College swimming wrapping up

First and foremost, congratulations to the University of Minnesota Gopher Women on their 12th place finish at NCAA Nationals!

You can read about it at: http://www.gophersports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=38544&SPID=3272&DB_OEM_ID=8400&ATCLID=204912719

4 Individual Gophers and two relays earned All American Honors and Kelci Bryant earned a national title in the 3-meter springboard diving after finishing 2nd in the 1 meter diving event. Bryant is the second NCAA Champion in Gopher Women’s swimming history.


2010 Gopher All-Americans
Kelci Bryant, 1-meter, 3-meter#
400-medley relay (Whitehead, Tyler, Jamison, Eggers)
Jillian Tyler, 100 breaststroke
Haley Spencer, 100 breaststroke, 200 breaststroke
800 free relay (Whitehead, Braun, Steenvoorden, Davies)
Ashley Steenvoorden, 1,650 free


As I am writing the Minnesota Gopher Men are competing in their NCAA Championships.

The Championships were delayed for 24 hours after a large contingent of the swimmers contracted a gastrointestinal virus.


You can go to www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com for live stats or http://www.ncaa.com/sports/m-swim/champpage/m-swim-div1-index.html?SPID=0&DB_OEM_ID=17300 for live streaming and event results. Preliims are at 12 EST / 11 CST and finals at 7 EST/ 6 CST.

Eight Gopher swimmers and two gopher divers have qualified for the 2010 NCAA Championships. Dennis Dale, after coaching his team to 3rd at the Big Ten Championships, looks to finishing in the top 15 teams for the 19th straight time. Quality swims and diving points could net them a seventh top 10 placing in the last 10 years. Minnesota placed 11th last year with All American swims from all five relays.

2010 MYAS Midwest Regional Swim Meet

This weekend the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center sees its last BIG meet of the Winter Season. The 2010 MYAS Midwest Regional Swim Meet takes place on Saturday & Sunday. The U of M will be host to 1,200 swimmers from as far away as Nebraska, Iowa and Illinois as well as the usual MN, WI, ND, and SD swimmers.

MYAS is a qualifying standard based meet in a limed finals format. Two sessions (a boys and a girls in each pool) morning and afternoon each day.

The Winona Winfins that have qualified for the MYAS Regionals include:

Morgan Drazkowski (8)
#33 Girls 8 & Under 25 Fly – 20.67Y
#39 Girls 8 & Under 25 Free – 15.82Y
#51 Girls 8 & Under 50 Back – 45.69Y
#67 Girls 8 & Under 50 Free – 36.14Y
#73 Girls 8 & Under 100 IM – 1:40.23Y
#113 Girls 8 & Under 25 Back – 20.78Y
#135 Girls 8 & Under 100 Free – 1:25.49Y

Natalie Marg (8)
#39 Girls 8 & Under 25 Free – 17.91Y
#57 Girls 8 & Under 25 Breast – 23.86Y
#67 Girls 8 & Under 50 Free – 43.82Y
#113 Girls 8 & Under 25 Back – 20.61Y

Thea May (8)
#39 Girls 8 & Under 25 Free – 16.97Y
#51 Girls 8 & Under 50 Back – 42.76Y
#67 Girls 8 & Under 50 Free – 38.95Y
#113 Girls 8 & Under 25 Back – 18.50Y
#135 Girls 8 & Under 100 Free – 1:34.27Y

Tony Coudron (8)
#68 Boys 8 & Under 50 Free – 39.17Y
#114 Boys 8 & Under 25 Back – 21.85Y

Tanner Lozenski (8)
#68 Boys 8 & Under 50 Free – 38.46Y

Harper O’Neill (9)
#99 Girls 9 & 10 50 Fly – 38.36Y

Alex Arnold (11)
#7 Girls 11-12 200 Medley Relay
#15 Girls 11-12 100 IM – 1:18.69Y
#19 Girls 11-12 50 Free – 30.90Y
#85 Girls 11-12 200 Free Relay
#105 Girls 11-12 100 Free – 1:07.94Y

Hanna O’Neill (11)
#3 Girls 11-12 200 Free – 2:21.61Y
#7 Girls 11-12 200 Medley Relay
#11 Girls 11-12 50 Back – 36.17Y
#15 Girls 11-12 100 IM – 1:17.36Y
#19 Girls 11-12 50 Free – 30.39Y
#23 Girls 11-12 100 Fly – 1:18.87Y
#85 Girls 11-12 200 Free Relay
#101 Girls 11-12 50 Fly – 31.60Y
#105 Girls 11-12 100 Free – 1:05.63Y

Nina Sugaya (11)
#7 Girls 11-12 200 Medley Relay
#85 Girls 11-12 200 Free Relay
#93 Girls 11-12 50 Breast – 40.54Y

Morgan Whyte (12)
#3 Girls 11-12 200 Free – 2:20.80Y
#7 Girls 11-12 200 Medley Relay
#11 Girls 11-12 50 Back – 32.16Y
#19 Girls 11-12 50 Free – 30.39Y
#31 Girls 11-12 500 Free – 6:13.80Y
#85 Girls 11-12 200 Free Relay
#97 Girls 11-12 100 Back – 1:09.72Y
#101 Girls 11-12 50 Fly – 35.07Y
#105 Girls 11-12 100 Free – 1:02.60Y

