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It goes without saying that the experience is more important than the results for most. Jim Sauerbry is in that category. Actually, he was happy with both. Last Saturday at the Class A state True Team meet at the University of Minnesota, the Chisago Lakes swimming and diving team finished eighth overall. Power St. Thomas Academy easily won the meet, finishing more than 400 hundred points ahead of Monticello.

While St. Thomas dominated the stopwatch, in typical Chisago fashion, the Wildcats swam under the radar. Aside from diving, John Roggemann was the only ‘Cat to finish in the top 10, but several Wildcats found themselves falling in that next category, giving Sauerbry a lot of points to add up.

“It was kind of an up and down meet time wise. We had 29 personal best’s. We didn’t swim poorly by any means but normally we’ve done better than that in the past. Still, we swam well enough to finish eighth. Again, we did it with our depth. We didn’t have anyone swimming in the fast heats and we didn’t have anyone swimming in the slow ones. We just fell right in the middle which is so typical to our season. It’s really pretty amazing what the kids have been able to do.”

Individually, Roggemann had a fantastic meet, finishing ninth in the butterfly along with a 14th place showing in the 200 yard IM. In addition, Roggemann was apart of two relay teams that came in 13th and 15th. Elsewhere, Steve Boo grabbed a 13 finish in the 100 freestyle and 18th in the 200 yard freestyle, Hunter Heggerston swam 13th in the 50 yard freestyle, and all three Chisago relay squads finished in the top 16.

As for the diving, as Sauerbry puts it, they dove on another planet. All four Wildcat divers finished in the top nine overall, including Brian Willhite who took first. Willhite, on the heels of an automatic All-American score at the section True Team meet, scored a 233.25, five points ahead of second place. In addition, Adam Sill finished fifth, Salokar was sixth, and Andy Willhite placed ninth.

“The divers did great. Brian is such a hard-working, fun kid. It’s great to see him have the type of success he’s having,” replied Sauerbry. “They are all just diving on another planet right now. Every meet, it’s the only points we can count on. We’re sure going to miss that next year.”

Now with True Team out of the way, Chisago sets their sights on sections which take place at the end of the month. Thanks to the True Team meet, Chisago has some extra momentum down the stretch.

“It was a wonderful experience. It was a lot of he kids first time seeing the pool and swimming in it,” smiled Sauerbry. “Like I said before, every kid has now gotten a chance to swim at the U, that’s a great thing to have, to have that type of experience on your side.”

State Class A True Team

Team Results-

1. St. Thomas Acad. 1864

2. Monticello 1403

3. Hutchinson 1381

4. Simley 1369.5

5. Melrose/Sauk Centre 1330

6. Mankato East 1246

7. Hibbing 1206.5

8. Chisago Lakes 1134

9. Spring Lake Park 667

10. Park Rapids 568

Individual Results

(CL only-Top 20)-

200 Medley Relay:

13. Chisago Lakes 1:56.40

(J. Roggemann, B. Willhite, K. Roggemann, Heggerston)

20. Chisago Lakes 2:01.85

(D. Willhite, McGurk, Mueller, Sill)

200 Yard Freestyle:

18. Steve Boo 2:04.95

19. Andrew Turner 2:05.82

20. Trevor Schuler 2:06.23

200 Yard IM:

14. John Roggemann 2:20.60

50 Yard Freestyle:

13. Hunter Heggerston 24.70

Diving:

1. Brian Willhite 233.25

5. Adam Sill 187.20

6. Jeremy Salokar 174.75

9. Andy Willhite 142.95

100 Butterfly:

9. John Roggemann 1:02.04

16. Luke Spehar 1:06.23

100 Freestyle:

13. Steve Boo 55.11

19. Hunter Heggerston 55.63

500 Freestyle:

19. Trevor Schuler 5:44.55

200 Freestyle Relay:

16. Chisago Lakes 1:45.31

(Turner, Swanson, Boo, Novak)

400 Freestyle Relay:

15. Chisago Lakes 3:56.50

(Roggemann, Donahue, Shaleen, Heggerston)

16. Chisago Lakes 3:56.51

(Graylish, Turner, Swanson, Novak)

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