Eight swimmers and divers take the plunge at state

Flying high from an impressive section meet, the Chisago Lakes boys swimming and diving state qualifiers ran into a bit of a plateau at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center last weekend.

“We definitely hit our peak at sections and at state they guys were just trying to hold their speed. We were nearly the same times at state as sections but to really do well at state, swimmers still need to drop more time,” Head Coach Mark Nordby said. “The state times were especially fast this year and we just didn't have anything left in the tank to drop more time.”

In the 200 medley relay, the team of Zach Halfen, James Falkowski, Riley Darling and Avery Turman qualified for consolation finals on the second day and finished in 11th place with a time of 1:42.69. “This relay started the year out barely below 1:50 so for these guys to place 11th was a nice accomplishment,” Nordby said after the meet.

In the 200 free relay, the quartet of Turman, Darling, Aaron Wiger and Jake Ewert narrowly missed qualifying for the second day with a 17th place finish in the prelims. Nordby went with a different order in the lineup, and it ended up not paying off with the results he had hoped for.

The Wildcats’ third relay team, the 400 free foursome of Turman, his younger brother Austin Turman, Wiger and Ewert actually broke the school record in the event with a time of 3:24.08, but because of the ultra-fast times at the state tourney, they didn’t even qualify for the second day, finishing in 18th place in the prelims.

In individual events, Ewert finished in 22nd in the individual medley race with a time of 2:10.58. “Jake gave it his all and dropped time from sections but just not enough,” Nordby said. “Jake is a tough swimmer and I know he's eyeing that IM record for next year.”

In the 100 butterfly, Riley Darling finished prelims in 55.84, putting him in 13th place and in the consolation finals. On the second day, he finished with a nearly identical time of 55.86, but he was pushed down to 15th place. “I know Riley was feeling a bit off from sections but he now has state meet experience and will be able to enjoy the trip next year,” Nordby explained of first trip jitters at the tourney. “Sometimes that first trip to state is a bit overwhelming and Riley had huge expectations for himself every time he swam and state was no different.”

Avery Turman placed 22nd in the 100 freestyle with a 49.99. The event was faster than normal. Nordby even pointed to the fact that just a couple years ago, then-CL senior Brody Heggerston made the top eight podium with a 49.39. “Like so many of the guys, Avery had a great time drop at sections and needed that to make state so for him to stay under 50 was pretty awesome,” Nordby said. I know he wanted to drop more time but he was instrumental in helping all three relays make state this year which was a great accomplishment for this team.”

In the 100 breaststroke, Falkowski finished in 14th place in the prelims and 15th place in the finals. He dropped a bit off his sections time with a 1:02.08 in prelims. “I knew James was not done dropping from sections as he'd had a little drop in time, but during prelims he blew his seed time away and took off two seconds. He was hoping to break the team record but came up a bit short. He'll get it next year,” Nordby said confidently.

In diving, Jake Doble made a remarkable recovery from a poor first round and ended up finishing in 11th place, the highest finish for any Wildcat at the state meet. After the first five dives, Doble was in 18th place out of 18 divers with a score of 112.15. During the semis, he jumped all the way to 13th with an impressive batch of three dives. He scored nearly as much in those three as he did in his first five, leaving him at 214.15 heading into the finals. In his last three dives, Doble continued his ascension and earned 11th place with a total of 308.20.

“That took a tremendous amount of grit on Doble's part to regroup from Thursday and move from last to 11th on Saturday,” Nordby remarked. “That's not easy to do the first time at state. Jake stayed positive and kept plugging away at it."

Although nobody placed at the state tourney, Nordby was beyond pleased with his team and their season. “As I previously stated, not too many swim programs can get all three relays to state, especially two years in a row nearly starting from scratch,” he said. “That took a tremendous focus and determination by this team and it kind of sums up our team motto, 'Next Man Up' and they did that this year.”