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The Wildcat boys' swim/dive team completed its season with an awards banquet Monday, March 10. Conference, team and state awards and honors were announced at the banquet.

NSC All-Conference:

Tom McGurk

Jake Spehar

Andy Willhite

Ethan Karwand

Kevin Roggemann

Alex Lundberg

NSC Honorable Mention

John Harwell

All-State

200 Medley Relay - 7th Place

Alex Lundberg

Tom McGurk

Kevin Roggemann

Andy Willhite

Diving 5th Place

Andy Willhite

100 Breaststroke 5th Place

Tom McGurk

New Wildcat Team Records

200 Medley Relay 1:42.03

Alex Lundberg 27.37

Tom McGurk 27.27

Kevin Roggemann 24.56

Andy Willhite 22.88

200 Free Relay 1:33.45

Brody Heggerston23.86

Andy Willhite 23.36

Jake Spehar 23.01

Kevin Roggemann23.22

400 Free Relay 3:31.22

Brody Heggerston53.31

Jake Spehar 52.34

Ethan Karwand 52.82

Kevin Roggemann52.75

200 IM 2:08.03

Tom McGurk

100 Breaststroke 1:01.60

Tom McGurk

New Chisago Lakes

Pool Records

200 IM 2:13.02

Tom McGurk

100 Breaststroke 1:04.04

Tom McGurk

Looking back at the 2007-08 season, head coach Mark Nordby said, "It's always great having a banquet and celebrating a successful season. But, at the same time though, it's tough to say goodbye to the seniors. This group of seniors has been a big part of the successes of this team and previous teams so they will be missed."

Team Awards/

Coach's Comments

The Wildcat Team Award: Senior Jack Linehan for his dedication to team goals, support of other swimmers, and excellent work ethic.

Jack always trained hard and supported all team members. He really captured the ideals of what being on a team is all about.

Team Captains: At midseason, seniors Andrew Jokinen and Tom McGurk were voted team captains by their teammates for their leadership abilities.

Tom always led by example and brought an intensity to every practice. Andrew 'Ohio' was more of the vocal leader and always got the guys pumped up in meets.

Most Valuable Swimmer Award: Senior Tom McGurk.

Tom was our 'Go-to Guy' all season and could always be counted on for valuable points in any meet we swam in.

Most Improved Swimmer Award: Junior John Harwell.

John put together a great season and worked so hard each day to achieve his goals.

Rookie Award: Seventh Grader Avery Turman.

Avery has a lot of potential and will be a swimmer to watch down the road.

Looking forward, Nordby is confident that the talent level on next year's team will remain high as the junior class takes over leadership roles.

We'll have a great group of seniors next year in Roggemann, Willhite and Heggerston that competed at the state meet in relay and individual events. Also juniors David Donahue, Cody Gralish, John Harwell, Clinton LaGrander, Steve Larsen and Joe Birkholz were consistent varsity swimmers who will be ready to help lead this team.

"I think our sprints will be even faster next year, now that the guys understand my training methods and what I am looking for everyday in practice. In the pool and weightroom, 'Citius, Altius, Fortius' became our mantra," Nordby said.

Along with next year's seniors, Coach Nordby is looking for big things from next year's sophomores. "This year's freshman class really stepped up. These guys swam some really solid varsity times. This will be an exciting class to watch," the coach added

Coach Nordby reflected after his first season at Chisago Lakes. "This season was a great journey. We ended up at the section and state meets accomplishing many of the goals we had set in the beginning. I told the guys at the banquet that, more important than the final destination, was getting out the map and together deciding where they wanted the team to go. The journey should be the real focus of the season."

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