Haley O’Neill (13)
#53 Girls 13-14 100 Back – 1:13.07Y
#69 Girls 13-14 50 Free – 27.42Y
#137 Girls 13-14 100 Free – 59.97Y

Alexandra Zuelke (14)
#41 Girls 13-14 200 Free – 2:09.10Y
#69 Girls 13-14 50 Free – 25.37Y
#75 Girls 13-14 200 IM – 2:25.06Y
#121 Girls 13-14 100 Fly – 1:05.03Y
#127 Girls 13-14 100 Breast – 1:10.87Y
#137 Girls 13-14 100 Free – 56.55Y

Roger Brosnahan (13)
#42 Boys 13-14 200 Free – 2:07.83Y
#54 Boys 13-14 100 Back – 1:04.39Y
#70 Boys 13-14 50 Free – 23.82Y
#76 Boys 13-14 200 IM – 2:31.19Y
#122 Boys 13-14 100 Fly – 1:00.28Y
#138 Boys 13-14 100 Free – 53.99Y

Calvin Dretske (13)
#70 Boys 13-14 50 Free – 27.39Y
#76 Boys 13-14 200 IM – 2:27.78Y
#128 Boys 13-14 100 Breast – 1:16.19Y
#138 Boys 13-14 100 Free – 1:01.07Y

Mackenzie Brosnahan (15)
#43 Girls 15-18 200 Free – 2:00.53Y
#55 Girls 15-18 100 Back – 1:04.78Y
#71 Girls 15-18 50 Free – 24.39Y
#77 Girls 15-18 200 IM – 2:21.70Y
#123 Girls 15-18 100 Fly – 1:03.59Y
#129 Girls 15-18 100 Breast – 1:14.90Y
#139 Girls 15-18 100 Free – 53.42Y

Grace Ell (15)
#43 Girls 15-18 200 Free – 2:16.89Y
#71 Girls 15-18 50 Free – 29.75Y

Josh Danzinger (17)
#44 Boys 15-18 200 Free – 2:05.79Y
#62 Boys 15-18 200 Breast – 2:38.93Y
#72 Boys 15-18 50 Free – 24.73Y
#82 Boys 15-18 500 Free – 5:36.97Y
#130 Boys 15-18 100 Breast – 1:12.23Y
#140 Boys 15-18 100 Free – 56.44Y
#146 Boys 15-18 400 IM – 5:07.49Y

Zach Gendreau (18)
#44 Boys 15-18 200 Free – 2:09.02Y
#72 Boys 15-18 50 Free – 25.49Y
#140 Boys 15-18 100 Free – 56.48Y

MacKenzie Brosnahan sets a new State Age Group record at the Minnesota Senior State Championships

From March 11 – 14th 2010 at the Minnesota Senior State Championships, records continue to fall in spite of the switch back to more conventional racing suits.


Winonans that qualified and were competing included Winona Wizards swimmer Reese Galewski in the Girls 13-14 100 Yard Butterfly as well as the Brosnahan phenoms MacKenzie and Roger swimming unattached.

Congratulations go out to MacKenzie Brosnahan for smashing a State age group record in the Girls 15-16 50 Yard Freestyle! Read about it below!

The State Seniors is a prelim-finals format meet. So they seed all entrants in an event regardless of age to swim in the prelims. They take the prelim results and sort them out into the age brackets, 13-14, 15-16 and Senior.

Reese led out the competition on Friday with her 100 butterfly prelim. Reese qualified on the strength of her 1:03.05 swim at the ABC Finals in Richfield. It was a tough field with a number of 14 year olds to chase after. Reese came close to matching that and finished just outside of the evening finals but still the 8th fastest 13 year old at State. To her credit the swimming was quick with the eventual evening winner smashing a 30 year old record!

Event 27 Girls 13-14 100 Yard Butterfly
MN State Rec: * 57.31 1980 Amy Reed, SPSC
Meet Qualifying 13-14: 1:04.99
Name Age Team Prelims Finals
20 Galewski, Reese 13 WIN-MN 1:03.77
29.36 1:03.77 (34.41)

The Brosnahans, MacKenzie & Roger, were qualified in multiple events over the three days. MacKenzie saw competition in the 100 Butterfly, the 50 Freestyle, 200 IM, 200 Freestyle, 100 Freestyle, and 100 IM.

Roger was in the water for the 100 Butterfly, 50 Freestyle and the 100 Freestyle.

Leading out, MacKenzie swam the 100 BF and finished 18th outside of the cut for evening finals.

Event 27 Women 15-16 100 Yard Butterfly
MN State Rec: * 55.58 2002 Katie Braun, FOXJ
Meet Qualifying 15-16: 1:03.59
Name Age Team Prelims Finals Pts
18 Brosnahan, Mackenzie 15 UN-MN-MN 1:02.03
28.05 1:02.03 (33.98)

Next up was Roger in his 100 Butterfly and he touches in the 10th spot qualifying for evening finals. In the Final, he drops some additional time but finishes 11th after a swimmer from the Aquajets drops 2 1/2 seconds to post the 4th fastest time but can do no better than 9th.

