“I’m feeling ill.” “ Yeah, I know what you mean, these guys are good.” “No, I mean I might have to get off deck in a hurry!” “Gees, hang in there, we knew all the Roch teams were tough but we gotta finish.” “Urp, move, I gotta run!” “Ok, but Coach ain’t gonna be happy.”

One tough opponent is bad, but two makes for a rough night.

The Winona Winhawks (0-4-0), (0-4-0) knew they were going to have an uphill battle with Rochester Century ((6-0-0), (6-0-0) coming to WSHS. They had been having their way with most of the Big 9 and the Winhawks are still finding their strokes. When the bug started going around, it made the night an even tougher contest. A number of Winhawks had to bow out either prior to or during the swim meet requiring some last minute line-up shuffles and diminished scoring. 

The 200 Medley Relay gave the appearance that the Winhawks were there with a purpose. The relay of Hodd Gorman, Cal Dretske, Kyle Schneider and Roger Brosnahan turned in their best relay of the season for a solid 2^nd place just 3 tenths behind the imposing Panthers.

Winhawks           4              Century                10

The 200 Freestyle went off as expected with Winhawk times a bit off prior meets.

Winhawks           9              Century                21

The 200 IM is a strong suit for the Panthers, Cal Dretske contributed his second best swim of the season but it was rewarded with only a 4^th place finish.  

Winhawks           12           Century                34

The 50 Freestyle was one of the two highest scoring events the Winhawks had. Roger Brosnahan placed a very convincing 1^st with Co-Captains Alex Kline and Joey Kleinow tying and splitting the point for 5^th. 

Winhawks           19           Century                43

The lone event win was due to Century having no divers, but Dan Karnick put on a personal show anyway and set a season high score in the process.

Winhawks           25           Century                43

The 100 Butterfly featured Winhawks Kyle Schneider who placed 2^nd and Sr. Co-Captain Alex Kline, swimming his fastest time ever gets touched out by 4 one hundredths and scores in 4^th. 

Winhawks           30           Century                54

The 100 Freestyle was the high scoring event of the night for the Winhawks in spite of illness. Roger Brosnahan swam valiantly to 2^nd and then left the pool deck. With his teammates cheering him to the wall, Connor Kosidowski took 4^th place JUST missing Minuteman status by 2 one hundredths of a second! Finishing out the scoring for Winona was Aaron Whyte. 

Winhawks           37           Century                63

The 500 Freestyle has been such a great event to watch all season. Every team the Winhawks swim against have a swimmer that closely matches Winona’s Hodd Gorman. As such, he has been tested meet after meet after meet. This evening was no exception and Hodd, swimming side-by-side with the Panther for 350 yards, edged ahead for the next 100 yards looking very determined. The final 50 was nearly a sprint as the two pulled back even. After swimming side by side for 5 minutes and 24 seconds, Hodd was touched out by 2 tenths of a second, taking second place.  

Winhawks           42           Century                74

The 200 Freestyle Relay was where some line-up changes started occurring due to Winhawks having to leave the pool deck, succumbing to the bug that has been spreading. As such, a second place finish was all that was in the cards. 

Winhawks           46           Century                84

The 100 Back was another strong event for the Panthers and Aaron Whyte’s stellar time, right there with his best of the season was only good for 3^rd place. 

Winhawks           52           Century                94

The 100 Breaststroke was, at the risk of sounding like a broken record, another strong showing for Century. Cal Dretske rises to the occasion swimming his fastest time of the season good for 3^rd place. Jake Johnson does likewise setting a new personal best. The meet is out of reach for the Winhawks and Century starts swimming exhibition.  

Winhawks           65           Century                94

The 400 Freestyle relay is for show as Winhawks are getting sick in droves and Century has the meet in the bag. Two of the 5 relays entered are DQ’ed for early starts and the meet ends with little drama. 

Winona                73           Rochester Century          94

Next up, the Austin Packers visit WSHS Thursday the 19^th.