Wildcats fall to Spring Lake Park twice

Spring Lake Park 101, Chisago Lakes 82
Spring Lake Park really established themselves as favorites in the North Suburban Conference when they ran over the Wildcats last week, even though the ‘Cats had a great meet.

“I knew going into this dual meet that Spring Lake Park had a young, deep, fast team from last year and they really hadn’t graduated any swimmers and they lived up to that billing,” Head Coach Mark Nordby said. “We fought hard and had 31 personal or season best times but we just never were able to close the gap after the 200 free.”

The Panthers really stretched their lead out after finishing one-two-four in the 50 freestyle, leaving CL down 40-22. The closest the ‘Cats got to Spring Lake Park after that was 15 points. Two disqualifications in the 200 freestyle relay didn’t help their cause late, either. Despite the loss, Nordby still saw plenty of things to like in the pool.

“We had some guys with tremendous swims tonight including senior Aaron Wiger who had four personal bests. He’s one year removed from dislocating his patella and surgery, and now he’s zipping up and down the pool smashing his previous times. Aaron has worked extremely hard to get to this point,” he said. “Riley Darling also is a great competitor and set some personal bests in the 200 IM and 100 fly. He’s one of the fastest kickers on the team and it’s evident when he swims how fast he’s kicking.”

Nordby also noted that CL’s James Falkowski, who went to the state tournament last year in the breaststroke and has been crushing the field this year, got a good challenge from Sam Roden of SLP. “He’s used to winning by several seconds so it’s good that he’s challenged before we get to sections,” Nordby said. “I could see during the race that underwater is an area to work on, so James will be searching for more speed and distance off his walls.”

True Team Sections at Spring Lake Park The ‘Cats were right back at it again with Spring Lake Park less than 48 hours after competing against them in the conference dual. The Wildcats had a good day in the pool again, and approached the meet as a challenge instead of a foregone conclusion.

The Panthers still won the meet with 691 points, but Chisago Lakes trimmed the gap in some of the events, scoring 633 points and earning second place. “We had a pretty good day and I thought we closed the gap in several places and it’ll be interesting with four or five more weeks of training how we’ll match up against Spring Lake Park,” Nordby said.

The top three placewinners: 200 Medley Relay - Zach Halfen, James Falkowski, Riley Darling, Jake Ewert - Second place, 1:47.56 Jeff Hammer, Nathan Braski, Derek Frank, Aaron Wiger - Third place, 1:53.50 200 Individual Medley - Jake Ewert - second place, 2:12.53 Riley Darling - third place, 2:16.66 Diving 11 dives - Jacob Doble - second place, 348.60 100 Butterfly - Riley Darling - 2nd place, 57.87 100 Freestyle - Avery Turman - 3rd place, 53.12 200 Freestyle Relay - Second place - Avery Turman, Riley Darling, Aaron Wiger, Nathan Braski, 1:36.05 100 backstroke - Jake Ewert 2nd place, 1:01.06 100 breaststroke - James Falkowski Champion, 1:05.57 400 Freestyle Relay - Third place Avery Turman, Austin Turman, Zach Halfen, Jake Ewert, 3:39.60

“We have this next week off from competition so the guys already know that means cranking up the intensity and getting faster,” Nordby said after the true team meet. “Our goal now is to take the next five weeks, train hard and see what happens at sections.” The ‘Cats next meet is Tuesday, Jan. 29 at Robbinsdale Cooper at 5 p.m.