Wayzata High School sophomore Colleen Donlin says she’s been a “water bug” for as long as she can remember. As a child, she swam every summer with the Minnesota swim team, the Aquajets, and started synchronized swimming at age 10 with the Minnesota Synchronettes. After falling in love with the sport, she decided to start swimming for the Wayzata synchronized swimming team in seventh grade. Last season, Donlin helped the Wayzata swim team win state, placing second in the 50 meter dash freestyle and third in the 100 meter freestyle, which she calls her “proudest moments, competitively.”
This will be Donlin’s fourth year as a varsity synchro swimmer, but she still remains a dedicated team member of the Synchronettes. In March, their club team competed in the North Zone Championships in Detroit, where Donlin placed first in her solo, an honor she was not expecting. “I just wanted to swim my best and maybe make it to finals,” she says. “When I was bumped up to the first-place spot, I was speechless. My coach, Joanne Kutzler, and my teammates and I were going nuts ... it was the most amazing feeling.”
Aside from being a star in the pool, Donlin is gifted academically as well. She is a member of the Cantori Choir and student council at Wayzata High School, and teaches Sunday school every week at Woodridge Church. In her very little free time, she enjoys traveling to her cousins’ cabin with her parents and three brothers, and relaxing with her teammates. “My teammates are my best friends in the entire world,” she says. “They truly make me a better person.”
