“Hey what’s with him, he looks a lot taller all of a sudden?” “Yeah, look down, his feet haven’t touched the floor since that swim 10 minutes ago!”

The Winona Winhawks (2-7-0), (1-7-0) went into the Section 1AA Championships not really sure what to expect. Coach Schulz has been instructing them that there is both a physical AND a mental aspect to the sport, and they needed to kick the mental into gear! 
 

Well, the Winhawks GOT mental, surprising not only themselves but a few of their competitors even more so. Notice has been served and the Saturday Finals will be the true test of mind over matter. If the Winhawks use their minds, the competition won’t matter.

The relays at Section prelims are a rough indicator of what to expect for Finals. With only eight teams in the Section, everyone makes it to the Finals, as long as you do not DQ. So prelim swims are just a mechanism to get to Saturday and mean little. 

The 200 Medley Relay saw the Winhawks seeded 7^th. They dropped 4 seconds and improved to the 3^rd seed for Saturday afternoon. Don’t get me wrong, prelims didn’t mean much, but swimming in the Final Heat rather than the First heat can be a huge mental boost, and we are all about MENTAL Saturday!

Also remember that seeding in Championship meets is different than duals. The fastest seeds are spread out over the final 3 heats so as to not have Finals just be a repeat of the prelims. The fastest seed time gets Lane 4 in the final heat, the second fastest seed is in Lane 4 of the second to the last heat and the 3^rd fastest seed is in Lane 4 of the 3^rd to the last heat. Then the 4^th fastest seed goes back to Lane 5 of the last heat and the pattern continues, spreading the seeds out over 3 full heats.

The 200 Freestyle had Winona’s two possible carry overs to Saturday seeded 11^th and 16^th. Sophomore Hodd Gorman, the 11^th seed was at the blocks in the 3^rd heat. There were 3 faster seeds swimming with him. He went out with the leaders and stayed with them wire to wire. Although their seed times were separated by over 5 seconds, Hodd slices 5 ½ seconds off his seed time and his 1:51.47, a new personal best by OVER 4 ½ seconds is good for 3^rd in his heat separated by only 4 tenths of a second from the heat winner! The Final Heat features Sr. Co-Captain Joey Kleinow. Seeded 16^th, he has to maintain his seed to come back Saturday, but he KNOWS everyone is looking to drop time and MENTALLY knows he has to too.  Joey goes off strong and battles to stay with the fastest seeds of the event. They all do drop time but Joey out performs them. Shaving 6 ½ seconds off his seed time he sets a new personal best as well as moves up one spot to 15^th seed and is making the return trip for Saturday finals.

The 200IM is NOT the Winhawks’ strong suit. In fact, they only had 3 entries rather than the 4 you are allowed. Winona’s best hope was Sophomore Cal Dretske, seeded 13^th on the strength of his Breaststroke skills (his specialty). Swimming in the final heat Cal kept the field in sight and then closed during the breaststroke (3^rd) leg. He shaves nearly 4 seconds off and moves up in the field, securing the 10^th seed in Saturday’s finals. 

The 50 Freestyle saw improvement early on with Freshman Kyle Schneider and Senior Connor Kosidowski both swimming personal best times in the opening heat. Sr. Co-Captain Alex Kline seeded 20^th needs to churn and burn if he is gonna beat into the top 16 and swim Saturday. Off the block in Lane 1 quickly he stays with the pack and swims his personal best time. That achievement improves him to 15^th overall and a slot in prime time Saturday! Cotter Sophomore Roger Brosnahan is Seeded 4^th and swimming in the final heat next to top the seed. Leaving his competition suit for Saturday, were not sure if mental or physical failed him but he misses his seed time and falls to 9^th overall and Lane 4 in the Consolation Final. Qualification for State is based on two possibilities, finishing 1^st or 2^nd in the finals or meeting the time standard. Not being able to better his position, (one cannot finish higher than 9^th if you are in the Consolation Heat), Roger must beat the Time Standard for the 50 Freestyle of 22.25 seconds. I have never seen a Consolation Heat contestant qualify for State, but if anyone can pull it off, it would be Roger!

Diving has Cotter Senior Co-Captain Dan Karnick resting in 3^rd place. He will perform his final 3 dives in front of the crowd Saturday to determine if he gets to make the trip to the Big Show. The top 4 point finishers get to go, and Dan is looking to assure himself of that!

The 100 Butterfly is another underrepresented event. Sr. Co-Captain Alex Kline, seeded 17^th, once again needs to dig deep to “out drop” his competitors and move into the top 16. Alex smoothly swims a new personal best by over 2 seconds and manages to nab the 16^th finish and a return ticket for Saturday! Freshman Kyle Schneider, who set a personal best early in the season and then had some battles with illness, was seeded 13^th. Kyle goes out and swims his FIRST sub minute 100 Fly and manages to maintain his 13^th seed and a spot in the Consolation Final Saturday with his teammate Alex!

The 100 Freestyle saw Sr. Co-Captain Joey Kleinow go out and have a great personal best swim, dropping over 2 seconds but is just shy of making finals Saturday. Cotter Sophomore Roger Brosnahan seeded 5^th unbelievably repeats the course of events from the 50 and qualifies for Saturday in the Consolation Heat in 9^th place. Once again, Roger will have to mentally bear down and go after that time standard of 49.05. Can he do it twice in one meet? I am betting he can!

The 500 Freestyle has been the Hodd Gorman show all season and today was no exception. Seeded 7^th in a field of distance machines, Hodd was in lane 3 alongside the fastest seed in the field, Chris Tri the Big 9 champion Senior from Century. Hodd went out with him and stayed with him through 100 yards, starting to fall off, (their seed times were 20 seconds apart, Hodd continues to try and keep him in sight. Looking smooth all the way through, Hodd touches right behind Tri in a new personal best 5:01.45 and qualifies in 5^th for the big Final on Saturday!

The 200 Free Relay was supposedly just a place setter for Finals. The Winhawks finish in 4^th, another big coup to be in the second heat on Finals Day!

The 100 Backstroke saw the spotlight on Sophomore Aaron Whyte.  Swimming in the final heat but seeded 16^th, Aaron was looking to make good on that seed and put his suit on Saturday in Finals. Aaron did not disappoint shaving a second and a half off his seed for a new personal best and the 15^th Seed in Saturday’s Consolation Final.

The 100 Breaststroke was THE race of the evening. In the second heat, Junior Jake Johnson was swimming next to Sophomore Cal Dretske due to how their seeds, (12^th and 6^th respectively) shook out. Following on Cal’s heels, Jake drops a huge 3 seconds but Cal has THE MONSTER SWIM OF THE NIGHT dropping over 4 ½ seconds to set a faster time than the quickest seed in the event. Two more heats take place with the best in Section 1AA gunning for Cal Dretske but to no avail. Cal takes the Number 1 seed into Saturday’s final on the back of the 10^th FASTEST WINHAWK Breaststroke EVER!

The 400 Freestyle saw the Winhawks, usually spent by this point due to their low numbers qualify 7^th for Saturday’s Finals.

See you Saturday at the Rec Center for the Section 1AA Finals. It is going to be memorable as now the Winhawks not only have the skills, but they BELIEVE they have the talent! Wanna get MENTAL? Come to Rochester Saturday!