Boys Swimming and Diving Sweeps Section 2A
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The Breck/Blake Boys Swimming and Diving Team started strong in the opening round of the Section 2-A Tournament held at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center on Wednesday night. Hoping to reprise last year's successful second place finish in the State Tournament, the Breck/Blake swimmers came out of the blocks and won first place in the opening 200 medley relay event. Breck/Blake went on to win 7 first place finishes in the 11 event Section Prelims swim meet including all three team relay events. First place individual honors were won by Breck senior and Co-Captain Colin McCarthy in the 100 backstroke and 200 Individual Medley, Breck sophomore Will Orlady in the 500 freestyle; and Blake senior and Co-Captain Will Jenkins in the 200 Freestyle. Second place finishes were posted by Blake sophomore John Piirainen in the 200 Individual Medley and by Breck sophomore Will Orlady in the 200 Freestyle. In an auspicious sign of good things to come, Breck 8th grader Nathan Yueh cut 5 seconds off his prior best time to capture 3rd place in the 100 Butterfly. In each of the 11 swimming events, Breck/Blake filled the ranks of the top 16 swimmers who advance to the Section Finals to be held this Friday at the U of M Pool. Although team point totals are recorded only at the Section Finals, the Breck/Blake swimmers accumulated the highest unofficial team point total during the preliminary eliminations on Wednesday night.
Blake/Breck opened a lead in the 200 medley relay with Colin McCarthy in the backstroke and Will Orlady in the breaststroke leg. John Piirainen maintained the lead in his Fly and Blake freshman Joe Ali contributed a fast freestyle finish.
Cheering for the Blake/Breck team in distance events is easy: just yell, "GO Will!" Orlady and Jenkins were seeded first and Second in the 200 Freestyle, but finished in the exact opposite order: Will Jenkins edged out Will Orlady. Blake sophomore Max Markusen cut over 6 seconds off his seed time to qualify for the Section finals with a 12th place finish. Blake 8th grader Paul Koullich also posted a large cut and set his personal best time in the 200 Freestyle.
Eighth grader Nathan Yueh cut 11 seconds and advanced to the finals in the 200 Individual Medley by finishing in 4th place, close behind John Piirainen who captured 2nd place, right behind Colin McCarthy in 1st. Blake freshman Charlie Goullaud completed the race, shaving over three seconds off his prior personal best time.
Two of the Breck/Blake sprinters qualified for the Saturday finals in the 50-yard freestyle. Blake senior Duncan Salyer and Blake freshman Joe Ali advanced to the championship final heat by placing fifth and seventh. Breck freshman Ben Uke and Blake 8th grader Jack Markusen both set new personal records in the event.
Filling the hole left by the graduation of the team's former fly specialist Eric Witzel, the team's sole entrant in the 100 Butterfly, Nathan Yueh, captured third place.
Breck/Blake placed another three swimmers in the finals in the 100-freestyle event. Duncan Salyer, Joe Ali and Max Markusen each earned a spot in the Friday finals with tenth, twelfth and fifteenth place finishes. Paul Koullich set a new personal record in the 100 Free.
Breck/Blake's dominance in the grueling 500-yard freestyle event continued as Will Orlady captured first place with a time of 5:03.92. Will Jenkins finished in fourth place. Breck sophomore Jeff Portu cut over 16 seconds from his prior best time to place twelfth and earn a spot in the Section finals. Breck junior Paul Bakalich earned an alternate spot for the finals.
Although seeded in sixth place, the Breck/Blake 200-yard freestyle relay team of Max Markusen, John Piirainen, Duncan Salyer and Will Jenkins edged out Orono to finish in first place with a time of 1:34.18.
Colin McCarthy began his defense of last year's State Championship in the 100 Backstroke by capturing first place with a time of 56:57. Colin was followed closely by Monticello's Warren Schroden. Paul Bakalich, Jeff Portu and Blake 8th grader Jack Buchanen all finished in the top 16 in the backstroke with each swimmer setting a new personal record in the event.
The Breck/Blake team continues to field young talent in the 100-yard breaststroke. John Piiranen captured fourth place with a State Meet qualifying time of 1:05:84. Blake eighth-grader Jack Markusen qualified for the Section Final with a fifteenth place finish just edging out Blake freshman Charlie Goullaud who will be an alternate in the event. Blake 7th grader Jack Hunsicker completed the race and set a new personal record.
The section prelims ended with another Breck/Blake relay victory in the 400-yard freestyle relay. Will Jenkins, Will Orlady, Duncan Salyer, and Colin McCarthy captured first place with a time of 3:27.81.
The Breck/Blake team gathered extra points from Blake senior Yang Song who, in his first year of diving, completed a full set of 11 dives finishing in 15th place in Sections.
NEXT UP?
The Section 2-A Finals will be held at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center on Friday, February 24 at 7 pm. Swimmers and relay teams who achieve State Meet Qualifying Times or who place in the top 4 places in each event at Sections will advance to the Minnesota State Class A Meet, to be held at 12:00 Noon on Friday and Saturday (March 3 and 4) at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center.
Submitted by: Breck Parent Jim McCarthy
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