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As if the Chisago Lakes diving team haven’t been impressive enough this season. Last Saturday at the Chisago Lakes Invite, three divers- Brian Willhite, Jeremy Salokar, and Adam Sill all dive automatic All-American scores. All three of them! It’s the second time Willhite has dove over the 400-point mark this season and Salokar and Sill’s first time.

“I can’t think of a better way for those three boys to end their diving careers at Chisago Lakes, diving like that in their last home meet of their career,” said Lisa Willhite, Chisago Lakes diving coach. “It’s never happened before. That was pretty cool, it was just a good day.”

It was a good day for the entire Chisago Lakes team. Along with their divers, the ‘Cat swimmers also turned some heads. The end result was a first place finish, defeating second place Cambridge-Isanti by more than 100 points.

“We assumed we would win. I think we’re at that point now where we can expect to win the meets we should win,” said Jim Sauerbry, Chisago Lakes head swimming coach. “The kids continued to surprise me with their balance. We saw some really good times again.”

In addition to diving, in terms of points, Chisago’s biggest events came in the 200 freestyle and 100 butterfly. In the 200 freestyle, Steve Boo and Trevor Schuler finished in the top five places. In addition, Andrew Turner and Andy Shaleen took sixth and seventh, giving the ‘Cats 20 more points than the Bluejackets, helping them build an early lead.

John Roggemann then followed that up with a first in the 200 IM, Hunter Heggerston ran second in the 50 freestyle, and Roggemann and Luke Spehar each finished in the top five in the 100 butterfly.

Chisago finished the meet with several more notable performances including a first by Boo in the 100 freestyle, and second place finishes by John Donahue and Tom McGurk in the 100 backstroke and the 100 breaststroke.

“John was one of the guys that we were expecting big things from before the season started and he’s responded. His backstroke time just keeps getting faster and faster,” remarked Sauerbry. “Also. Tom McGurk has been solid. Those are just two of many who have really performed well this year, maybe even swam better than expected.”

In all, Chisago finished with at least two swimmers in the top five in five events. In the 100 freestyle, three Wildcats finished in the top five. It was a great way to end the regular season for Chisago and everyone played a part in it.

“It really worked well. We knew Forest Lake would dominate us (Last Tuesday) and they did. We opened the Invite up to four swimmers per event because we only had five teams, which is what they do at sections, and it really worked well for us,” concluded Sauerbry. “It gave us some more momentum to build on with sections up next. It gave the kids some more confidence to swim with.”

Speaking of sections, the Wildcats now have a week off to prepare for the section meet next Wednesday. That’s the first round. The second round of sections takes place next Friday. The state tournament follows on February 25th.

Chisago Lakes Invite:

Team Results-

1. Chisago Lakes 657

2. Cambridge-Isanti 533.5

3. Princeton 389

4. South St. Paul 307

5. Tartan 273.5

Individual results (CL only):

Top 5-

200 Medley Relay-

2. Chisago Lakes 1:54.82

200 Freestyle-

3. Steve Boo 2:03.29

5. Trevor Schuler 2:08.51

200 IM-

1. John Roggemann 2:19.25

50 Freestyle-

2. Hunter Heggerston 24.81

Diving-

1. Brian Willhite 444.45

2. Jeremy Salokar 430.50

3. Adam Sill 403.35

5. Andy Willhite 324.45

100 Butterfly-

2. John Roggemann 1:02.27

4. Luke Spehar 1:04.32

100 Freestyle-

1. Steve Boo 55.40

3. Hunter Heggerston 55.71

4. Joey Swanson 57.15

500 Freestyle-

4. Trevor Schuler 5:48.52

5. Andy Shaleen 6:11.25

200 Freestyle Relay-

4. Chisago Lakes 1:44.84

100 Backstroke-

2. John Donahue 1:06.05

100 Breaststroke-

2. Tom McGurk 1:12.77

5. Brian Willhite 1:12.50

400 Freestyle Relay:

3. Chisago Lakes 3:48.01

Diving pictures provided by Jamie Novak

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