Breck/Blake Takes Second At Section 2A Meet
and Advances to State Tournament
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In a field of eleven teams competing in eleven swimming events, the Breck/Blake Boys Swim Team dominated the first and second place finishes at the Section 2A Boys Swim and Dive Championships. Breck/Blake took four 1st place finishes and five 2nd place spots, but still came up with the Section 2A Runner-up trophy. Even though Monticello captured only a single 1st place in the 11 events, the depth of their 24 swimmer bench finally prevailed to win the overall championship in a meet where points are earned through the top 16 places. Breck/Blake's first place finishes were achieved by Breck Freshman Will Orlady in the 500 Free, Blake Junior Will Jenkins in the 200 Freestyle, Breck Junior Colin McCarthy in the 100 Backstroke, and the 200 Free Relay team of Co-Captains Eric Witzel and John Hemsley, and Blake Juniors Will Jenkins and Duncan Salyer.
Monticello's only first place finish of the day came in the first race - the 200 medley relay. Colin McCarthy gained a small lead over Monticello’s Warren Schroden in the opening backstroke leg. Blake Freshman John Piirainen picked up more room in the breaststroke and then Blake senior and co-captain Eric Witzel opened up a little space in the butterfly. Duncan Salyer battled Monticello's Spencer Cheever down to the wire in the freestyle. Monticello barely touched out Breck/Blake at the finish.
Breck/Blake bounced back in the 200 Freestyle. Will Jenkins won first place with a time of 1:50:17. Will Orlady took 3rd place, John Hensley got 4th place and Blake Freshman Max Markusen took 8th place.
Sarwat Omar of Spring Lake Park broke the 2:00 barrier in the 200 Individual Medley and took 1st place with time of 1:59:95. He was followed closely by Colin McCarthy in second place, and John Piirainen in fourth place. Breck seventh grader Nathan Yueh made an impressive first appearance at a Section meet. Nathan was one of only two 7th graders to qualify for the Section 2A swimming finals and the only one to qualify in two swimming events. Nathan took 5th place in the consolation heat and 13th overall with a time of 2:21:01.
Three of the Breck/Blake sprinters qualified for the Saturday finals in the 50-yard freestyle. Eric Witzel finished fifth in 23:30. Duncan Salyer finished seventh. Blake eighth-grader Joe Ali finished fifteenth.
The 100-yard butterfly saw Sarwat Omar return to the pool and capture first place in his main event. Co-Captain Eric Witzel came in second place with a time of 54:84 beating his time from last year's section final
Breck/Blake' John Hemsley took 7th place in the 100 Freestyle and Duncan Salyer, Max Markusen, and Joe Ali finished tenth, fourteenth and sixteenth.
Will Orlady and Will Jenkins, matched stroke for stroke for 20 lengths of the pool in the 500 Freestyle. In the final push, Will Orlady touched the wall just before Will Jenkins to take first place. Two other long-distance swimmers, Breck sophomore Paul Bakalich and Breck freshman Jeffrey Portu, finished 15th and 16th in the event.
The Breck/Blake 200-yard freestyle relay team of Will Jenkins, Hemsley, Orlady, and Witzel handily beat the Monticello relay team with a first place in 1:33:05.
Colin McCarthy came strong out of the starting block in the 100 Backstroke and no one ever caught up to him. He finished in first with a time of 55:32. Competition lies ahead, however, since Colin's time places him in second seed position at the State Meet with others only hundredths of a second behind. Nathan Yueh and Paul Bakalich finished 12th and 15th in the event.
Blake ninth grader John Piirainen qualified for the State Meet by taking 4th place in the 100 yard breaststroke.
The section meet ended with a surprise swim from the fourth seeded Spring Lake Park 400 free relay team lead by Swimmer of the Meet, Sarwat Omar. With the #2 seed Monticello team on its right, Breck/Blake lead off with Will Jenkins, then John Hemsley and Will Orlady. Breck had a small lead over Monticello when Colin McCarthy dove in. Colin put extra distance between himself and the Monticello swimmer, but Omar was filling the gap. In an exciting finish, Sarwat Omar swept into the wall to win with Breck coming in a close 2nd and Monticello third.
All three Breck/Blake Relay teams qualified for the State Class A Tournament as did Will Orlady, Will Jenkins, Colin McCarthy, Eric Witzel, John Hemsley, and John Piirainen in their individual events. Other Blake swimmers are Jack Buchanan and Charlie Goullaud.
All Breck/Blake fans are invited to attend and cheer on the team at the Minnesota State Class A Swim and Dive Tournament at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center. Preliminary races will be held on Friday March 4 at noon. Finals with the top 16 swimmers in each event will be held on Saturday March 5 at noon.
Submitted by: Breck Parent Jim McCarthy
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