Holiday Break time!

Big 9 Boys S&D Standings Thru 12/29/10

Big Nine Standings		Overall			Big 9
Teams	W	L	T	W	L	T
Owatonna	3	0	0	3	0	0
Mankato West	2	0	0	2	0	0
Rochester Century	2	0	0	2	0	0
Rochester Mayo	2	1	0	2	1	0
Faribault	1	3	0	1	1	0
Mankato East/Loyola	1	2	0	1	2	0
Albert Lea	0	2	0	0	2	0
Austin High School	0	2	0	0	2	0
Rochester John Marshall	0	2	0	0	2	0
Winona H.S.	0	1	0	0	1	0

High Schools are working out with a few meets between Christmas and New Years, no big Holiday tournaments like Basketball or Wrestling, not sure why that is.

Winona SHS Boys Swimming & Diving will be holding their Annual New Years Day 100x100 swim at 9AM. The event is open to any interested Alumni as well as volunteers. From Coach Burt: On New Years Day at 9:00 a.m. we will swim our 100X100’s event.  Many times alumni swimmers join us in this tradition. Now before you drop in shock at the yardage 100X100 equates too not all swimmers will do the full amount.  The plan is to divide up the pool into 100X100, 100X75, and 100X50 lanes to accommodate the more and less experienced swimmers not to mention physical condition too.  Yours truly will be swimming as far as this old and out of shape body will take him.  The event typically takes up to three hours to accomplish depending on the rep interval.  Along with the swim we try to organize a pot luck lunch and ask the guys to bring along a dish to pass so the swimmers can eat as soon as they exit the water.  The only entrance available to us is the back door leading up to the pool and so I’ll post a coach at the door to ensure everyone gets in.  This is the same door near the trash bins and the maintenance crew entrance. 

Area Colleges will be making their winter treks to warmer climates. They kick off their mid-season INTENSE training before they start to pull things together for the end of winter run to conference and nationals.

The University of MN Men & Women will be heading to Hawaii again this break.

Just a few of the other colleges and their training destinations include:

MN State U - Mankato                             TBD scheduled but does not say

St. Cloud State                                         TBD scheduled but does not say

Iowa State                                                Phoenix, AZ

U of W Green Bay                                    Venice, FL

South Dakota State                                  St. Petersburg, FL

U of W River Falls                                    Tempe, AZ

U of W La Crosse                                     Florida

Univ of St. Thomas                                  N. Florida Gulf Coast (pre-Christmas)

U of W Milwaukee                                    Florida

U of North Dakota                                    Fort Myers, FL

Notre Dame                                               San Juan, Puerto Rico

Purdue                                                       Fort Lauderdale, FL

Univ of Iowa                                              Tampa, FL

Gustavus Adolphus                                  Puerto Rico

 Augsburg                                                 Key Largo, FL

Carlton College                                        Fort Lauderdale FL (Pre- Christmas)

Macalester                                                Ft. Lauderdale, FL

St. Olaf College                                       Ft. Lauderdale, FL

UW Steven Point                                     TBD – Hawaii or Barbados

U of W Madison                                       Tuscon, AZ

 

And that is just a few of the locals.  Many many more are also in southern climates.

Winona encounters a force called Rochester Century

Going into Tuesday night’s contest, a few, Coach Burt leading them, knew that Century was going to dominate the swim meet. What I observed made me think of a saying, "Adversity doesn't build character…it reveals it".


Tuesday night at the WSHS pool, by the time of the diving break, Century had won the Medley Relay, gone 1-2-3 twice and took 1st and 3rd in the 50 Free. Winona was down 46 – 16. Yet Winhawks were talking to each other, there were smiles, there was encouragement, there was camaraderie. The boys knew that they were building towards goals, and this was one step along the way.

The 200 Medley Relay saw the Winhawks’ entry of Jr. Avery Pro, Freshman Cal Dretske, Sr. Co-Captain Louie La Porta, and Junior Alex Kline swim tough to a 2nd place finish.

Winona 4 Century 10

The 200 Freestyle had some good signs for the Winhawks. Junior Joey Kleinow picked up where he left off last season. He took 4th but his time this early in the season bettered his end-of-year Big 9 Conference performance of last year.

Winona 7 Century 23

The 200 IM was also a good indicator of building. Winhawk Freshman Cal Dretske swam to 4th place just 5 one hundredths off of his best time from last year’s Sections meet.

Winona 10 Century 36

In the 50 Freestyle, The Winhawks broke the Panther’s sweep streak and Sr. Co-Captain Louie La Porta swims to a solid 2nd place with Junior Alex Klein just getting touched out for 4th. Junior Conor Kosidowski swimming in his first dual meet varsity event puts in a solid performance at 6th.

