Boys Swimming Wins Section Championship;
Advances to State Tournament
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The Breck/Blake Boys Swimming and Diving Team swept six first place finishes and captured the Section 2A Boys Swim and Dive Championships at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center on February 24. Breck/Blake opened and closed the meet with team victories in the 200 Medley Relay and 400 Free Relay. Individual first place finishes were achieved by Breck Sophomore Will Orlady in the 500 Free, Blake senior and co-captain Will Jenkins in the 200 Freestyle, and Breck Senior co-captain Colin McCarthy in the 100 Backstroke and 200 Individual Medley. Both Will Orlady and Will Jenkins broke the Breck/Blake team record in the 500 Free with their times of 4:52.09 and 4:52.18.
In the first 50 yards of the meet, Monticello's Warren Schroden renewed his four-year-old rivalry by speeding by Colin McCarthy in the opening backstroke leg. Will Orlady quickly broke out a lead in the breaststroke, which Blake sophomore John Piirainen maintained in the butterfly. Blake freshman Joe Ali held off Spring Lake Park's Kyle Winiecki in the freestyle leg win the event with a time of 1:42.48.
The 200 Freestyle was a repeat of the Section prelims with Breck/Blake finishing First/Second, Will/Will, Jenkins/Orlady. Both cut 4 seconds from their Wednesday night Prelim times finishing in 1:46.45 and 1:47.82. Blake sophomore Max Markusen also added meet points by finishing 6th in the consolation heat with a personal best time of 1:59.14.
Colin McCarthy took 1st place in the 200 Individual Medley with a time of 2:06.53. John Piirainen and Breck 8th grader Nathan Yueh both qualified for the State Meet in the event capturing 5th and 6th places, respectively.
Breck/Blake sprinters Duncan Salyer and Joe Ali turned in strong performances in the 50 Free taking fourth and fifth place. They won important points for the team but narrowly missed qualifying for State in this event.
Blake senior Yang Song mastered enough dives in his first season on the boards to earn points for Breck/Blake in the diving competition.
Before Diving, Breck/Blake lead over Orono in the team standings but saw that lead evaporate as Orono's divers dominated the field of 20 divers.
Orono pulled further ahead with three swimmers in the 100 Butterfly including a second place finish, but Nathan Yueh held up the Breck/Blake score and qualified for the State Meet in the Fly with a 4th place finish. Yueh was not only the sole 8th grader at the Section 2 Meet to qualify for an individual event at the State Meet; Nathan qualified in two events!
Orono's Robo Ibler then won the 100 Freestyle and Orono surged ahead of Breck/Blake by 18 points. Breck/Blake’s sprinters Duncan Salyer and Joe Ali helped the team point effort by taking third and fifth in the consolation heat.
Both Will Orlady and Will Jenkins shattered Alex Gundry’s 2004 team record in the 500 Free of 4:54.03 in the next event. Orlady and Jenkins swam the 20 lengths of the 500 Free and finished 9/100ths of a second apart with new record times of 4:52.09 and 4:52.18. Breck sophomore Jeffrey Portu posted a personal best time capturing 3rd place in the consolation heat. Breck/Blake moved back ahead of Orono by 7 points.
The Breck/Blake 200-yard freestyle relay team of Joe Ali, Max Markusen, Duncan Slayer and Will Jenkins moved on to State by taking third place with a time of 1:33.81. Monticello and Orono moved up in the point standings by taking first and second.
Colin McCarthy flew out of the starting block in the 100 Backstroke and Monticello's Warren Schroden never caught up to him. Colin finished first with a time of 55:59.With the strong finishes of Breck junior Paul Bakalich, Breck sophomore Jeffrey Portu and Blake 8th grader Jack Buchanen in the 100 Back, the team backstrokers boosted Breck/Blake back into a solid first place position with 301 points to Orono's 272.
Blake sophomore John Piirainen qualified for the State Meet by taking 3rd place in the 100-yard breaststroke with a personal best time of 1:03.57.
With so many extra points riding on the team relay event, the 400 Free Relay swimmers Will Jenkins, Duncan Salyer, Will Orlady and Colin McCarthy donned their full body and half body racing suits for the final event. Whether it was months of training or the shiny blue and grey Lycra, the Breck/Blake team pulled out ahead and finished in first place with a time of 3:21.62. The time is the fastest Sections time for the team and puts the 2005-06 crew in good position to set a new school record next week in the State Meet.
In addition to capturing the Section 2A Championship Trophy, all three Breck/Blake Relay teams qualified for the State Class A Tournament, as did Will Orlady, Will Jenkins, Colin McCarthy, John Piirainen and Nathan Yueh in their individual events. Relay swimmers Max Markusen and Joe Ali will join them.
STATE MEET NEXT WEEKEND
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:
PRELIMS: Friday March 3 at NOON
FINALS: Saturday March 4 at NOON (top 16 swimmers in each event)
Submitted by: Breck Parent Jim McCarthy
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