Winhawks head to Section1AA Championships with an eye on State.

So the time has come. Getting to the pinnacle in high school swimming is three step process. The first step is the longest. Three months of two-a-day workouts, eight dual meets, three invitationals and a conference championships. Step two is the Section 1AA Swimming & Diving Preliminaries. You have to prepare yourself to swim fast enough to get to the Finals. Step three is two days later at the Section 1AA Finals itself. Swimming & Diving is a quirky sport, where the dual meet and invite records and times mean absolutely nothing with regards to State meet advancement. While definite building blocks, they are all, workouts and meets alike, an investment in qualifying for the trip to the U of M Aquatic Center to take on the best in the state.


There are two ways to advance to the State meet. Finish first or second in the Section Swimming Finals or finish a top four place in Section Diving Finals. You can also advance to State if you swim a qualifying standard time during Finals of the Section meet. Qualifying standards can be found at: http://www.mshsl.org/mshsl/sports/SW2009-10Standards.pdf?ne=2

There is a bit of a different line-up between Big 9 and Sections. Gone are the Mankatos (East & West), Albert Lea, Faribault and Austin. Included from the north are Farmington, Hastings, and Northfield.

Section 1AA Line-up
Farmington High School
Hastings High School
Northfield High School
Owatonna High School
Rochester Century High School
Rochester Mayo High School
Coop: 376 "Rochester John Marshall"
Rochester John Marshall (HOST)
Rochester Lourdes High School
Coop: 490 "Winona Winhawks"
Cotter High School
Winona High School (HOST)

Right now, the 200 Medley Relay is looking good to make it to State. The team of Sr. Co-Captain Ryan Whalen, Sr. Santino LaPorta, 8th Grader Roger Brosnahan and Jr. Louis LaPorta swam a 1:44.93 placing 2nd only 3 10ths out of first at the Big 9 meet. They were 3 seconds ahead of Rochester Century and winner Mankato is elsewhere for Sections. The boys are also just 2 seconds off the State Qualifying time of 1:42.65.

Look for Ryan Whalen to repeat his performance of last year and earn himself a place at the State meet in both the 50 &100 Freestyle.

Winhawk Diver Justin Bublitz has a great opportunity to earn his first trip to State. Finishing 4th at Big 9, a solid performance may punch his ticket to the State Championships.

The 200 Free Relay has an outside chance with 4+ seconds needing to be trimmed to meet the State qualifying time.