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

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