Event 30 Men 13-14 100 Yard Butterfly
MN State Rec: * 52.05 1991 Tom Malchow, STAR
Meet Qualifying 13-14: 1:00.29
Name Age Team Prelims Finals
11 Brosnahan, Roger 14 UN-MN-MN 57.29 57.22 6
25.92 57.22 (31.30)

MacKenzie entered her 50 Freestyle seeded first by the narrowest of margins. When the water smoothed out she was the top seed for the evening finals with her familiar nemesis Caitlin Fujan next to her. That evening in the finals MacKenzie set herself apart winning by a large 0.2 seconds (an eternity in the 50 free) and SMASHING the 7 year old age group record formerly held by now Assistant Coach and 4 time Big Ten, 4 time All-American standout Minnesota Gopher Swimmer Jenny Shaughnessy.  Congrats MacKenzie!

Event 33 Women 15-16 50 Yard Freestyle
MN State Rec: * 24.55 3/22/2003 Jenny A Shaughnessy, Med-City
Meet Qualifying 15-16: 26.89
Name Age Team Prelims Finals
=== A - Final ===
1 Brosnahan, Mackenzie 15 UN-MN-MN 24.77 24.17* 20



Roger’s 50 Freestyle saw his swim a 23.22 in Prelims for the 5th seed in the evening’s finals. Roger bettered that time in the evening moving up one more notch to 4th overall.

Event 36 Men 13-14 50 Yard Freestyle
MN State Rec: * 21.57 1999 Nate Sirek, STAR
Meet Qualifying 13-14: 25.19
Name Age Team Prelims Finals
4 Brosnahan, Roger 14 UN-MN-MN 23.22 23.05 15



MacKenzie swam one more event Friday and appears to have been spent finishing 36th in the 200 IM.

Event 39 Women 15-16 200 Yard IM
MN State Rec: * 2:04.34 2001 Katie Braun, FOXJ
Meet Qualifying 15-16: 2:20.89
Name Age Team Prelims Finals
36 Brosnahan, Mackenzie 15 UN-MN-MN 2:20.54
30.01 1:05.53 (35.52)
1:48.98 (43.45) 2:20.54 (31.56)



Come Saturday Morning MacKenzie was back in the water for the 200 Freestyle finishing just 4 tenths out of qualifying for the Finals in 19th place.

Event 57 Women 15-16 200 Yard Freestyle
MN State Rec: * 1:48.95 2008 Lauren Weis, STAR
Meet Qualifying 15-16: 2:04.89
Name Age Team Prelims Finals
19 Brosnahan, Mackenzie 15 UN-MN-MN 2:00.23
27.45 56.93 (29.48)
1:28.46 (31.53) 2:00.23 (31.77)



For the Final Day, Sunday, MacKenzie starts with the 100 Freestyle. Seeded in the middle of the top 8, she drops a full second+ to gain the top seed for Evening Finals. That night MacKenzie gives the second back while 5 others drop time. MacKenzie finishes 7th overall.


Event 105 Women 15-16 100 Yard Freestyle
MN State Rec: * 51.23 1996 Jennifer Riggs, TWIN
Meet Qualifying 15-16: 58.19
Name Age Team Prelims Finals Points

=== A - Final ===
7 Brosnahan, Mackenzie 15 UN-MN-MN 53.49 54.59 12
25.93 54.59 (28.66)





In the Boy’s 100 Freestyle Prelims, Roger drops an amazing 3.2 seconds to leapfrog numerous swimmers and qualify 5th for the evening Finals. That night he gives a fraction of time back to finish 7th overall.

Event 108 Men 13-14 100 Yard Freestyle
MN State Rec: * 47.67 1991 Tom Malchow, STAR
Meet Qualifying 13-14: 55.09
Name Age Team Prelims Finals Points

=== A - Final ===
7 Brosnahan, Roger 14 UN-MN-MN 50.75 51.14
23.70 51.14 (27.44)



For her Final event of the weekend, MacKenzie swims the 100 IM and drops 2.5 seconds to qualify 3rd for the evening Finals. That night she swims just a hair off that time but slips back to a very respectable 6th.

Event 117 Women 15-16 100 Yard IM
MN State Rec: * 59.31 3/2003 Jenny Shaughnessy, Med-City
Meet Qualifying 15-16: 1:06.19
Name Age Team Prelims Finals Points
=== A - Final ===

6 Brosnahan, Mackenzie 15 UN-MN-MN 1:02.03 1:02.34 

27.96 1:02.34 (34.38)

2010 Spring Speedo Champions Series

Here are local swimmer results from last weekend's Speedo Champion's Series meet at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center

Event 8 Men 200 Yard Freestyle
Name Age Team Prelims Finals
== A - Final ===

1st Papenfuss, Matthew J 19 Una Uofm-MN 1:40.90 1:38.88
23.65 48.75 (25.10) 1:13.70 (24.95) 1:38.88 (25.18)

(He was seeded 2nd going into the Final).

