Tribune photos by Rand Middleton
WILLMAR -- The Willmar Cardinals had won a relay, just missed a school record in another, qualified seven swimmers for state and still wanted more at the conclusion of the Section 3A Swimming and Diving finals on Saturday.
"We'll get the school record at state," promised Andy Johnson, referring to Willmar's 400-yard free-style relay, which had just taken second behind Fergus Falls. "We'll get Fergus as state, too."
Johnson had anchored both the 200- and 400-freestyle relays. The Cardinals' 200 team won an exciting race by .26 ahead of Dassel-Cokato/Litchfield while dropping the school and pool record to 1:29.69.
"I guess that would be the highlight," said Johnson, who advanced in four events.
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Andrew Nicklawsky and Steven Kluver also head to Minneapolis to swim in four events. Jackson Roberts goes in three, Kyle Schmidt in two relays, Ryan Larsen in two events and Ross Schwartz in the medley relay.
DCL also had a big day in the Willmar pool. Dan Felt, Tom Werner and Tim Walker all qualified in four freestyle events. Felt won the open 200 for a second straight year. DCL also had two of the top three divers in Brandon Evenson and Bryton Emery.
Montevideo/YME's David Nedrud will go in three events after swimming a personal best in the 50 free (22.69). Last year's 3A backstroke champ switched to the butterfly this year and took second.
Minnewaska/Morris will send Stefan Lemke, who finished under a second behind Felt in the 200 free and won the 500 free in a time of 5:08.18.
Star of the meet honors would have to go to either Nathan Jobe or Mike Hurley of Fergus Falls. Both had four wins to lead the Otters to first place with 381 points, followed by Willmar with 315 and DCL with 246.
Hurley set a pool and section record in the individual medley with a time of 1:58.68, nearly nine seconds up on the runner-up. He also won the breaststroke while swimming on the winning medley and 400 relays with Jobe.
Nicklawsky dropped .72 seconds off his 50 time over two days to hit a new low for him of 22.57.
Roberts' times were in the range he's swam all year. He missed qualifying for the 100 free by .24.
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Ben Saint fell .07 short in the breaststroke.
Kluver, who was out seven weeks last year with a back injury, made up for lost time by winning the backstroke and qualifying by time in the 50 free. Larsen swam on the opening relay, which dropped over four seconds from its seed, and then took second in the breaststroke.
The Class A state meetstarts at noon on Friday at the University of Minnesota Aquatics Center.
(1) Fergus Falls 381 (2) Willmar 315 (3) Dassel-Cokato/Litchfield 246 (4) Hutchinson 231 (5) Melrose/Sauk Centre 183 (6) Montevideo/Yellow Medicine East 181 (7) Park Rapids 179 (8) Perham 176.5 (9) Rocori 127 (10) Detroit Lakes 100.5 (11) Minnewaska/Morris 59 (12) Thief River Falls 52
(State qualifiers in bold)
200 MEDLEY RELAY - (1) Fergus Falls 1:41.03 (2) Hutchinson 1:42.75 (3) Perham 1:43.57 (4) Willmar: S. Kluver, Ryan Larsen, Ross Swartz, Kyle Schmidt; 1:43.87 ... (7) Montevideo/YME Nedrud, Aaron Erickson, Owen Hein, Bryton Emery; 1:46.83 (9) DC/Litchfield: Andrew Nystedt, Willy Leafblad, Keeley McConkey, Gareth Schultz; 1:49.07
