.

Saying that people have been calling him, wanting to challenge Greene, Trump added: “She’s lost a wonderful conservative reputation.”

Greene’s discontent dates back at least to May, when she announced she wouldn’t run for the Senate against Democratic incumbent Jon Ossoff, while attacking GOP donors and consultants who feared she couldn’t win. In June, she publicly sided with Tucker Carlson after Trump called the commentator “kooky” in a schism that emerged between MAGA and national security hardliners over possible U.S. efforts at regime change in Iran.

That only intensified in July, when Greene said she wouldn’t run for governor. Then, she attacked a political “good ole boy” system, alleging it was endangering Republican control of the state. Greene embarked on a charm offensive in recent weeks, with interviews and appearances in media aimed at people who aren’t hardcore Trump supporters. Asked on comedian Tim Dillon’s podcast if she wanted to run for president in 2028, Greene said in October, “I hate politics so much” and just wanted “to fix problems” — but didn’t give a definitive answer.

That climaxed with an appearance on Bill Maher’s HBO show “Real Time,” followed days later by a Nov. 4 appearance on ABC’s “The View.” Some observers began pronouncing Greene as reasonable as she trashed Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana for not calling Republicans back to Washington and coming up with a health care plan.

“I feel like I’m sitting next to a completely different Marjorie Taylor Greene,” said “The View” co-host Sunny Hostin.

“Maybe you should become a Democrat, Marjorie,” said co-host Joy Behar.

“I’m not a Democrat,” Greene replied. “I think both parties have failed.”

Jeff Amy contributed reporting from Atlanta. Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://x.com/MegKinnardAP

EUGENE, Ore. — Gophers Athletics Director Mark Coyle took issue with the disparity in punishments for rule-breaking Big Ten programs on Friday.

During the KFAN pregame show before the Oregon game, Coyle rhetorically asked host Justin Gaard to describe something to him.

“Off air, you are going to have to explain to me how Michigan State had to vacate wins, but somebody else didn’t,” Coyle said.

Coyle was clearly comparing Michigan State to rival Michigan.

Gaard followed up with Coyle, asking if he wanted to “flesh it out,” but Coyle declined. “I do not,” he said.

Earlier this week, the Spartans were placed on three years of probation by the NCAA for recruiting violations during coach Mel Tucker’s tenure and have to vacate 15 wins, including five under current head coach Jonathan Smith.

Michigan, for its sign-stealing scheme during its run to the 2024 national championship, received a series of fines from the NCAA in August that could reach $30 million. But the Wolverines avoided vacating victories or a postseason ban.

Before he opened up that can of worms, Coyle said he is proud of how his programs at Minnesota follow the rules. After the Michigan State news came out, he said he messaged head coach P.J. Fleck that said, “I appreciate the way you do things.”

Coyle said he also texted other coaches, including Niko Medved, Dawn Plitzuweit, Bob Motzko and Keegan Cook.

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