Event 18 Men 50 Yard Freestyle
Name Age Team Seed Prelims
=== Preliminaries ===
1 Lee-To, Colin H 22 Mach 3 Flyers-MN 19.99 20.94
2 Miller, Stephen D 22 Una Uofm-MN 20.60 21.01
2 Griggs, Benjamin T 18 Una Uofm-MN 21.29 21.01
4 Meeks, Devon R 17 Tigersharks Swim 20.73 21.10
5th Papenfuss, Matthew J 19 Una Uofm-MN 21.11 21.12


Event 18 Men 50 Yard Freestyle
Name Age Team Prelims Finals
=== A - Final ===
1 Miller, Stephen D 22 Una Uofm-MN 21.01 20.21
9.89 20.21 (10.32)
2 Lee-To, Colin H 22 Mach 3 Flyers-MN 20.94 20.57
9.86 20.57 (10.71)
3rd     Papenfuss, Matthew J 19 Una Uofm-MN 21.12 20.88
10.21 20.88 (10.67)


Event 22 Men 500 Yard Freestyle
Name Age Team Seed Prelims

=== Preliminaries ===
11th     Papenfuss, Matthew J 19 Una Uofm-MN 4:36.43 4:44.03

(Matt skipped the finals to prepare for the 100 Freestyle)
Event 30 Men 100 Yard Freestyle

Name Age Team Seed Prelims

=== Preliminaries ===

1 Miller, Stephen D 22 Una Uofm-MN 44.90 45.02
10.31 21.54 (11.23) 33.36 (11.82) 45.02 (11.66)

2nd   Papenfuss, Matthew J 19 Una Uofm-MN 45.78 45.87
10.55 21.94 (11.39)


Event 30 Men 100 Yard Freestyle


==================================================================

Name Age Team Prelims Finals

==================================================================

=== A - Final ===



1 Miller, Stephen D 22 Una Uofm-MN 45.02 44.41
10.21 21.27 (11.06)  32.97 (11.70) 44.41 (11.44)

2 Papenfuss, Matthew J 19 Una Uofm-MN 45.87 45.50
10.40 21.66 (11.26)  33.63 (11.97) 45.50 (11.87)



Event 29 Women 100 Yard Freestyle

Name Age Team Seed Prelims

=== Preliminaries ===

30 Brosnahan, Mackenzie 15 Unattached-MN 53.56 53.96

25.24 53.96 (28.72)

Still swimming going on.

In spite of the MN State HS Boys season finish, the winter swim season is still not quite over.

The Speedo Champions meet was held this weekend at the Univ of MN. I will provide you info on that shortly.

The NCAA Div II Championships were run this last week as well. ( NCAA Div III is this coming weekend and Div I is the following weekend)

NCAA Division II 2010 Championships

Midwest Teams extracted from the results

Women - Team Rankings

2. Wayne State University 531
5. Truman State University 251
8. Grand Valley State University 180
13. Saint Cloud State University 98
24. University of Nebraska - Omaha 22
25. Colorado school of Mines 21
26. Minnesota State University - Mankato 20
32. Minnesota State Univ Moorhead 9

Men - Team Rankings

3. Wayne State University 343
4. Grand Valley State University 314
8. Missouri S&T 198
18. Lewis University 57
19. Saint Cloud State University 51
22. Colorado School of Mines 16
23. Truman State University 14
26. Minnesota State University - Mankato 6

For individual/Team resulst you can go to:

http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/ncaa/sports/m-swim/auto_pdf/2010-D2-FinalResults.pdf

The Winona Wizards Swimmers shed time like a winter coat.

Winona Wizard Club swimmers Reese Galewski, Gabby Kleinow, Grant Wolner and Griffin Wolner participated in the ABC Finals in Richfield last weekend. Coach Kristina had the Wizards ready to produce. They performed magnificently dropping time in 14 or 18 swims and moving up in numerous classes.

Reese Galewski led out Saturday with the 100 Butterfly and it looked like she was waiting to burn up the water for some time. She swam a 1:03.05, moving from an “A” time to a low Champ time thus qualifying for the upcoming Seniors State Championships. She also dropped over 1 ½ seconds on her 200 Freestyle, nearly a 1/2 second on her 50 Free and she dropped over 4 seconds on her 100 Freestyle for a very low “A” time of 1:00.54 nearly joining the Minuteman club!

Gabby Kleinow dropped 4+ seconds on her 200 Freestyle, nearly one second on her 50 freestyle, nearly three seconds on her 200 Breaststroke.

Grant Wolner perhaps had the biggest day of all the Wizards. Grant swam the 50 Free in 40.09 dropping 6+ seconds from a “B” time to a near Champ time. He dropped 2 ½ seconds from his seed in the 50 Breastroke and nearly 8 seconds from his seed in the 100 Freestyle.

