In a closely contested battle for first place at the 2023-24 Big 9 Conference boys swim and dive championships, the Northfield High School Gator/Raiders came up just short in their quest to top defending conference champions Rochester Century on Saturday, Dec. 10.
The Gator/Raiders compiled 401.5 team points at the championships, which were held in Rochester, while Century won the title with 431 points. Rochester Mayo placed third in the standings at 365 followed by Mankato East (203.5), Austin (166), Owatonna (159), Red Wing (116), Mankato West (101), Faribault (99), Rochester John Marshall (44) and Albert Lea (24).
“Rochester Century just managed to out touch Northfield in the 200 medley relay and the 200 free relay by a combined total of .39 seconds,” NHS coach Doug Davis said as he talked about the compete level at the Big 9 meet. “Had Northfield won those relays, the difference in the meet would have been just 5.5 points.”
Northfield, which is ranked number two in the latest Class A state poll, enjoyed four first place finishes at the meet. In the 50 free style, Jens Kasten topped the field with a time of 21.92 and Gabe Heinritz placed 10th in the 50 free at 23.14.
Josh Kraby added a first place for Northfield in the 100 butterfly with a winning time of 52.22, while teammates Evan Loe and Oliver Momberg placed seventh and eighth in the event respectively for NHS.
Kraby then returned in the 100 backstroke to place first for Northfield with a time of 53.51, while Loe placed eighth at 58.86. To complete Northfield’s run on top efforts, the Gator/Raiders 400 freestyle relay squad of Kasten, Nick Scheglowski, Will Udelhofen and Kraby placed first with a time of 3:13.52. This time broke the existing Northfield school record by over 2.5 seconds.
In the 200 medley relay, Northfield’s team of Kraby, Peyton Truman, Momberg and Heinritz placed second with a time of 1:38.36 — just off the pace of event winner Rochester Century’s time of 1:38.19.
In the 200 individual medley, Truman placed fourth with a time of 2:03.11 and Udelhofen and Scheglowski placed fourth and fifth respectively in the 200 freestyle. Kasten led the Gator/Raiders in the 100 freestyle with a third place time of 48.70 and Heinritz was fifth at 49.61. Udelhofen also showed well in the 500 freestyle with a third place finish at 5:10.09.
In one of the highly competitive relays, Northfield placed second in the 200 free relay at 1:27.67, as Rochester Century won the race at 1:27.55. In the 100 breaststroke, Truman placed second at 59.37 and Erick Granquist led the NHS divers with an eighth place finish in the 1M event with a score of 319.45.
The Northfield junior varsity and varsity swim and dive teams posted 78 lifetime and season bests at the conference meet. In the Junior Varsity meet, Northfield won 10 of 12 events as the JV squad contributed 40 of those 78 lifetime bests.
The Gator/Raiders will now prep for the upcoming Section 1A championship, which will be held on Wednesday, Feb. 21 through Friday, Feb. 23 in Lakeville. This will serve as a qualifying meet for the upcoming 2024 MSHSL Class A state championships.
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