WILLMAR -- First by a stroke.
That's about all that separated Willmar and its Central Lakes Conference rival St. Cloud Tech after 12 events on Saturday at the seven-team Cardinals swimming and diving invitational.
The Tech Tigers went home with the first-place trophy after scoring 449 points, shading the Cardinals by a half-point.
"Take your pick," said a disappointed Willmar coach Carl Shuldes, referring to the results of any of the 11 swimming events where Willmar might have made up the difference.
But sticking out like a raw wound were Willmar's two disqualifications in the opening event, the 200 medley relay. The Cardinals did win the event on the way to sweeping the relays, but their "B" and "C" teams were both disqualified for leaving the block early.
ADVERTISEMENT
That cost Willmar a minimum of 25 points.
Willmar's lone individual first came from Matt Fuglestad (butterfly). He was on all three winning relays, as was Andy Nicklawsky.
Andy Johnson, Ben Saint, Kyle Schmidt and Jackson Roberts also powered the winning relays and placed in the top five individually.
Joe Palmersten was a two-time winner (individual medley, breaststroke) for St. Cloud Tech. Dan Felt of Dassel-Cokato/Litchfield won both the 200 freestyle and 500 freestyle.
Montevideo got a first place from Brandon Evenson, who won the morning 11-dive program. David Nedrud (butterfly) and Sam Hathway (breaststroke) won silver medals for the Thunder Hawks.
Stefan Lemke of Minnewaska/Morris placed second in the 500.
Team scoring
(1) St. Cloud Tech 449 (2) Willmar 448.5 (3) Dassel-Cokato/Litchfield 375 (4) Elk River 354 (5) Montevideo 263.5 (6) Perham 223 (7) Minnewaska/Morris 151
ADVERTISEMENT
200 MEDLEY RELAY - (1) Willmar: Roberts, Saint, Fuglestad, Nicklawsky; 1:48.76 (2) Elk River 1:51.64 (3) Montevideo: Olson, Springer, Swenson, Rotramel; 1:52.31 (4) Dassel-Cokato/Litchfield 1:53.66
200 FREESTYLE - (1) Dan Felt, DCL, 1:56.17 (2) Andy Johnson, Wil, 1:56.19 ... (4) Stefan Lemke, MM, 1:59.55 (5) Tim Walker, DCL, 2:02.14 (7) Jack Poers, Mtv, 2:02.37 (10) Erik Hedy, Wil, 2;p07.46 (12) Ross Swartz, Wil, 2;08.21
200 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY - (1) Joe Palmersten, Tec, 2:08.04 ... (4) Ben Saint, Wil, 2:19.44 (6) Tom Werner, DCL, 2:22.36 (8) Jesse Duhn, MM, 2:23.39 (9) Owen Hein, Mtv, 2;2d6.71 (10) Jason Cain, Wil, 2:26.9 (12) Karl Bekkala, DCL, 2:27.98 (14) Ryan Larsen, Wil, 2:33.13 (15) Dan Schultz, Mtv, 2:34.36 (16) Dave Lemke, MM, 2;34.58
50 FREESTYLE - (1) Robb Rotramel, ER, 22.74 (2) Blake Bendix, Tec, 23.19 (3) Jackson Roberts, Wil, 23.54 (4) Andrew Nicklawsky, Wil, 23.75 .. (6) Sam Hathaway, Mtv, 24.66 (7) Kyle Schmidt, Wil, 24.83 (8) Stefan Walker, DCL, 25.15 (14) Leeley McConkey, DCL, 26.33 (16) tie, Andrew Nystedt, DCL, 26.81; Bryton Emery, Mtv, 26.81
DIVING - (1) Brandon Evenson, Mtv, 259.05 (2) Tyler Byrd, DCL, 252.10 (3) Torrey Sorensen, DCL, 242.75 (4) Marcus DeSmith, DCL, 234.7 (5) Cass Kreitlow, MM, 231.85 (6) Brandon Norman, Mtv, 215.65 (7) Dakota Frazer, Mtv, 163.1 (8) Kyle Lieberman, Tec, 161.45
100 BUTTERFLY - (1) Matt Fuglestad, Wil, 58.51 (2) David Nedrud, Mtv, 59.42 (3) Da... (4) Owen Hein, Mtv, 1:04.99 (5) Jason Cain, Wil, 1:05.56 (6) Tyler Studanski, Wil, 1;05.86 (13) Trevor Fosso, Wil, 1;09.53 (15) Keeley McConkey, DCL, 1:13.12 (16) Colt Morden, DCL, 1;13.75
100 FREESTYLE - (1) Robb Rotramel, ER, 49.85 (2) Blake Bendiz, Tec, 50.83 (3) Jackson Roberts, Wil, 53.47 (4) Tom Werner, DCL, 54.04 (5) Kyle Schmidt, Wil, 54.29 (7) Stefvan Walker, DCL, 56.42 (11) Eric Hedy, Wil, 58.19 (12) Reid Olson, Wil, 59.24 (13) Davied Lemke, MM, 1:01.25 (14) Bryton emery, Mtv, 1:01.89
500 FREESTYLE - (1) Dan Felt, DCL, 5:25.87 (2) Stefan Lemke, MM, 5:28.46 (3) Andy Johnson, Wil, 5:28.46 ... (5) Jack Powers, Mtv, 5:38.76 (10) Tim Walker, DCL, 5:52.33 14) Ross Swartz, Wil, 6:04.84 (15) Dan Schultz, Mtv, 6:05.49 (16) Ed Fenske, Wil, 6:10.01
ADVERTISEMENT
200 FREESTYLE RELAY - (1) Willmar: Roberts, Nicklawsky, Fuglestad, Johnson; 1:33.55 (2) St. Cloud Tech 1:35.83 (3) Dassel-Cokato/Litchfield 1:38.12 (4) Montevideo 1:39.01 (7) Willmar: Larsen, Hedy, Saint, Schmidt; 1;42.38 (8) Dassel-Cokato/Litchfield 1:44.02
100 BACKSTROKE - (1) Al Simson, Tec, 59.78 ... (3) David Nedrud, Mtv, 1;01.96 (4) Jesse Duhn, MM, 1;03.31 (7) Tyler Studanski, Wil, 1;06.56 (8) Trevor Fosso, Wil, 1;06.97 (9) Andrew Nystedt, DCL, 1;08.08 (11) Kyle Rozendaal, Wil, 1;11.03 (13) Austin Schieler, MM, 1:12.04 (14) Colt Morden, DCL, 1:12.09
100 BREASTSTROKE - (1) Joe Palmersten, Tec, 1;04.19 (2) Sam Hathaway, Mtv, 1;08.41 (3) tie, Ben Saint, Wil, 1:09.72; Karl Baekkala, DCL, 1:09.72 (7) Billy Dolan, DCL, 1:11.14 (8) Ryan Larsen, Wil, 1;12.89 (11) Reid Olson, Wil, 1;13.47 (13) Willy Leafblad, DCL, 1;15.9 (15) Zach Kaiser, DCL, 1:17.48
400 FREESTYLE RELAY - (1) Willmar: Nicklawsky, Schmidt, Fuglestad, Johnson: 3;29.53 (2) St. Cloud Tech 3:30.79 (3) Elk Rier 3:36.56 (4) St. Cloud Tech 3:39.92 (5) Perham 3:40.38 (6) Willmar: Studanski, Swartz, Hedy, Cain: 3:51.69 (7) Dassel-Cokato/Litchfield (8) Minnewaska/Morris 4:04.68