Griffin also produced some great times dropping a second for a solid “A” 32.65 in the 50 Freestyle. He dropped to a 44.65 in the 50 Breast. He was just shy of an “A” time in his 40.40 second 50 Backstroke when he dropped a full second. He swam his seed time in the 100 Free, a nearly “A” 1:14.72 and wrapped up by dropping nearly 4 seconds to post a nearly “A” :37.59 100 Breaststroke.

Time F/P/S Event Place Points Improv

Reese Galewski (13) F
1:03.05 F # 41 Female 13-14 100 Fly WIN-MN 1 --- -2.50
2:15.44 F # 45 Female 13-14 200 Free WIN-MN 8 --- -1.59
2:32.67 DQ F # 53 Female 13-14 200 IM WIN-MN --- --- ---
28.43 F # 95 Female 13-14 50 Free WIN-MN 17 --- -0.43
1:00.54 F # 103 Female 13-14 100 Free WIN-MN 1 --- -4.07

Gabrielle Kleinow (14) F
2:20.46 F # 45 Female 13-14 200 Free WIN-MN 16 --- -4.26
1:27.11 F # 49 Female 13-14 100 BreastWIN-MN 27 --- 0.43
6:27.73 F # 61AFemale 13-14 500 Free WIN-MN 15 --- 5.15
28.00 F # 95 Female 13-14 50 Free WIN-MN 12 --- -0.81
3:09.12 F # 99 Female 13-14 200 BreastWIN-MN 2 --- -2.88
1:03.05 F # 103 Female 13-14 100 Free WIN-MN 9 --- -3.28

Grant Wolner (8) M
40.09 F # 16 Male 8 & Under 50 Free WIN-MN 1 --- -6.27
54.55 F # 68 Male 8 & Under 50 BreastWIN-MN 2 --- -2.54
1:37.56 F # 74 Male 8 & Under 100 Free WIN-MN 4 --- -7.90

Griffin Wolner (10) M
32.65 F # 14 Male 9-10 50 Free WIN-MN 2 --- -1.05
44.65 F # 36 Male 9-10 50 Breast WIN-MN 2 --- -0.31
2:47.09 F # 40 Male 9-10 200 Free WIN-MN 6 --- 1.54
40.40 F # 72 Male 9-10 50 Back WIN-MN 5 --- -1.04
1:14.72 F # 78 Male 9-10 100 Free WIN-MN 5 --- ---
1:37.59 F # 88 Male 9-10 100 Breast WIN-MN 4 --- -3.77

Boys State Meet Recap

The Winona Winhawks finished 2010 in the same place they finished 2009. After two individual and two relay events, the Winhawks accumulated 39 points, 8 more than last year but the result was the same, a Team 19th place. Also like last year, in spite of finishing 6th at the Section 1AA Championships, the Winhawks finish 2nd highest among those same teams, bettered only by 9th place Rochester Century. Northfield finished State in 24th, Rochester JM 27th and Farmington 33rd. Owatonna, in spite of finishing Section 1AA 5th in front of the Winhawks, had no qualifiers for state.


The 2010 State meet started with the Winhawk 200 Medley Relay seeded 11th of 25 teams. The Winhawks swam over their seed time, but a time that looked good enough. They announced that Winona had been disqualified. The Winona coaches felt differently. Coach Amy protested to the Meet Manager asking for clarification and a review of not just the call but the swim via a recording by a parent. In the end, the Meet Manager upheld the call by the official based on the details of call made alone. Tape reviews are not an acceptable means of review by MSHSL rules. The missed points could have moved the Winhawk up two possibly three spots in the standings.

The 50 Freestyle had Winhawk Sr. Co-Captain Ryan Whalen swimming from the 3rd seed in Prelims. Ryan had decided to not shave down for prelims. Other wimmers among the higher seeds had chosen not to so as well. For Ryan it meant the 4th seed going into the Championship Final. Ryan swam back up to 3rd place in an All American Consideration time of 21.22 seconds and a new Winona Winhawk team record breaking his own from last year's State meet.

Next for the Winhawks came the other individual event, the 100 Freestyle. Again Ryan Whalen was swimming and seeded 7th. Ryan’s unshaved swim nets him 9th place in prelims, the top seed in the Consolation Final. When Ryan swims in Finals Saturday night he blow away the field in the Consolation Final winning by a body length and a half. His 46.99 would have been good for 4th place had he been in the Final Heat. Ironically though, the point differential would not have moved the Winhawks any higher in the standings.

The last event for the Winhawk was the 20 Free Relay. Entering the Championships they are seeded 10th. Their swim in the prelims nets them the 12th seed and the Consolation Final Heat. Saturday night the boys dig deep with Louie leading out in 23.80, Jonathan follows up with an awesome 22.92. Ryan drops even lower logging a 20.88 for the first time this season and Roger Brosnahan betters his fast prelim, anchoring in a very fast 21.83 for a move up to 11th place in1:29.99 which improves on their Sections wim but keeps them in the 4th spot on the all time fastest Winhawk 200 Free Relays.

It was an exciting and event filled Championships. I made some new friends among the referees I worked with. I got to renew some old friendships with former college classmates and teammates. I met the new coach at my old HS, even got to joke around with my old HS swimming coach about sitting through and actually watching the diving competition. I really enjoy going back for the State Meet.

