Ok, where are the rest of them hiding?

On Thursday the Winona Winhawks Boys Swimming & Diving team heads to Rochester to the “pool in the round” at Mayo High School. The Winhawks (1-1, 1-1) are coming off a seventh place finish at the Packer Invitational while Rochester Mayo (2-3, 2-3) placed second at that same invite in Austin. When you look at the Mayo bench, you’ll wonder, “Where did the rest go”?  What the Spartans lack in numbers they make up for in quality swims. The scoring at their meets to date indicates that they may not be entering 3 swimmers in every event. There are left over points from the total but the Spartans are competitive right through the 400 Free Relay. The Winhawks will again need to score some quality 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th places to give Mayo a run for their money.

The 200 Medley Relay has been the Winhawks’ best relay entry of the season. They saw a nice 3 second drop at the Packer Invite to finish 4^th. Unfortunately Mayo shaved off seven seconds to finish first. We’ll have to see which Spartan line up shows up to know how the Winhawks will fare.

The 200 Freestyle will feature Winhawk Junior Joey Kleinow against Mayo Junior Garret Dow. Dow has been below 2 minutes lately, I think Joey is ready to do the same.

The 200 IM has seen two Spartans, Sr. Roy Pillars and Freshman Sam Jaeger swimming in the 2 minute and teens. Winhawk Freshman Cal Dretske has been Winona’s strongest performer in the IM with Cotter Freshman Hodd Gorman right behind him but neither has yet broken through to the teens.

The 50 Freestyle has become Winhawk Sr. Louie La Porta’s domain this season. He finished 4^th in last weekend’s meet swimming a low 24 but edging up to the 23’s he has been swimming in relays. Mayo’s Sophomore Elliot Lynch swims a low 23 and will be a great challenge for Louie to take on.

The Winhawk Divers will be flying high after Sr. Co-Captain Justin Bublitz’s big win in last weekend’s Invite. Mayo, like Century has no divers so Winona will take the 13 points and say, “thank you very much”. This being at Mayo’s pool means you swimming spectators will get to WATCH DIVING for a change and you’ll be better for it, trust me.

The 100 Butterfly will be a great race as Mayo has one of the Section’s premier flyers in Sophomore Drew Hayes. Winhawk 8^th Grader Kyle Schneider has set a new personal best in every meet this season and chasing Hayes he will likely do it again.

The 100 Freestyle will see the speedsters once again go head to head and should be a great race. Mayo’s Junior duo of Garrett Dow and Luke Bower will be side-by-side with Winona Senior Co-Captain Louie La Porta for all four lengths making for some great drama.

The 500 Freestyle will be owned by Mayo Junior Ben Meyer, but Cotter Freshman Hodd Gorman should hold off Mayo’s Freshman Jason Chang to take 2^nd place.

The 200 Freestyle Relay should be Mayo’s to take if they want it.

The 100 Backstroke will push Winhawk Junior Avery Prondzinski to continue his streak of each of the last 4 swims being faster than its prior. Mayo’s Sophomore Elliot Lynch and Freshman Sam Jaeger will look to 1-2 him if they can.

The 100 Breaststroke is Winona’s chance for a second win of the evening. Freshman Cal Dretske is coming off of a personal best time at the Packer Invite. He needs to stay out in front of Mayo’s Pillar and Chang and improve his 100 yard trip for a fifth straight time this season.

The 400 Freestyle relay will come down to who is left available on both sides of the pool. Look to Mayo to have more horsepower left under the hood here.