Winona 16 Century 46

Diving was conducted over at the Winona Middle School and completed quickly as Rochester Century has no divers. Fortunate for Winona as the 1-2-3 got the Winhawks their biggest point score of the night. Senior Co-Captain Justin Bublitz leads the way with the win. Senior Stan Petkov smashed his personal best score by 23 points to place second with 173.62. Not to be out done, Junior Dan Karnick dives a personal best, bettering his last season high by 23 points as well for 162.22.

Winona 29 Century 46

The 100 Butterfly is a season to season issue for the Winhawks. Arguably the toughest event of the dual meet, there was no one in that slot for the Winhawks at the beginning of the season. Winhawk 8th grader Kyle Schneider was sent to the blocks and swam to a respectable 4th place.

Winona 31 Century 59

The 100 Freestyle was a quality showing for the Winhawks. Sr. Co-Captain Louie La Porta swims to 3rd place just off his personal best by a half second and Junior Joey Kleinow places 4th swimming a personal best time bettering his Sectionals swim from last year.

Winona 36 Century 70

The 500 Freestyle was, as predicted, a great introduction of Big 9 distance swimming for the Winhawks’ new distance swimmer Hodd Gorman. Century’s State Finalist from last season set a quick pace and Hodd set about working to have a quality swim. The Winhawks’ Hodd Gorman places 3rd swimming a personal best dropping over 13 seconds with a great launch to the dual meet season.

Winona 40 Century 82

The 200 Freestyle Relay started out strong with Junior Avery Pro establishing a lead and Sr. Co-Captain Louie La Porta adding to it. The Winhawk 200 Free Diver Relay +1 had a respectable showing with Junior Dan Karnick leading them out to 2nd place at the first exchange. But Century had stacked their tail ends and they came storming back. The Winhawks 1st relay touches in 3rd.

Winona 46 Century 90

The 100 Backstroke turned out to be a stroke clinic and Century not only goes 1-2-3 but Panther Sr. Chris Freeman sets a new Winhawk pool record in 54.73. With that, the Rochester coaches invoke the Big 9 tradition of swimming exhibition after the meet is won and score no more points for the duration.

Winona 56 Century 90

The 100 Breaststroke was the next standout Winhawk performance of the night and the only other 1st place finish of the evening for the Winhawks. Freshman Cal Dretske leads wire-to-wire and touches first just under his personal best! Sophomore Jake Johnson has a quality swim to touch 3rd.

Winona 72 Century 90

The 400 Freestyle Relay saw the Winhawks touch 3 -4 but saw some quality swims with Freshman Hodd Gorman just missing out on the Minuteman Club by 9 hundredths with his split along with Alex Klein just missing it as well.

Final Scores

Junior Varsity

Winona 31 Century 84

Varsity

Winona 84 Century 90

Next up for the Winhawks, January 6th, a dual meet in Austin against the Packers.

When a Panther comes to your pool, you usually have to keep your wits about you.

Winhawks host a very tough Rochester Century Team Tuesday Night

After what I am sure was a competitive but “fun” environment last Saturday at the Tiger Relays, things get serious in a hurry. The Rochester Century Panthers come a calling Tuesday night and they are a strong team.

Rochester Century, 1-0 on the season so far, finished 9^th at last years State Championships and there are a number of “Big Show” seasoned swimmers back this year.

The 200 Medley Relay with showcase what the Winhawks are up against. The Winhawks swam a 1:52 at the Tiger Relays and the Panthers have a 1:53 in their first dual meet but I suspect they will be faster Tuesday.

The 200 Freestyle will likely see Century’s Chris Freeman who placed 4^th in this event at last year’s State Championships. Winhawk Juniors Joey Kleinow and Avery Prondzinski can give chance, but this will go to the Panther.

The 200 IM will see Century bring another State Finalist to the blocks, Senior Andrew Grosbach. Winona Cotter Freshman Cal Dretske will very likely set his sights on him but the Panther Consolation Finalist from last year will be a handful.

The 50 Freestyle will likely see Panther swimmers  Robert Real, (13^th at Sections last year) and Dennis Draper (7^th at Sections). Winhawk Sr. Co-Captain Louie La Porta and Junior Alex Kline will give chase and make for a very competitive race.

Diving should be a points windfall for the Winhawks and they will need them.

