March 10, 2016 at 12:22 p.m.
Jacob Carlson podiums as seven CL swimmers compete at state tournament
Jacob Carlson podiums as seven CL swimmers compete at state tournament
200 Individual Medley:
Derek Frank swam very well. He came in seeded 13th. His time wasn't quite what it was in section finals, but he had one heck of a great race that day. At our section meet, he was in an all-out battle with Kaleb Bissonette from Grand Rapids for 1st place. It is hard to get up for a race more than that. Derek swam well and wound up seeded 15th, thus allowing him to swim again at finals. He held his spot in finals with a 15th place finish.
200 Freestyle:
Austin Turman has made this his signature event over his storied career as a wildcat swimmer. He essentially sprinted the whole thing at sections. At state, he was a little more true to to his typical style of getting a solid start and hanging on strong for the rest. He didn't quite match his time from section finals. He came in seeded 20th, and finished in the same spot. It was so fun to watch him compete in his signature race one more time with the best swimmers in the state. Austin is a passionate and fearless swimmer who gives his absolute all in everything he does.
Diving:
Jacob Carlson battled pneumonia all week, including the days of the state meet. It was fun to see him dive one last time, but he never quite hit his form that I know he is capable of. He is one of the very top divers in the state. At full strength, he would be among the top few fighting for the state championship. Even with a tough illness, he was able to be in 11th after prelims and semi finals. He dove three great dives at finals and jumped up to eighth place, earning our only All-State honor this year. That is a true testament to his abilities. No matter what the circumstances, Jacob earned his place among the elite divers in Minnesota. He is such a rare talent that he is a very good diver AND a talented swimmer.
100 Butterfly:
Derek Frank shone again in this event. Derek is so diversely talented. This year was his second year qualifying for state in the 200 IM and it was great to see him qualify in the 100 fly as well. He has really become a great butterflyer and has a beautiful and natural stroke. He swam into 16th place and competed again at finals on Saturday.
In the finals, Derek cut .04 seconds from his prelims time and held his place of 16th. It was a great way to watch Derek finish off his individual career as a Wildcat.
500 Freestyle:
This has been an event that Austin has traditionally done well in. From the very beginning of the season, Austin was determined to compete in the 500 as one of his top events. He did so quite expertly! He swam as our top distance swimmer all year and won the event at our section meet, earning his place at state. Holding a taper is tough to do for distance swimmers and a bit easier for sprinters. Austin has been (and is) a great sprinter on our relays, but seems to get faster as the distance gets longer. This is a rare and great attribute among swimmers. He is truly our freestyle ironman.
200 Freestyle Relay:
This team of swimmers has remained largely unchanged for the second half of the season. Three of them on this relay have swam this event at state multiple times. We have a great sprinting tradition at Chisago Lakes and have had a 200 free relay at for several years n a row. The team of Derek Frank, Alex Sagendorf, Austin Turman, and Jacob Carlson haven't even changed their order in about two months. This all senior team has really got some familiar chemistry together and swam very well as a group.
At prelims, they shaved even more time off their section final time that earned them second place (only behind Eveleth Gilbert). Their time from section finals was 1:32.46, and they went MUCH faster at state prelims registering a time of 1:31.07 and jumping up from 17th place to 14th place. This earned them a spot in the top 16 who would swim at finals. The time drop came from each of them, but a BIG drop came from Alex Sagendorf who swam about a second faster at state than he did at sections!
In the finals, they cut EVEN MORE time from both their section finals time AND their state prelims time. They went a blazing 1:30.83 and jumped up from 14th to 12th place. This is a very tightly seeded event, and jumping up at all is a great achievement. I think they were more rested from Austin not swimming his individual events, as well as all of them having that x-factor of knowing that they are swimming their last race ever as Wildcats. I think they found a great way to give it their all and cap off a great year as a group of seniors.
100 Breaststroke:
This was the only event that we had two individuals entered in. Senior Matt Braun and junior Josh Falkowski BOTH dropped time from their section finals performance. Matt dropped about a quarter of a second, while Josh dropped almost three full seconds. In the world of swimming, this is a HUGE time drop and it was very exciting to see Josh end his season on such a high note!
400 Freestyle Relay:
The team that eventually qualified for state and swam was Derek Frank, our consistent lead off with great details like starts, turns, and finishes, Sam Gustafson, the second year swimmer who has improved greatly throughout the year, Matt Braun, a senior breaststroker with sprint experience from other state relays, and Austin Turman, our anchor and freestyle expert.
They eventually ended up in 18th place, just missing finals. They swam a bit slower than sections, but they still finished their season off on a high note among the best in the state.
With that said, we finished 22nd overall, a few spots down from last year's 15th place, but it was great season. We won our first ever team section championship and sent a huge crew to state as we have done the past few years. I hate to look ahead too much. I like to just enjoy the moment with each class of seniors and each team. They each have their own identity and the uniqueness of each group makes it really fun to be around them. This particular team led by example and gave their very best in the pool each day. This class of seniors will surely be missed.
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