For more on the meet you can read at:

http://www.startribune.com/sports/preps/86736647.html?page=1&c=y

http://www.startribune.com/sports/preps/86735412.html?elr=KArksi8cyaiUeyD8_o8cyaiUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiU

http://www.twincities.com/prep/ci_14527828

http://www.twincities.com/prep/ci_14526294

Prelims at the MN State Boys Swimming & Diving Championships

Day one is over and some surprises made up part of the action for the Winona Winhawks.

In the 200 Medley Relay, the Winhawks were disqualified for a stroke violation.

The 50 Freestyle saw Sr. Co-Captain Ryan Whalen actually swim a hair slower than his seed time to qualify 4th

Event 4 Boys 50 Yard Freestyle
1 Elliot Wilcox 12 Hastings 21.59 21.11 AAA
2 Ben Henrickson 12 Chaska Chan 21.50 21.37 AAC
3 Devon Meeks 12 Rosemount 21.48 21.41 AAC
4 Ryan Whalen 12 WinonaWinhawk 21.52 21.58


The 100 Freestyle was surprise as Ryan again swam under over his seed time and ended up in the Consolation Round.

Event 7 Boys 100 Yard Freestyle
1 Elliot Wilcox 12 Hastings 47.50 46.96 AAC
22.48 24.48
2 Drew Johnson 12 Edina 46.31 46.99
22.59 24.40
3 Kurt Youngdahl 11 Minnetonka 47.92 47.46
23.12 24.34
4 Max Hubbard 12 Rosemount 48.02 47.75
22.94 24.81
5 Mike Gratz 11 Edina 47.65 47.93
23.00 24.93
6 Ben Henrickson 12 Chaska Chan 48.08 48.00
22.88 25.12
7 Nick Dailey-Arndt 10 Cre-Der Hall 49.22 48.05
23.19 24.86
8 Erick Sood 12 Lakeville No 48.69 48.13
23.10 25.03
9 Ryan Whalen 12 WinonaWinhawk 48.16 48.30
23.16 25.14

The 200 Freestyle Relay swam to a 12 place finish for a spot in Saturday’s Consolation Final. Louie LaPorta led of wit ha 23.70, Sr. Jonathan Birdsall followed up with a 23.24. Sr. Ryan Whalen posted a 21.16 and Roger Brosnahan finished up with a sizzling 21.89.

Event 9 Boys 200 Yard Freestyle Relay
12 Winona Winhawks 1:30.07 1:29.99
1) Louie LaPorta 11 2) Jonathan Birdsall 12
3) Ryan Whalen 12 4) Roger Brosnahan 8
23.70 23.24 21.16 21.89

Winona Wizards at MN ABC Finals

Also in action this weekend are the swimmers from the Winona Water Wizards.

Grant Wolner, Griffin Wolner, Reese Galewski and Gabby Kleinow will be swimming in the ABC Finals at the Richfield Middle School.

Events they are swimming in are:

Reese Galewski (13) WIN-MN
# 41 Female 13-14 100 Fly 1:05.55Y
# 45 Female 13-14 200 Free 2:17.03Y
# 53 Female 13-14 200 IM 2:35.75Y
# 95 Female 13-14 50 Free 28.86Y
# 103 Female 13-14 100 Free 1:04.61Y

Gabrielle Kleinow (14) WIN-MN
# 45 Female 13-14 200 Free 2:24.72Y
# 49 Female 13-14 100 Breast 1:26.68Y
# 61A Female 13-14 500 Free 6:22.58Y
# 95 Female 13-14 50 Free 28.81Y
# 99 Female 13-14 200 Breast 3:12.00Y
# 103 Female 13-14 100 Free 1:06.33Y

Grant Wolner (8) WIN-MN
# 16 Male 8 & Under 50 Free 46.36Y
# 68 Male 8 & Under 50 Breast 57.09Y
# 74 Male 8 & Under 100 Free 1:45.46Y

Griffin Wolner (10) WIN-MN
# 14 Male 9-10 50 Free 33.70Y
# 36 Male 9-10 50 Breast 44.96Y
# 40 Male 9-10 200 Free 2:45.55Y
# 72 Male 9-10 50 Back 41.44Y
# 78 Male 9-10 100 Free 1:14.72Y
# 88 Male 9-10 100 Breast 1:41.36Y

Good luck Wizards! I’ll post results as they get posted.

The Winona Winhawks prepare to head out for the State Meet

Friday is Prelims Day at the 2010 Minnesota State Swimming & Diving Championships.

At the 2009 State Championships, the Winhawks qualified in three events, 50 Free, 100 Free and 100 Breastroke. Winona finished in 19th place on the strength of Ryan Whalen’s 2nd place finish in the 50 Freestyle and 5th place finish in the 100 Freestyle.

Here in 2010, the Winona Winhawks will be swimming in four different events, the 200 Medley Relay, the 50 Freestyle the 100 Freestyle and the 200 Freestyle Relay. The Winhawks have their work cut out for them. There are a number of returning champions and medalist swimmers at this year’s edition of the Big Swim and no shortage of them in the events the Winhawks are entered in.

