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Cambridge-Isanti 98, Chisago Lakes 86

In a sport like swimming, depth can make or break a whole meet. It doesn't matter how good the top swimmers on a team are if the rest of the paddlers can't match the other squad.

The Chisago Lakes boys swimming and diving team ran into a deep Cambridge-Isanti team on Tuesday, Jan. 13, and they learned quickly that it was going to be a tough night.

After a second place finish in the meet-opening 200-yard medley relay by the quartet of Dave Donahue, John Harwell, Kevin Roggemann and Andy Willhite, the Wildcats earned their first substantial points of the meet in the second event.

Brody Heggerston finished the 200-yard freestyle swim in first place with a time of 1:57.31. Ryan Smith clocked in right behind him in second place with a time of 2:00.04. Heggerston's time was a personal record for him, and less than one second off of the all-time CL record. Smith's time was also a personal best for him.

The 10 points earned pulled them to within two points of the Bluejackets, but it was the closest they would come to a lead.

Their next first place didn't come until the fifth event. In diving, Willhite flaunted his diving skills and crushed the competition for the win. Willhite nailed his six dives, earning a 246.70. To put into perspective how well the senior dived, the second place finisher, Zach Steward of C-I, finished with 144.30, more than 100 points behind Willhite. "Andy had a big diving night," Head Coach Mark Nordby stated.

Roggemann followed Willhite's dives with a first place finish in the 100-yard butterfly. He finished in 1:00.70.

Smith nearly dropped a Chisago Lakes' record in the 500-yard freestyle when he swam a 5:25.21. The time earned him first place and left him just five hundreths of a second off the school record.

The Wildcats got their last win of the night in the 200 freestyle relay. The foursome of Heggerston, Willhite, Alex Vitalis and Roggemann finished the race in 1:38.41.

"The team gave it a great effort, but we just couldn't match the depth that Cambridge had," Nordby explained. "They outscored us by just a few points in each event, and we couldn't overcome it."

Although they dropped the non-conference meet, Nordby still saw plenty of positives in the guys' swims. "We have several either season best or personal best times, which is pretty encouraging," he said. "We haven't backed down on our training."

Chisago Lakes 93, Columbia Heights 73

The Wildcats utterly dominated their North Suburban Conference match up with the Hylanders.

The only reason the Wildcats only won by 20 is because they swam the last four events in exhibition. That meant that the guys still swam to get times in, but they were placing, and Heights was collecting all the points. Before they went into exhibition mode, the 'Cats were winning by a whopping margin of 93-26.

"This was a meet we could really switch the lineup around," Nordby noted. "I think the guys like being able to try new events and take a mental and physical break from their usual events."

Chisago Lakes earned first place in every event. It started with the foursome of Donahue, Willhite, Doran Willis and Vitalis finishing the 200-medley relay in 1:56.97.

In the 200 freestyle, Harwell, Matt Mattson and Rob Bjornson went one-two-three. The real battle was between Harwell and Mattson as Harwell earned first with a 2:10.35. Mattson was just a hair behind him with a 2:10.77. Harwell's time shaved seven seconds off of his best time from last year.

Roggemann and Smith went one-two in the 200 individual medley, followed by Vitalis and Willis earning a one-two in the 50 freestyle.

Willhite sat out the diving portion since Heights doesn't even field a diving team, so Mitch Gebauer and Joey Eikens finished one-two in the dives.

The domination continued after the diving, as Heggerston and Donahue finished one-two in the 100 butterfly.

In the 100 freestyle, Smith, Roggemann and Vitalis earned a one-two-three finish.

Mattson earned his first varsity win in the 500 freestyle with a 5:53.59. Harwell earned a second place finish with a 6:11.15.

Even though after the 500, the Wildcats moved to exhibition, so they weren't actually scoring points, they still kept taking first places left and right.

Willhite, Smith, Mattson and Harwell earned a first place in the 200 freestyle relay with a 1:44.56.

Heggerston earned his second win of the night in the 100 backstroke with a time of 1:02.06.

In the 100 breaststroke, Willhite, who had never swam the event, won with a 1:12.93, which puts him at fourth overall in the conference in terms of time. Eighth-grader Avery Turman finished in second place in 1:15.50.

The Wildcats closed out the drubbing with a win in the 400-freestyle relay by the team of Mattson, Harwell, Willhite and Heggerston. The group finished the swim in 3:49.82.

"This week we'll keep up the hard training before our meet with Robbinsdale Cooper," Nordby said. "It's sometimes tough to train hard and not let up before meets, but we have to train that way in order to have the big time drops at the end of the season."

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