Swimmers grind through tough workouts, hoping for postseason payoff

Lakeville South remains undefeated in SSC

It’s the point of the swimming season where there’s one last brutal training push to prepare for the championship season.

Physically tapped, most swimmers are nowhere close to their best times. It may be giving Lakeville South head coach Rick Ringeisen pause, as some of his up-and-coming athletes are still producing lifetime bests, and he is excited to learn just how fast they can still perform.

“The team has worked hard to become stronger and swim faster, (with) our team making big time drops throughout the season,” said Ringeisen. “Last week was our most challenging set of workouts of the season (thus far); I knew that my guys would be challenged with the Farmington team. Their coach and I set up close races to bring out the best in our guys’ performances.”

Notably, Isaac DeMaster and Nathan Hotchkiss dropped over five seconds off their best 200-yard freestyle times, while Hotchkiss dropped another nine seconds off his 500 freestyle. Brody Moritz and Brandon Clark dropped over 10 seconds each in the 200 individual medley. Brody Suby took 1.3 seconds off his 50 freestyle and Carter Nesbitt dropped 3.57 seconds off his 100 butterfly and 2.69 off his 100 breaststroke. Those performances helped South to a 97-83 victory over Farmington on Jan. 26. The Cougars have won seven consecutive South Suburban Conference dual meets.

Two Dodge Middle School pool records went down, with South senior Gage Boushee swimming 1 minute, 40.60 seconds in the 200 freestyle and Ethan LaBounty punching the wall at 58.02 for the 100 breaststroke record. Grady Evenson won the 50 freestyle (22.53) and 100 backstroke (53.41), and Noah Cochran returned from illness to lead the field in the 100 butterfly (54.33).

Breckin McGill led diving, racking up 172.20 points. Farmington’s Logan Lesher was second with 107.70.

The Tigers also showcased their tough training this season, running away with both 500 freestyle distance events. In JV, Evan Christensen raced teammate Noah Roth to the wall, winning by only half a second with a time of 6:37.50. For Varsity, it was Justin Raymond touching first in 5:08.23 ahead of teammate Hantruy Nguyen (5:13.36).

The Farmington 200 freestyle relay varsity squad of Adam Moorlach, Nguyen, Eli Montgomery and Jake Peterson also won in 1:33.68, giving the Tigers eight team points.

“It was a fun meet for both teams, with many season-best and lifetime-best performances. By the end, the guys’ energy tanks were empty,” said Ringeisen.

Lakeville South will face Prior Lake, the only other undefeated SSC team, on Tuesday, Feb. 6, to decide the conference championship. The Lakers are ranked fourth in the latest Minnesota Swim and Vibe Class AA poll while South is sixth. Prior Lake will livestream from the Hidden Oaks Middle School pool on GameTime Media at 6 p.m.

North 93, Shakopee 82

The Panthers were able to shake off a rocky start against the Sabers on Jan. 26, moving to 4-3 for the season.

A North disqualification in the 200 medley relay gave the Sabers an early 12-2 lead. Outstanding individual performances from Jonah Hoffman (200 freestyle – 1:46.12 and 500 freestyle – 5:00.07), Cooper Krance (200 IM – 1:58.87), Tyler Hultgren (100 butterfly -1:02.21), Isaac Snaza (100 freestyle – 52.17) and Parker Ehrreich (100 backstroke – 1:00.76) helped pull North back into the meet, with the Panthers sending the meet into exhibition after Ehrreich’s backstroke event.

Alex Byer and Caleb Baldeshwiler earned 10 points for the Panthers in diving. Byer flipped his way to first with 242.20 points, while Baldeshwiler was second with 154.95.

North is also seeing lifetime-best swims despite the grind of daily practices and a grueling meet schedule.

“We had (another) good meet with over 40 lifetime-best swims,” said Panthers head coach Dan Schneider. “I do feel we had too many disqualifications for this late in the season. We need to clean things up as we head into the championships. We only have two meets left to have everything perfected for our taper meets.”

Schneider singled out Kai Younglove and Graham Ondricek as the top competitors of the evening. Younglove was third in the varsity 100 butterfly in 1:08.89 and touched first in the junior varsity 100 backstroke (1:13.90). Ondricek had strong swims in both the 100 and 200 freestyle for JV. He was fourth in the 200 freestyle (2:46.33) and fifth in the 100 freestyle (1:21.04).

Panther Jonathan Colbert had an outstanding 200 freestyle, winning the JV heat in 2:17.10. Cassius Ly won the JV 200 IM (2:48.97), and Parker Mann won the 50 freestyle JV in 26.53, which would have placed sixth in the varsity race.

Wyatt Anderson (100 butterfly JV – 1:15.53), Joey Younglove (100 freestyle JV – 1:04.47) and Aiden Sorlie (100 breaststroke JV – 1:15.88) were also individual winners for the Panthers. Wyatt Anderson, Parker Alexander, Nicholas Anderson and Gavin Klucas won the 200 freestyle relay for JV, touching in 2:00.40 with a 27.80 split from Alexander on the second leg.

North won the JV meet 81-49.

Lakeville North will host Farmington on Feb. 6 at the Blanchard Aquatic Center in the final conference dual meet for both teams. Championship season begins Saturday, Feb. 10, with the South Suburban Conference junior varsity championships at Hidden Oaks Middle School Pool in Prior Lake. The meet begins at 1 p.m.