March 1, 2007 at 8:02 a.m.
Wildcats shine at sections
Eight Chisago Lakes swimmers and divers qualify for State Meet at U of M Aquatic Center
Wildcats shine at sections
"These were the two most incredible nights of swimming I've ever experienced," said Wildcat head coach Jim Sauerbry.
Preliminaries
Wednesday, February 21
In the first event, the 200 yard medley relay, John Donahue, Tom McGurk, Kevin Roggemann and Hunter Heggerston got the team off to a great start. "Before Wednesday night our best time of the season had been a 1:48," Sauerbry said. "Wednesday night they started us off with a 1:45, a new team record, giving us the top seed for the finals."
In the next event, Steve Boo swam the 200 freestyle in a personal best time of 1:56, another team record. Boo qualified for the championship finals and Mark Eagan (2:02.28) qualified for the consolation finals. Brody Heggerston (2:04.71) and Luke Schuler (2:16.91) also swam in the 200.
In the individual medley (IM), both McGurk (2:15.64) and Andrew Jokinen (2:26.73) swam personal bests. McGurk qualified for the championship heat and Jokinen qualified for the consolation heat. John Harwell swam the IM in 2:32.11.
In the 50 freestyle, Hunter Heggerston swam the day's fastest time of 22.78, just missing another team record. Ethan Karwand (24.42) and Dave Willhite (24.62) both swam personal best times to qualify for the consolations. Jake Spehar swam the event in 25.13.
The entire diving competition was completed Wednesday night with Andy Willhite taking first. He scored 375.80, more than 50 points ahead of the second place diver. Jack Vasatka finished 11th with 183.35.
In the 100 butterfly, Roggemann went under a minute for the first time (59.73), putting him at the number two seed for Friday night. Dave Willhite (1:02.67) and Dave Donahue (1:04.51) both swam personal bests that qualified them for the consolation finals. Clinton LaGrander finished in 1:09.17.
Heggerston and Steve Boo qualified for the finals of the 100 yard freestyle. Heggerston set another team record, with a time of 49.71 and Boo finished in 52.69. Jake Spehar (55.64) and Brody Heggerston (55.87) competed, but failed to advance.
In the 500 freestyle, "Mark Eagan was our only swimmer to qualify for the Friday night meet, swimming a personal best time of 5:35.95," said Sauerbry. Jokinen (5:45.49), Keegan Starr (6:13.14) and Matt Turner (6:27.11) also swam for the 'Cats.
The 200 freestyle relay team, Boo, D. Willhite, Karwand, and H. Heggerston, set a new team record of 1:34.75, the fastest time in the preliminaries, to advance to the finals.
In event 10, the 100 backstroke, "John Donahue broke his own team record for the third or fourth time, going under one minute for the first time with a 59.63," Sauerbry said. "Alex Lundberg had a huge time drop." His 1:03.31 qualified him for the consolation heat. D. Donahue (1:11.73) and Nate Anderson (1:12.03) swam but did not advance.
Tom McGurk broke his team record by swimming 1:04.89 in the 100 yard breast stroke to advance to the finals. James Taylor (1:12.60) and John Harwell (1:12.59) both swam personal bests to qualify for the consolation heat.
The 400 freestyle relay team (Spehar, B. Heggerston, D. Willhite and Boo) had a season-best time of 3:38.27, placing fifth overall and qualifying for the championship heat.
In the Wednesday preliminaries, the swimmers established six team records. Of the 12 events in the prelims, 10 Wildcat individuals and two relay teams qualified for the finals in 11 different events.
Section Finals
Friday, February 25
"I was excited to see how the medley relay was going to lead us off, and they didn't disappoint," said Sauerbry. "They swam a jaw-dropping time of 1:44.28, placing second and qualifying for the state meet."
In the 200 freestyle, Boo (1:59.21) was eighth and Eagan finished 14th. (Four individuals qualify for state)
McGurk had a season-best 2:14.11 in the IM, placing sixth. Jokinen was 14th.
In the 50 freestyle, H. Heggerston swam another team record (22.34) to finish first and advance to state. "Hunter has been on the verge for breaking this record, but has had a minor flaw each time he has raced," the coach said. "This time, he put the whole thing together, a perfect start, breakout, turn and finish." Karwand finished 11th and D. Willhite 12th while bettering their Wednesday personal bests.
Roggemann finished third in the butterfly, dropping his time to another personal best to 58.82 and qualified for the state meet. D. Willhite was 11th and D. Donahue finished 14th, even though both established new personal bests.
H. Heggerston (49.73) placed fourth and qualified for state in the 100 freestyle. Boo finished in seventh place with 52.05.
Eagan finished 14th in the 500 freestyle.
The 200 freestyle relay team finished with another team record of 1:33.92 to qualify for state. "All four swimmers had under 24 second splits," said Sauerbry.
In the backstroke final, J. Donahue broke his team record in a time of 58.91, placing fourth to earn a trip to state. Lundberg finished 15th.
McGurk also broke his own record by going 1:03.88 in the breast stroke, placing third and earning a spot at state. Taylor was 13th and Harwell 16th.
The 400 freestyle relay team dropped their season-best time to 3:37.27 and placed seventh.
Over the two nights the Wildcats set seven new team records. Those record performances came in the medley relay, 200 freestyle, 50 freestyle, 100 freestyle, 200 freestyle relay, 100 backstroke, and the 100 breast stroke.
Qualifying For State
Medley Relay - John Donahue, Tom McGurk, Kevin Roggemann, and Hunter Heggerston
50 Free - Hunter Heggerston
Diving - Andy Willhite
100 Fly - Kevin Roggemann
100 Free - Hunter Heggerston
200 Free Relay - Steve Boo, Dave Willhite, Ethan Karwand, Hunter Heggerston
Back - John Donahue
Breast - Tom McGurk
"The smiles on the boys were priceless," concluded Sauerbry
The Wildcat swimmers and divers will compete at the State Meet at the U of M Aquatic Center. The diving preliminaries are scheduled to start at noon Thursday, March 1. Swimming prelims start at noon Friday, March 2. Finals for both begin at noon Saturday, March 3.
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