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Tuesday, December 11 the Wildcat swimmers competed against the Cambridge-Isanti Bluejackets at Cambridge. The Bluejackets won the meet 107-79.

"As expected, the Cambridge team was very strong and deep in their lineup," said Wildcat head coach Mark Nordby. "What's great about going up against a strong team is that we learn where our strengths are but, more importantly, we learn where we need to improve. Our distance events will improve now that we've started our endurance training."

Four Wildcats recorded personal bests in the meet. Alex Lundberg led off the medley with his lifetime best of 29.55 and Andrew Wilhite anchored the same event in 23.96. Freshman Ryan Smith had four personal bests, including a 1:18.57 in the breaststroke. Kevin Roggemann's anchor leg of the 200 freestyle relay (24.25) was his best time.

Roggemann, Brody Heggerston, Ethan Karwand and Andrew Willhite, and Kevin Roggemann, secured the 200 freestyle relay win with a time of 1:39.14.

Princeton Invitational Thursday, December 13

Cambridge 74

Chisago Lakes 64

Duluth East 30

Princeton 30

"I was really proud of the effort the guys gave," said coach Nordby. "We knew we'd have to face Cambridge again and we were on the road for the second time, with just a day in between. Nearly half the team had personal bests at this meet, which really shows that this team is made of athletes who know how to compete, even when tired."

Divers Andy Wilhite and Cody Gralish, "really got things going with some fantastic dives to outscore Cambridge 213.70 to 182.30. Our 400 free relay dropped time and actually went six seconds faster than just one week ago," Nordby continued.

That relay took second place by finishing in 3:42.73. Heggerston led off with a personal best of 55.02, followed by Wilhite, Jake Spehar, and Roggemann. "All of their times were in the 55 second range, which is very encouraging," Nordby commented. "By the end of the season, we should have three very tough relays that should score points at state."

Two other Wildcat teams finished with wins at Princeton. In the 200 backstroke, Alex Lundberg led off, with Ethan Karwand splitting a 1:07 and Clinton LaGrander anchoring with a 1:10 split. "Both of those were best times for these guys. They won the event with a time of 3:24.61," the coach continued. In the 200 breaststroke, the team of John Harwell, Ryan Smith, and Tom McGurk got the win with a time of 3:39.30.

"We look forward to seeing Cambridge down the road and will be working on closing the gap," Nordby added.

The Wildcats swim at St. Louis Park tonight (December 20) starting at 6 p.m. "This is a tough pool because we only use four lanes, which means that St. Louis Park will have the advantage. Only three places score, which makes it an interesting matchup. We are strong in the stroke events, while SLP looks tough in the freestyle events. It should be a fun meet and very competitive," Nordby commented.

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