In the 200 Medley Relay, Rosemount the Defending Champion is back with the fastest seed time of 1:36.61. In fact, seven of the eight medal winning teams from last year have returned. Those teams and their finish last year are: Minnetonka, runner-up; Edina, third; Wayzata, fourth; Brainerd, sixth; Cretin-Derham Hall of St. Paul, seventh; and Lakeville North, eighth. Friday night the Winhawks will be swimming in Lane 6. The Winona Winhawk 200 Medley Relay represented by Sr. Co-Captain Ryan Whalen on Backstroke, Sr. Santino LaPorta at Breaststroke, 8th Grader Roger Brosnahan in Butterfly and Jr. Louie LaPorta in Freestyle are seeded 11th of the 25 teams at 1:41.09. Four good quality swims with some additional drop and you may just see those four Winhawks crowding their way onto the Podium Saturday night!

The 50 Freestyle has defending champion Devon Meeks of Rosemount back AND he owns this year’s best qualifying time of 21.48. Winona Winhawks Sr. Co-Captain Ryan Whalen, who earned runner-up honors in 2009, is the only other returning medalist from last year and is seeded 3rd at 21.52 which gives him Lane 4 in the second heat. There are a total of 29 State qualifiers. Only 4 one hundredths of a second separate the first 3 seeds! In prelims they will be spread over the final three heats. If they stay that way into the Finals, it’ll make an unbelievable race even better!

The 100 Freestyle also sees the defending champion return with the fastest seed time. Drew Johnson of Edina is back with the best qualifying time of 46.31. He will square off against two other 2009 medal-winners: Winona Winhawks Sr. Co-Captain Ryan Whalen who placed 5th last year, is seeded seventh at 48.16 and swims in the third and final heat in Lane 3. That places him right next to top seeded Drew Johnson which will provide Ryan a great big target to aim for. The only other 2009 returning medalist is Max Hubbard of Rosemount, who finished 8th last year currently seeded fifth. A total of 23 swimmers qualified in the 100 Freestyle this year.

In the Winona Winhawks final appearance of the night, our 200 Freestyle Relay Team will be hitting the water looking to move up to make Championship Finals. They have their work cut out for them but they may be able to leapfrog some other State meet newcomers. Four 2009 medal-winning teams return to this year’s meet, led by defending champion Rosemount in the fourth seeded spot. The other returning teams, their place last year and current seeding are: Edina, runner-up & 1st Seed at1:26.76; Minnetonka, third & 3rd Seed; and Maple Grove, seventh & 5th seed. The Winhawk team of Junior Louie LaPorta, Senior Jonathan Birdsall, Senior Co-Captain Ryan Whalen and 8th Grader Roger Brosnahan are again seeded 10th at 1:30.07 and again swimming in Lane 6. There are a total of 21 entries that qualified at Sections. Again, if the boys are pumped up enough, they could leap their way to the Championship Finals and a podium visit on Saturday night.

This year’s state meet will start on Thursday, March 4, and run through Saturday, March 6. All events will take place at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center.

The Class A one-meter diving preliminaries, the first five of eight dives for the state meet, will begin at noon on Thursday, followed by the Class AA diving preliminaries at 6:00 p.m. The Class A swimming preliminaries begin at noon on Friday, followed by the Class AA swimming preliminaries at 6 p.m. The Class A championship finals of all events begin at noon on Saturday, followed by the Class AA finals at 6 p.m.

Tickets will be available at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center. Prices are $5.00 for both students and adults for the diving preliminaries, and $8.00 for both students and adults for the swimming preliminaries and for the swimming and diving finals.

Winhawks make the most of their taper at Section 1AA Championships

The Winhawk Swimmers, after 3 months of hard work, began tapering with the goal of dropping time at Sections. It worked. The Winhawk Divers worked their dive lists so they were honed for Sections. In the end, The Winhawks are sending five individuals and competing in two relays and two individual events at the State Championships.

Saturday’s afternoon Finals started with the 200 Medley Relay. The Winhawk team of Senior Co-Captain Ryan Whalen swimming Back, Sr. Santio LaPorta at Breaststroke, Butterflyer 8th Gr. Roger Brosnahan and anchor at the Freestyle Jr. Louie LaPorta were seeded 3rd having lost one spot after preliminaries inspite of having dropped a second off their seed time. Whalen handed his teammates a lead and the guys worked it well dropping nearly 3 more seconds good for the 6th fastest medley relay in Winhawk history, finishing a clear 2nd place, and earning a trip to the State Championships.

The 200 Free saw Sr. Co-Captain Josh Danzinger duplicate his 1:57 from prelims for 11th place.

The Winhawks had no one in the 200 IM Finals which would hurt them in their point total.

The 50 Freestyle had Senior Co-Captain Ryan Whalen seeded second, a tenth of a second down from top seed. The entire field was side by side the two lengths with Ryan inching forward at the end and touching 1st for the win and earned trip to the State meet.

