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John Donahue broke the school record in the 100 backstroke to lead the Wildcat swimmers and divers to a 96-88 win over Cambridge at Chisago Lakes Tuesday, December 13. Donahue’s first place finish in 1:01.64, was one of six first place finishes for CL. The old record was 1:02.48, which Donahue set in the sections last year.

The Wildcat 200 medley relay team, Donahue, Tom McGurk, Kevin Roggemann and Hunter Heggerston, got the Wildcats off to a fast start. The CL time, 1:50.03, was nine seconds faster than the second place team, also from Chisago Lakes, and 14 seconds ahead of the first Cambridge team.

The Wildcats put some space between themselves and the Bluejackets by sweeping the top three places in the 200 IM. McGurk took first in 2:21.69. He was followed closely by Mark Eagan and Andrew Jokinen. The sweep left the ‘Cats ahead 30-16 after three events.

Two events later, Andy Willhite won the diving with a score of 200.70. However, Cambridge took the next three spots and closed the gap between the teams. Cambridge came closer by winning the 100 butterfly, 100 freestyle and 500 freestyle. After eight events, the Wildcats lead was down to 66-60.

Willhite, Ethan Karwand, Dave Willhite and Heggerston combined to win the 200 freestyle relay. Their winning time, 1:39.72, was only .15 better than Cambridge. CL also took third to help put some daylight between the teams. After nine events, the ’Cats led 76-64.

Donahue then won the 100 backstroke and the Wildcats were up 85-71 with two events left. McGurk closed the door by winning the 100 backstroke in 1:08.11, almost four seconds ahead of the first Bluejacket. That win gave the Wildcats their final points and assured the win.

The Wildcats will swim back into action Thursday, January 4 when they host the Irondale Knights at 6:00.

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