The 100 Butterfly will bring more Century strength to the blocks. At last week’s Tiger Relays, Panther swimmers John Cima, Andrew Grosbach, and Paul Shriner strung together 3 sub minute 100 Butterflies in the 300 Fly Relay. The Winhawks only had one sub minute 100 fly all last year and he is not swimming this year.If the Winhawks are not careful they will get 1-2-3'ed.

The100 Freestyle saw Panther Chris Freeman go low 49 two weeks ago.  Junior Joey Kleinow and Sr. Co-Captain Louie La Porta will be hot on his feet.

Playing on like a broken record, the 500 Freestyle will very likely see Panther Chris Tri come to the blocks. He placed 12^th in the 500 Free at State last year. Winhawk Freshman Hodd Gorman will be getting an introduction to Big 9 distance swimming.

The 200 Free Relay sees 3 swimmers return from the Panther 18^th place team at State last year, Freeman, Draper and Real. Being their first dual, the Winhawks are still sorting out their 200 Free Relay line-up.

The 100 Backstroke one again, may feature a Panther with State Championship experience. Chris Freeman placed 9^th at State last year in 100 Backstroke. Winhawk Junior Avery Prondzinski and Cotter Freshman Aaron Whyte will give chase and look to upset a tiring Freeman.

The 100 Breaststroke will pit the Panther’s Andrew Grosbach who was 12^th at state last year against Winona Cotter Freshman Cal Dretske.

The 400 Freestyle Relay will befittingly also see Panthers with State experience.  There are 3 returning team members from last year’s 9^th place State Finishers, Draper, Freeman and Tri. The Winhawks may well be out of guns and swimmers after chasing al night.

Winhawks finish 10th at Albert Lea Tiger Relays

2010 ALBERT LEA TIGER RELAYS

The Winona Winhawk Boys Swimming & Diving Team competed in the 2010 Albert Lea Tiger Relays on Saturday. It was a great first meet opportunity for a squad filled with first time swimmers. Aided by the weather cancellation of the prior Thursday, the Winhawks got to work together in an all-relay format to get the jitters out of their systems and work on some starts and exchanges.

There were some great surprises mixed in amongst the results. I have not yet got splits, but specifically, the Winhawk 200 Medley relay finishing in the middle of the results, 7^th out of 13 teams, is a huge confidence builder. The team of Junior Avery Prodzinski Cotter Freshman Dretske, Sr. Co-Captain Louie La Porta and Junior Alex Kline will be a great lead out for many of the dual meets to come.


Not a surprise but more of an affirmation, the Winona Diving Corp moved up from last year’s standings. They were 4^th last year and the group of Sr. Co-Captain Justin Bublitz, Sr. Stan Petkov and Cotter Junior Daniel Karnack improved on that to have the best result of the Winhawks for the day ay 2^nd place! I hope the Winhawk swimmers appreciate their diving brethren as their diving points this season are going to come in quite handy.


Another outstanding result is the 300 Medley Relay. The team of Cotter Freshman Cal Dretske, First year Winhawk Freshman Hodd Gorman, and Sr. Co-Captain Louie La Porta finish an accomplished 7^th right in the middle of the pack as well.

The 200 Freestyle Relay of Juniors Alex Kline, Avery Prondzinski, and Joey Kleinow joined Sr. Co-Captain Louie La Porta for a respectable 8^th place finish.

The last standout result was the always avoided butterfly event. Last year’s Winhawk team had only two individuals, the graduated Winhawk Matt Bagshaw and now injured Cotter Freshman Roger Brosnahan swim the fly all season. Saturday the Winhawks strung together 8^th Grader Kyle Schneider, with Cotter Freshmen Hodd Gorman and Aaron Whyte. All newcomers to the Winhawks this season, they finished a very respectable 9^th place in the 300 Butterfly race.


Following are the results and Winhawk places and times.

Team scores:

1.      Lakeville North                     170

2.      Lakeville South                    162

3.      Rochester Century              153.5

4.      Mankato West                       138

5.      Northfield                              117

6.      Mankato East                        113

7.      Owatonna                             111.5

8.      Rochester John Marshall   103

9.      Faribault                                  91

10. Winona                                    87

11. Rochester Mayo                     86

12. Austin                                      71

13. Albert Lea                                55

WSHS finishers
200 medley relay: 7^th Winona, (Prondzinski, Dretske, La Porta, Kline), 1:52.85;

Diving: 2^nd Winona (Bublitz, Petkov, Karnick) 490.2,

600 relay: 13^th Winona (Kleinow, Borsari, Mueller); 7:47.2

300 medley relay: 7^th Winona (Dretske, Gorman, La Porta), 3:19.13;

200 freestyle relay: 8^th Winona (Kline, Prondzinski, Kleinow, La Porta), 1:41.01;

300 butterfly relay: 9^th Winona (Schneider, Gorman, Whyte), 3:54.02;

850 crescendo relay: 13^th Winona (Kosidowski, Borsari, Johnson, Gorman), 9:58.34;

300 backstroke relay: 10^th Winona (Prondzinski, Whyte, Borsari), 3:33.00;

300 breast stroke: 10^th Winona (Dretske, Johnson, M. Borsari), 3:58.60;

400 freestyle relay: 13^th Winona (Kline, Kleinow, Schneider, Mueller), 4:19.23.

