Women’s Swimming Overview

Swimming, as an activity, is probably one of the oldest in history.  Ten thousand year old cave paintings have shown people swimming. Competitively, swimming emerged in the early 1800’s.  Swimming has been a part of every modern Olympics.  However, women’s competitive did not begin in the Olympics until 1912.

Young women participated in athletic activities in the Minneapolis schools through the Girls Athletic Association (GAA).  Each school, including South, created a GAA.  The GAA allowed the ladies to participate in various sports in what is today called intermural.  They could only compete within the school. The GAA ceased to exist with the passage of Title IX. 

In Minneapolis, the first recorded events were held during the 1968-1969 school year, held for those students who participated in the GAA. The 1973-1974 school year saw the first interscholastic team under the Minnesota State High School League rules.