200 FREESTYLE - (1) Daniel Felt, DCL, 1:50.45 (2) Stefan Lemke, MM, 1:51.19 (3) Tim Walker, DCL, 1:51.24 (4) Tom Werner, DCL, 1:51.34 (5) Andy Johnson, Wil, 1:51.47 (6) Casey Gismer, Per, 1:53.13 (7) Preston Anderson, FF, 1:53.34 ... (13) Ross Swartz, Wil, 2:02.79 (16) Kameron Peck, MYME, 2:05.59
200 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY - (1) Mike Hurley, FF, 1:58.68 (2) Elliot Lawrence, Per, 2:07.75 (3) Dalton Theis, Hut, 2:07.87 (4) Joel Money, FF, 2:09.07 (5) Ethan McMahon, Per, 2:10.17 (6) Evan Glasson, Hut, 2:10.24 ... (8) Ben Saint, 2:12.37 (14) Andrew Nystedt, DCL, 2:22.53 (15) Ryan Larsen, Wil, 2:23.43
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50 FREESTYLE - (1) Nathan Jobe, FF, 22.38 (2) Jackson Roberts, Wil, 22.45 (3) Andrew Nicklawsky, Wil, 22.57 (4) David Nedrud, MYME, 22.69 (5) Steve Kluver, Wil, 23.06 ... (8) Bryton Emery, MYME, 23.82 (11) Kyle Schmidt, Wil, 23.86 (15) Brandon Evenson, MYME, 24.70
DIVING - (1) Jon Melgaard, DL, 317.65 (2) Marcus DeSmith, DCL, 315.65 (3) Tyler Byrd, DCL, 306.15 (4) Matt Lalli, Per, 306.00 ... (5) Dakota Frazier, MYME, 301.25 (7) Torrey Sorenson, DCL, 269.85 (8) Brandon Evenson, MYME, 262.80 (10) Chasa Testa, MYME, 243.65 (12) Jordan Janisch, MYME, 215.45 (16) Bennett Woltjer, Wil, 204.10
100 BUTTERFLY - (1) Ethan McMahon, Per, 54.72 (2) David Nedrud, MYME, 55.45 (3) Colton Storseth, Per, 56.31 (4) Elliot Lawrence, Per, 57.13 ... (9) Owen Hein, MYME, 1:00.22 (11) Tyler Studanski, Wil, 1:01.67 (12) Keeley McConkey, DCL, 1:01.80
100 FREESTYLE - (1) Nathan Jobe, FF, 48.63 (2) Tim Walker, DCL, 49.20 (3) Andy Johnson, Wil, 50.18 (4) Tom Werner, DCL, 50.45 (5) Andrew Nicklawsky, Wil, 50.77 ... (8) Jackson Roberts, Wil, 51.26 (9) Kyle Schmidt, Wil, 52.47 (15) Dylan Maus, MYME, 55.52
500 FREESTYLE - (1) Stefan Lemke, MM, 5:08.18 (2) Preston Anderson, FF, 5:08.67 (3) Daniel Felt, DCL, 5:11.19 (4) Collin Heienen, MSC, 5:12.97 ... (8) Dan Schulz, MYME, 5:38.68 (13) Ed Fenske, Wil, 5:43.68 (14) Robert Brau, Wil, 5:46.06 (15) Mike Husmann, DCL, 5:48.05 (16) Kameron Peck, MYME, 5:52.59
200 FREESTYLE RELAY - (1) Willmar: Roberts, Schmidt, Nicklawsky, Johnson; 1:29.69 (2) DC/Litchfield: Werner, McConkey, Walker, Felt; 1:29.95 (3) Fergus Falls 1:32.81 (4) Perham 1:33.26 (5) Montevideo/YME: Owen Hein, Brandon Evenson, Bryton Emery, Nedrud; 1:33.71
100 BACKSTROKE - (1) Steve Kluver, Wil, 56.58 (2) Joel Money, FF, 57.21 (3) Ryan Traeger, Hut, 57.52 (4) Colton Storseth, Per, 58.87 (5) Cole Bateman, Hut, 59.54 (6) Matt Mckeever, Hut, 59.70 ... (13) Andrew Nystedt, Wil, 1:03.63 (14) Trevor Fosso, Wil, 1:04.30 (15) Tyler Studanski, Wil, 1:04.57 (16) Kyle Rozendaal, Wil, 1:04.86
100 BREASTSTROKE - (1) Mike Hurley, FF, 1:01.97 (2) Ryan Larsen, Wil, 1:04.15 (3) Dalton Theis, Hut, 1:04.65 (4) Luke Hofland, Per, 1:04.90 ... (5) Ben Saint, Wil, 1:05.77 (11) Reid Olson, Wil, 1:09.83 (13) Willy Leafblad, DCL, 1:11.17 (16) Brandon Jordahl, MYME, 1:13.53
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400 FREESTYLE RELAY - (1) Fergus Falls 3:18.01 (2) Willmar: Roberts, Nicklawsky, Kluver S., Johnson: 3:18.69 (3) DC/Litchfield: Felt, Werner, McConkey, Walker; 3:19.65 (4) Melrose/Sauk Centre 3:29.19 ... (8) Montevideo/YME: Anthony Carruth, Kameron Peck, Evenson, Dylan Maus; 3:47.87
