Winhawks continue to improve right through Big 9 takign 5th.

Last Saturday the Winona Winhawks went to Albert Lea to compete in the Big 9 Championships. If you are a Winona Daily News reader, that and the fact they got 5th place is about all you get to know.


If you were fortunate enough to go watch or are a reader of this blog, then you get to know much more about the great contest that took place. Winona had some excellent swims and got to flex their muscle a little bit.

Their 5th place finish meant they reasserted their wins over Albert Lea and Rochester John Marshall. They found out where they stood against Austin, the meet that weather cancelled and was not made up. They finished ahead of Austin but not by much. It would have been a GREAT dual meet to watch, too bad it did not happen. The Winhawks got some revenge, finishing ahead of Owatonna after dropping the dual meet to the Huskies. As the two will meet each other again at the Section 1AA Championships, they get one more shot at bragging rights.

The 200 Free Relay got things off to a roaring start. The Winhawk relay of Sr. Co-Captain Ryan Whalen, Sr. Santino LaPorta, 8t hGr. Roger Brosnahan, and Jr. Louie LaPorta bettered their 3rd seed with a 2+ second drop. Whalen jumped out to a big lead with his lead-off backstroke. Santino swam solid handing the lead to Brosnahan. The rookie 8th grader held his ground against a SR flyer leaving Louie LaPorta to battle the star sprinter from Mankato West. Louie held him off until the end and was just touched out to score the Winhawks an exciting 2nd place finish.

The 200 Freestyle has provided the Winhawks a big hurdle this season as it is one of the most hotly contested races in the conference and Big 9 did not disappoint. A pool record was set in the final heat by the swimmer from Century. Winhawk Sr. Co-Captain Josh Danzinger swam his seed time and So. Joey Kleinow had a full 2 second drop moving himself up 5 spots in the final standings. Season best times were posted by the rest of eth Winhawks, 8th Gr. Alex Vaslow (8 seconds), Avery Prondzinski and Gio Borsari.

The 200 IM was another tough race for the Winhawks all season with tough competition every week. Drivng that point home, the 2nd seed won with a new pool record with 2nd place ALSO breaking the former pool record. Top Winhawk seed 8th Gr. Cal Dretske swam tough staying in that spot. Sr. Matt Bagshaw swam his 5th consecutive season best.

The 50 Freestyle is one of those exacting races where even small factors have a major impact. Winhawk Sr. Co-captain Ryan Whalen won with a half a second of breathing room. 8th grader Roger Brosnahan lopped off 0.3 seconds on his season best improving on his 12th seed to finish 8th. Also setting a season best Jr. Louie LaPorta moved up on his seed as did Sr. Jonathan Birdsall.

The One Meter Diving at Big 9 is an 11 dive event vs the 6 they throw in dual meets. There is typically only one maybe two 11 dive meets prior to Big 9 so this is really a test for the entire field. With 23 divers participating a single round takes awhile. Diving can be 40% physical and 60% mental so it is a long time between dives to stay mentally sharp and focused while staying loose for your next dive. Winhawk divers Jr. Justin Bublitz, Jr. Stan Petkov and So. Dan Karnick arose VERY early Saturday AM to get to Albert Lea for warm-ups. The Preliminary and semifinal rounds take place prior to any swimmers arriving so as to not unnecessarily add time to the meet. Their were 23 divers to start so the semifinals whittled the field down to 16 divers for finals. All three Winhawk divers, made the cut. Justin was in 4th, Stan was in 15th and Dan was in 16th. Diving is one of those sports where you know little until the end. Variables at play include their routines or dive order. Divers tend to have favorite “honey dives” they stick at certain spots. Dives have degrees of difficulty so scores and places between divers can vary wildly based on what order they do their dives in. Some divers “throw” their best dives eaarly on their list to improve their odds of making the finals. Others look to make Finals on the consistancy of their early dives and plan to score major points and psycologically effect their competition in Finals. The latter is the strategy employed by the Winhawk contingent. Justin saved for Finals a Forward 1 ½ SS with 1 Twist, Free position a 2.2 degree of difficulty (DD), a Forward 1 ½ ss pike position and a Forward 2 ½ ss in pike position, DD 2.6. Dan threw an Inward 1 ½ ss Tuck position, a Forward 2 ss in Tuck position and a Forward 1 ½ ss 1 Twist in Free position, all 2.2 in DD. Stan finished with a Reverse 2 somersaults in tuck position, 2.3 DD. A Forward 1 ½ ss pike and a Forward 2 ½ ss Tuck with a 2.4 DD. In the end, Justin was able to battle the leaders to maintain his 4th place. Stan was able to score well and move up 3 spots for a 12th place finish. Dan held his ground in 16th. The winning diver from John Marshall kept the day’s theme alive setting a pool record.

The 100 Butterfly has been a two Winhawk show all season long. A grueling 100 yds, Sr. Matt Bagshaw has been the team workhorse here and 8th Gr Roger Brosnahan joined him part way into the season. Matt swam steady maintaining his seeding and Roger picked it up a bit moving up one to finish a solid 7th.

The 100 Free is the other speed event and it did not disappoint. Every Winhawk entered swam his best 100 Freestyle event of the season. Both Alex Kine and Gio Borsari had awesome swims going side by side driving each other to go sub one minute and moving up 10 places in the standings. The next heat saw So. Joey Kleinow drop a half second to move up five spots in the standings. Lastly Sr. Co-Captain Ryan Whalen seeded 1st swam a 48.69 to win just 9 1/100ths off the pool record.

The 500 Freestyle had 8th Grader Alex Vaslow swimming his seed and Sr. Co-Captain Josh Danzinger moving up a spot to finish in the top 8.

The 200 Free Relay had Winhawks L. LaPorta, Birdsall, Whalen and Brosnahan move up one spot to finish 5th with their fastest of the year.

The 100 Backstroke is a building event for the Winhawks wit hall competitors being underclassmen. All showed great improvement, Jr. Gio Borsari dropped over 3 seconds to move up 4 spots. So Avery Prondzinski seeded 16th swam his best of the season as well moving up to 13th.

The 100 Breaststroke saw 9th Gr Mic Borsari improve yet again picking up 3 spots from his seed. Sr. Jonathan Birdsall swam his best of the season to score his seed and 8th Gr Cal Dretske swam to a 12th place finish.

The 400 Free Relay, not a strong suit for the Winhawks, still saw improvement. Seeded 9th the Winhawk team of Prondzinski, Kleinow, L. LaPorta, and Danzinger move up a spot to 8th.

Congratulations Winhawks on a great Big 9!