Next up, the Winhawks have their debut home opener against the Panthers of Rochester Century Tuesday, 6PM at the WSHS Pool.

Winhawks' Thursday night meet with Albert Lea cancelled Next up...........

The dual meet between Winona and Albert Lea was cancelled due to weather in Albert Lea.

Information on the reschedule is pending.

The Winhawks don't have long to make the trip though, next on their schedule is the Tiger Relays in Albert Lea on Saturday.

The Gang will all be there, meaning the Big 9 Foes and a few others.

The line-up includes:

Albert Lea

Austin
Rochester Century
Faribault
Rochester John Marshall
Lakeville North
Lakeville South
Mankato East
Mankato West
Rochester Mayo
Owatonna
Winona

The meet format is an all relay events list which could be a good break-in for the wet-behind-the-ears Winhawk swimming team.

Events and meet record holders are:


Event 1 Boys 1 mtr Diving
===========================================
Tiger Relays: R 700.65 2006 WEST

Event 2 Boys 200 Yard Medley Relay Junior Varsity
=========================================

Event 3 Boys 200 Yard Medley Relay
============================================
Tiger Relays: R 1:40.60 2007 CENTURY D.Lee, B.Kiel, M.Chida, A.Kiel

Event 4 Boys 600 Yard Freestyle Relay
==============================================
Tiger Relays: R 5:34.79 2005 LAKEVILLE A.Hill, J.Menozzi, M.Wetzel

Event 5 Boys 300 Yard Medley Relay
=================================
Tiger Relays: R 2:49.10 2006 CENTURY

Event 6 Boys 200 Yard Freestyle Relay Junior Varsity
=====================================

Event 7 Boys 200 Yard Freestyle Relay
==================================
Tiger Relays: R 1:32.50 1999 HUTCHINSON

Event 8 Boys 300 Yard Butterfly Relay
=================================
Tiger Relays: R 2:50.08 1988 MAYO

Event 9 Boys 850 Yard Freestyle Crescendo Relay
===================================
Tiger Relays: R 7:58.65 2005 LAKEVILLE

Event 10 Boys 300 Yard Backstroke Relay
===========================================
Tiger Relays: R 2:46.45 2007 CENTURY D.Lee, B.Kiel, M.Strom

Event 11 Boys 300 Yard Breaststroke Relay
======================================
Tiger Relays: R 3:08.70 2006 J.M. Delmundo, Triebenbach

Event 12 Boys 400 Yard Freestyle Relay
=================================================
Tiger Relays: R 3:17.74 2007 CENTURY D.Lee, B.Kiel, M.Chida, A.Kiel


2009 Results were:

1. Lakeville South 130

2. Mankato East 107
3. Century 100
4. Mankato West 97
5. Lakeville North 86
6. Northfield 84
7. John Marshall 65
8. Owatonna 55
9. Winona 54
10. Austin 47
11. Faribault 37
12. Albert Lea 8

Winhawk boys travel to Albert Lea to open their season against the Tigers.

Thursday night, the Winhawk boys with leap off the blocks with points on the line for the first time this season. AL has one meet under its belt already, a 90-77 loss to Rochester Century.

The team is still taking shape, but so is Albert Lea. The Tigers still sport a young team, they have 24 swimmers but there isn’t a senior among them. Only 4 Juniors and 6 Sophomores lead Albert Lea through their paces.

Last year the Winhawks hit AL early and exhibitioned their way to a 91-82 victory. This year I don’t think it will be so easy. In their first meet, AL won only one event, diving. Even so, it should be an interesting meet to see how the Winhawks are gelling.

Winona Boys 2010 - 2011 Swimming & Diving Season

The Winona Winhawks Boys Swimming & Diving Season gets underway Thursday with an away meet at Albert Lea. Coach Burt had to make changes for a bigger bus than he had arranged in early season planning. There were many more faces at the team meeting than he expected. Aside from a 7^th or 8^th grader coming out, Coach Burt was expecting a much smaller crowd. Considering last year’s squad was only 20 strong and 6 of those swimmers were seniors, Coach Burt’s expectations were tempered. Upon turning the corner to see the pool bleachers, Coach Burt was surprised to see 28 swimmers & divers taking up a much bigger footprint than he expected. 

