Winona at the 2009 Boy's MN State Swimming & Diving Finals

So Saturday came and the 2009 MN State Boy's Championships Finals were under way.

I talked with Coach Amy, Coach JJ and Kristina Kleinow in my bare feet. My socks and shoes were soaked from officiating on the pool bulkhead for the Class A meet. The flip turns and butterfly turns sent a lot of water my way. Ryan was pretty quiet. Once the meet was starting I saw Louie LaPorta had returned to watch along with Travis. After Diving I saw that Matt Papenfuss, former Winona swimmer now a member of the U of MN swim team, was with the team on the bleachers.

Ryan Whalen was seeded first in the 50 after bettering his Section seed time in the prelims. Looking at the results of the Consolation heat, it appeared that everyone had laid it all out on Friday trying to get into get into Saturday's Final. Although there was some jostling of final finish 9 - 16, not one swimmer bettered their time between prelims and the consolation swim.

The same could not be said for the 50 Fr Final. In that final heat, where all 8 swimmers were separated by 0.47 seconds, one swimmer bettered his time from prelims. Unfortunately it was the swimmer seeded second behind Ryan. The swimmer from Rosemount shaved an unbelievable 0.8 seconds off his prelim time to finish in 20.73. Ryan finished second, swimming an All American Consideration time of 21.45, gaining about the same amount of time that the other six swimmers in the Finals had gained. It was fun to see another Winona warm-up up on the awards podium (thinking back to last Fall's Girl's State Championships) and Ryan looked pleased and disappointed at the same time.

Championship Final

1 Devon Meeks 11 Rosemount 21.55 20.73 AAA

2 Ryan Whalen 11 Winona 21.27 21.45 AAC

3 Jake Hausauer 12 Minnetonka 21.59 21.65

3 Evan Lee-To 12 Minnetonka 21.64 21.65

5 David Stern 12 Rosemount 21.57 21.66

6 Travis Jensen 12 Burnsville 21.63 21.77

7 Dylan Hoven 10 Bemidji 21.66 21.87

8 Elliott Wilcox 11 Hastings 21.74 21.94

After the Diving, ( which was great, being from Winona I rarely get to watch diving and these were the final 16 divers so the diving was pretty good), we got to Ryan's other Final, the 100 FR.

Ryan had qualified 4th for the finals, dropping off 0.3 seconds from his Sections seed time. He was racing against the same swimmers as the earlier 50 FR, with the addition of the swimmer that had won the 200 FR earlier that evening. Here again, it was evident that most of the swimmers had extended themselves in prelims. Of the 8 swimmers in the final, six were slower in the final. The first and second seeds bettered their times. Ryan was in the lead at the 50, and then faded at the end. The finish order was almost identical to the seeding, except Ryan got touched out by 0.02 seconds, finishing fifth.

Championship Final Prelims Finals
1 Drew Johnson 11 Edina 46.03 45.15 AAA
21.89 23.26

2 Devon Meeks 11 Rosemount 46.74 45.44 AAA
21.66 23.78

3 Jake Hausauer 12 Minnetonka 47.01 47.38
22.64 24.74

4 Michael Bergstrom 12 Edina 47.38 47.51
22.84 24.67

5 Ryan Whalen 11 Winona 47.16 47.53
22.51 25.02

6 Tom Schultz 12 North St. Paul 47.32 47.58
22.76 24.82

7 George Philbin 12 Wayzata 47.93 48.27
23.24 25.03

8 Max Hubbard 11 Rosemount 47.91 48.47
23.34 25.13

Ryan got some good big meet experience. Many of the swimmers he was up against were also Juniors, so he knows who his competition is for next year.