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.