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 7th or 8th 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 4th fastest 50 time, the fastest 50 split on the Medley Relay, the 2nd fastest 100 Freestyle and the 3rd 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 7th 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
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