Veteran seniors returning to compete in their final year include:

Gio Borsari – A second year swimmer, he was introduced to the Freestyle events, 50, 100, & 200 where he excelled at the 100 & 200. Gio improved his times EVERY swim meet. He dropped 3 ½ seconds to join the Minuteman Club (sub 1 minute 100 Freestyle) at Big 9 only to drop another 3 seconds just 10 days later at Sections. Gio also started swimming 100 Backstroke later in the season shaving 7 ½ seconds off from his first swim to his Sectionals Swim!

Justin Bublitz – The seasoned veteran of the Diving Corp, Justin is looking to parlay his years of experience into a trip to the Big Show, the State Championships. Finishing one spot out of qualifying for State last year, you can bet he doesn’t want to repeat that feeling. Justin has been increasing his degree of difficulty and now is looking to refine his form and entries to pick up those missing extra points that left him sitting home for last year’s trip to state.

Louie La Porta – Louie returns as one of the most veteran swimmers. He is the lone returning member of the 200 Medley Relay and 200 Free Relay that advanced to the State Championships last year.  Starting as a backstroke specialist, Louie found his own as a Freestyle Sprinter last year. He finished out the season swimming the 50 Free, 100 Free and joining all 3 relays at times. At the end of the season last year, Louie owned the team’s 4^th fastest 50 time, the fastest 50 split on the Medley Relay, the 2^nd fastest 100 Freestyle and the 3^rd fastest 100 Backstroke.

Stan Petkov – Another veteran Diver, Stan is looking to have a breakout year. He finished last year throwing Reverse and Back 2 Somersaults and a Forward 2 ½ Somersault which earned him 7^th at the Section 1AA meet. Stan could team with Justin to give the Winona Divers a big 1-2 punch for scoring much needed points for the team. If he has a hot Sections meet, he could be accompanying Justin to the Big Show.

Other returning swimmers include:

Juniors:                         Specialty

Alex Kline                      50 & 100 Freestyle, 100 Backstroke

Avery Prondzinski        100 Backstroke, 50, 100, & 200 Freestyle

Daniel Karnick              Diver

Joey Kleinow               50, 100 & 200 Freestyle

Sophomore:                 Specialty

Mic Borsari                   50 & 100 Freestyle, 100 Breaststroke

Freshman:                   Specialty

Cal Dretske                  200 Individual Medley, 100 Breaststroke

8th Grade                     Specialty

Alex Vaslow                 200 & 500 Freestyle

Glaringly missing is Winona Cotter Freshman Roger Brosnahan. Roger is rehabbing a shoulder injury and will miss the entire swimming season. A gifted swimmer, Roger competed in the 50 & 100 Freestyles, the 100 Butterfly and relays.

The new additions to the squad include

Year           Name

12     Daniel Limabrazao

12     Danjeer Presson

11     Alex Spies

11     Ben Streukens

11     Conor Kosidowski

11     Erick Barraza

11     Jesse Graff

11     Kory McDonald

11     Tyler Jacob

10     Jacob Johnson

10     Orion McCullough-Smith

9       Aaron Whyte - An experienced swimmer out of the YMCA Winfins program.

9       Alex Miller

9       Hodd Gorman - An experienced swimmer having spent time with both the YMCA Winfins and the USA Winona Water Wizards programs.

8       Kyle Schneiser

7       Tyler Suman- An experienced swimmer having spent time with both the YMCA Winfins and the USA Winona Water Wizards programs.

The big question marks for the squad appear to be in the 500 Freestyle Distance event, the 200IM, and the specialty strokes, Fly, Back and Breast. It will be interesting to how Coach Burt capitalizes on his Seniors and what he carves out of the rough diamonds he has started the season with.

The Season Schedule right now is:

12/16/2010         Albert Lea

12/18/2011         Albert Lea Invite

12/21/2010         Rochester Century                @ Winona

1/6/2011              Austin

1/8/2011              Austin Invite

1/13/2011           Rochester Mayo

1/25/2011           Holmen, WI                            @ Winona

1/27/2011           Owatonna

2/1/2011              Rochester John Marshall

2/3/2011              Faribault                                 @ Winona

2/12/2011                     Big 9 Championships

2/24 - & 2/26/2011       Section 1AA Meet

3/3 – 3/5/2011              MN State Swimming & Diving Championships