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With four out of the six state participants graduating this year, and all three of them participating in two events, the Chisago Lakes swimming and diving team wanted to send them out with one last hurrah.

Seniors Andy Willhite, Kevin Roggemann Brody Heggerston and John Harwell, along with underclassmen Ryan Smith and Alex Vitalis all earned trips to the state meet last weekend at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center.

Willhite was the first CL competitor to show off some of his skills honed in the community pool. The diving preliminaries were on Wednesday and Willhite put together a nice string of dives to earn sixth place after the first round of dives.

Although in sixth, Willhite's 219.25 left him well within reach of fifth place Jeff Meyer of Faribault. Meyer held on to a two-point lead with a score of 221.35. Fourth placed Andy Loesch of Spring Lake Park was also within reach at 231.30

Turner Eckstrom, Zach Small and Luke Weber started to distance themselves from the rest of the pack. Each had scored a 248 or above.

In the finals, Willhite leapfrogged Loesch, but remained stuck behind Meyer. He finished in fifth place in state with a score of 319.15 .

On the second day, the preliminaries began with Roggemann suiting up for the 100-yard butterfly.

Swimming in the final heat, Roggemann had an idea of the time he was going to need to advance. With his arms skipping out of the water like a flat rock and pushing himself to the limit, Roggemann notched a 57.09 finish. The time was just a shad off of his 56.90 he swam in sections, and that cost him dearly. His time left him in 17th place, one spot out of the consolation finals, ending his bid at and individual medal.

Heggerston took his place on the platform immediately after Roggemann was finished. With his long frame and huge wingspan, the 100-yard freestyle is Heggerston's ideal event. The senior finished his heat in a blaze, but then had to wait out two more heats to see if he qualified. After all three were completed, Heggerston snuck into the finals in eighth place. The 50.07 seconds that he finished in were a personal best for him, breaking his record he had set in sections by a half-second.

In the finals, Heggerston boosted his game another notch. He burned through the pool, keeping up with even the top competitors in the state. Although he trailed off a hint at the end, his 49.39 bumped him up to a seventh place finish, and another personal best in the event. Heggerston had saved his best for last.

Smith hopped in the pool next for the daunting 500-yard freestyle. The sophomore was a big long shot to make any noise with the top guns in the event, but he still managed to make waves among Chisago Lakes' elite. After setting a school record last week with a 5:20 in the event, Smith kept his momentum going and had his taper timed perfect. Although he ended up finishing in 20th place overall, he shaved another second off of the school record by finishing in 5:19.09.

Even though he knew he didn't qualify for the finals, Smith's smile stretched from ear to ear at the conclusion of his event once he realized he broke the school record again.

Harwell suffered the same fate as Roggemann had earlier in the day. Despite swimming a personal best 1:06.18 in the 100-yard breaststroke, Harwell finished in 17th place -- on the outside looking in on the consolation finals.

For both Roggemann and Harwell, the finishes were tough to take because they are seniors, but Roggemann had another shot in the 4x400 relay, the last race of the day. Alongside him were Willhite, Heggerston and sophomore Alex Vitalis.

Again, the boys were in the last heat of the day, so they knew what they were going to have to swim to move on. Throughout the race, the Wildcats maintained third position with a slim lead over the fourth place opposition. In the last leg, the Wildcats lost a place in the standings, but they still swam fast enough to qualify for consolation finals, finishing the race in 3:24.69, good enough for 11th place.

In the consolation finals, the quartet slowed down just a hint, and it cost them a place as the fell to 12th overall.

With Willhite, Heggerston, Harwell and Roggemann all bidding farewell to the program, the next few years will be crucial as Smith and Vitalis lead the new wave of Wildcats on their way to the state tournaments of the future.

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