1 Meter Diving consisted of the last 3 of the 11 dive list for Winhawk Juniors Stan Petkov and Justin Bublitz and Sophmore Dan Karnick. Stan, who progressed from 9th after prelims to 8th after semis, kept up his pursuit. On the strength of his final dives, a Forward 1 ½ ss 1 twist, a Forward 2 ½ SS tuck and a Forward 3 ss tuck he moved up again to finish 7th overall. Dan similarly moved up methodically. Finishing prelims in 12th, he moved to 10th in semifinals and used his Forward 2 ss tuck, Inward 1 ½ ss tuck and Forward 1 ½ ss 1 Twist to fight his way up one more spot to 9th. Justin ended prelims in 6th overall and moved to 5th in semifinals, one place out of qualifying for the State Meet. All of the top five knew the trip to the U of M was on the line and the competition was at its highest in Finals. Justin did what he could, scoring 1/3 of his point total on just his last three dives. His F 1 1/2ss 1 Twist went for 38.5 pts, his F 1 ½ ss Pike scored 32.3 and his Forward 2 ½ ss Pike received 6’s & 7’s good for 50.70 pts. In the end he was stuck in 5th place, just too much distance to try and make up.

Thanks to the points from the 3 divers, the Winhawks move up to 3rd place overall in the Team competition.

The 100 Butterfly featured both Senior Matt Bagshaw and 8th Grader Roger Brosnahan in the Consolation Final. Matt swam an time equal to his prelim time finishing the season with having dropped 9 seconds off his 100 fly time since December. Roger was in Lane 4, the top seed in Consolation Finals. His prelim time had been a 2 second drop and only 0.11 seconds from making the Championship Final. Roger shot off the blocks looking to send a message and went straight into the lead. Ahead the entire heat, he dropped another 2 ½ seconds to win the Consolation Heat and 9th place. His 56.61 would have been good for 5th place overall had he been in the Finals Heat.

With just Consolation swimmers, the Winhawks drop to 5th place in the Team placings.

The 100 Freestyle was event number 3 for Senior Co-Captain Ryan Whalen. Seeded second, he was neck and neck with the leaders until the last 25 yards until the two top seeds pulled away. Ryan touched in 2nd place earning swim # 3 at the State Championships.

The Winhawks are now tied for 4th place.

The 500 Free featured Sr. Co-Captain Josh Danzinger in the Championship Heat seeded 8th. Josh swam hard a half body length ahead of the swimmer next to him most of the way, pushing to move up in the standings. In the end he finished up one spot in 7th in a season’s best 5:18.13.

With just one distance finalist the Winhawks drop to 5th place.

The 200 Free Relay was by far THE most exciting race of the Section Finals. The Winhawks, a surprise top seed in Finals after entering the meet seeded 5th in the prelims. At lead off and going up against one of the top sprinters at Sections, Junior Louie LaPorta leads out the Winhawks keeping them very close. Senior Jonathan Birdsall, swimming his fastest 50 leg ever pulls the Winhawks closer. Senior Co-Captain Ryan Whalen enters the water just behind the leaders. Ryan swims his fastest 50 split ever, a half second faster than his Section winning 50 earlier, handing their anchor, 8th Grader Roger Brosnahan the lead. Roger swims his fastest 50 of the season holding off the charging Rochester Century team to place first and earning the Second Relay spot for the State Championships. Their effort also resulted in the 4th fastest 200 Free Relay in Winhawk history.

The win also moves the Winhawks up into 4th place

The 100 Backstroke saw only Sophmore Avery Prondzinski in the top seed of the Consolation Finals. He swims hard finishing a 1/10th off his prelim swim for 10th place overall.

The Winhawks are back into 5th place, only 3 points out of 4th and 10 points out of 3rd.

The 100 Breastroke sees Winhawks in the Consolation Final again but there are 3 of them. The heat includes Senior Santino LaPorta at 10th seed, 8th Grader Cal Dretske in 13th seed and Senior Jonathan Birdsall in 14th seed. Santino maintains his 10th seed swimming his fastest time of the year. Cal drops another half second for his season’s best but manages a 14th finish. Jonathan Birdsall, who may very well have had the best Sections meet of any Winhawk, improves to 12th. After dropping 4 seconds in prelims, he drops another full second.

In spite of 3 swimmers in the Finals, the Winhawks stay in 5th overall, 11 pts out of 4th as Hastings and Farmington each have 2 swimmers in the Championship Final.

The 400 Free Relay saw the Winhawks seeded last in the Finals, an event that has been tough for the Winhawks all season. Senior Co-Captain Josh Danzinger, Sophomore Joey Kleinow and Junior Gio Borsari all swam season best splits but a DQ for an early jump disqualified the relay's efforts.

The loss of the Relay points left the Winhawks with a 6th Place finish overall instead of a tie with Owatonna for 5th.

All in all a very positive meet for the Winhawks. The Winona Winhawks are headed back to the State Championships en mass for the first time in 3 years. They will be competing in the 200 Medley Relay, 50 Freestyle, 100 Freestyle and 200 Freestyle Relay. This is the largest group of swimmers and the first time two relays have advanced in 10 years.