February 24, 2016 at 1:20 p.m.
Swimmers heading into sections looking strong after great season
Swimmers heading into sections looking strong after great season
Their success in the dual meet season has been mixed, but that’s a result of being in an ultra tough Mississippi 8 Conference. They beat Princeton 96-85 on January 21, but fell to both Monticello and St. Michael-Albertville in January. Those two schools have long been the class of the M8C.
“Our conference has been tough, as it usually is, but we have had great swims, despite not winning every meet. We lost to Monticello, Buffalo, and STMA, and we beat Cambridge and Princeton. These are the same teams that we have won and lost against for the past few years,” Head Coach Brian McNally explained. “It is a great conference to be a part of since the talent is so great. We are really able to challenge ourselves throughout the season.”
The ‘Cats also had a wildly dramatic win over the Fridley Tigers on their resume from this year. Chisago Lakes held a one point lead going into the last event and since the relay scoring is done in the 8-4-2 format, whoever got first in the relay would win the meet. Not only did Chisago Lakes win the relay, they got second also to secure the big win.
“It was a great meet to push our guys to the limit and we have had some great challenges against Fridley over the years. They are a classy bunch,” McNally said.
At the team invites, where Chisago Lakes can really show off their depth, the ‘Cats have done well.
They finished in second place at the M8C Conference meet with 305 points, behind first place St. Michael-Albertville. They just barely edged Princeton, who came in third place.
At the true team section meet, they just barely missed out on a chance to go to True Team State. The ‘Cats compiled 1,662 points at the meet while Grand Rapids scored 1,714 points. The Thunderhawks will be Chisago Lakes’ main competition in sections this weekend.
“In our invites, we swam many of our fastest times and all of our relays had top times for the year. Our guys challenged themselves and got in the zone for some good competition,” the head coach said. “It has been a GREAT season thus far. We really have a great group of seniors. They will surely be missed after this year. We have 17 people headed to sections this week at Grand Rapids. about half of them are seniors. It will be a fun section meet, but our future will be very different without them around. I am trying to not look ahead at all but just focus on the present. As far as our section meet goes, I think it will be a close battle between us and Grand Rapids for the top spot. I am hopeful that we will win it, and we are in a good position to do so, but you can never count your points until they are earned. We have finished second at sections for quite a few years, and we won it about five years ago. It should be a fun shot to get back to the top of the section, where we want to be as a team. We are looking at sending a few relays and several individuals to the state meet.”
The swimmers and divers that have really helped carry the Wildcats this year have been Austin Turman, Derek Frank, Josh Falkowski, Phil LaPlante, Jacob Carlson, Matthew Braun, Ethan Harris and Alex Sagendorf. All of them have a shot at participating in the state tournament as either individuals or as part of a relay team.
Sections prelims will be held on Thursday, February 25 at Grand Rapids with finals taking place at the Thunderhawk pool on Saturday, February 27. The state tournament is March 3-5 at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center.
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