Swimming: Panthers win back-and-forth meet against Irish

Lakeville South breaks 5 pool records at Shakopee

Lakeville North and Rosemount traded the lead several times in a Feb. 2 South Suburban Conference boys swimming meet before North prevailed 95-90, moving to 5-3 in the SSC.

Rosemount fired the first shot, with seniors Spencer Rudd, Quinlan Schroeder, Jackson Preusse and Josh Sikorski winning the 200-yard medley relay in 1 minute, 42.55 seconds. North took the next victory, with Jonah Hoffman (1:45.71) and Isaac Snaza (1:52.95) touching 1-2 in the 200 freestyle.

Then it was senior captain and Florida Southern commit Cooper Krance (1:58.51) winning the 200 individual medley, with Kellan Krance third and Tyler Hultgren fifth. Those finishes pushed North into the lead.

The 50 freestyle went to the Irish, with Sikorski first (23.15), while Preusse was second to close the gap for Rosemount headed into diving, where two-time state Class AA champion Lucas Gerten took the stage. Gerten wowed the crowd by scoring 327 points, less than eight points from the Blanchard Aquatic Center six-dive record he already holds.

North’s Alex Byer was second in diving with 207.45, but the Irish’s Zach Manwarren (184.75) edged the Panthers’ Caleb Baldeshwiler (161.75) for third, allowing Rosemount to take back the lead.

The Irish improved their lead after break, going 1-3-5 in the 100 butterfly with Rudd winning in 56.82. North’s Krance won the 100 freestyle in 48.75, while Jonah Hoffman and Luke Hoffman were 1-2 in the 500 freestyle. Jonah Hoffman touched in 4:51.87 for the victory, while the Panthers’ Parker Mann finished fifth to give North an additional point and tighten the score headed into the second relay of the evening.

The Panthers stacked the 200 freestyle relay, with their teams finishing 1-3-4. Cooper Krance, Aaron Larkin, Parker Ehrreich and Jonah Hoffman finished in 1:32.35, out-pacing the second-place Irish team by over seven seconds.

Rosemount tried to hold on, with Rudd winning the 100 backstroke (59.64), but an outstanding effort by Mann (1:01.76), followed by Ehrreich and Kellan Krance for 2-3-4 gave North nine points. Rosemount also won the 100 breaststroke with Wisconsin-Green Bay commit Schroeder first (59.23) and Preusse second (1:03.38), but another huge swim for the Panthers came from Davin Berg, who snuck into fifth place behind Larkin (third) and Snaza (fourth) to earn a point.

The Irish’s all-senior squad of Sawyer Smith, Sikorski, Schroeder and Preusse took the 400 freestyle relay in the final event of the evening (3:24.44), but North was able to hold onto second place to clinch the team win.

Rosemount won two of the three relays, while Sikorski, Gerten, Rudd and Schroeder were individual event winners. North won one relay, with Jonah Hoffman and Cooper Krance each winning two individual events, but the team competition came down to critical points for third, fourth and fifth place, where North’s depth was evident.

“We had a very good meet,” said North head coach Dan Schneider. “The boys really competed well. Close meets like this one tend to bring out the best in the boys. We had very few mistakes, which was a goal the coaching staff had after last week’s meet against Shakopee. It was good that the boys were able to clean things up a bit.”

Lakeville South

The Cougars rolled to their eighth consecutive South Suburban Conference victory, defeating Shakopee 96-76. Lakeville South took down five pool records at the Shakopee West Middle School pool, with the oldest record dating back seven years.

Senior diving captain Porter Woodson broke out dives with a 3.0 degree of difficulty, scoring a season-best 287.25 points to break the Shakopee pool six-dive record held by P.J. Lenz of Prior Lake (273.8). Woodson sits seventh on the Class AA honor roll, and five SSC divers are in the top 10.

“It was exciting to see Porter break out his most challenging dives against Shakopee,” said South head coach Rick Ringeisen. “He has been working on preparing those dives for the championship meets. He not only set their Shakopee pool record, he also posted his lifetime-best score of 287.25.

“It has been a record-setting year for the Cougars,” Ringeisen added. “Gage Boushee, Noah Cochran, Grady Evenson, Ethan LaBounty and Porter, all being (Division I)-quality athletes, made our season more than exceptional.”

Boushee had another strong showing, dropping over three seconds off the previous pool record in the 200 IM with a winning time of 1:52.78. Boushee also surprised himself with a pool record in the 100 breaststroke (57.59), bouncing up to fifth in the state for best high school times this season.

Evenson, a sophomore, moved to fourth in the state rankings with 51.75 in the 100 butterfly, taking down the previous pool record from 2021 held by former Cougar Max Kasal (51.87).

The 200 medley relay team of Evenson, LaBounty, Cochran and Boushee added their names to the record board with a time of 1:36.24, besting the previous record of 1:37.98 from 2018. The Cougar medley relay team is second in the state honor roll behind Prior Lake and just ahead of powerhouse Minnetonka.

Brendan Mattson (1:59.04) cracked the 2-minute mark to win the 200 freestyle in his best time this season. LaBounty won the sprint (50 freestyle – 21.89) and the distance event (500 freestyle – 5:06.65) while Cochran won the 100 freestyle in 51.17.

Tyler Pihlstrom (200 freestyle – 2:18.12), Brody Moritz (200 IM – 2:29.14), Brandon Clark (50 freestyle – 26.28), Aiden Nguyen (100 freestyle – 57.27) and Dylan McHale (100 backstroke – 1:20.11) led the Cougar junior varsity squad to an 87-39 victory over the Sabers.

“One of the great things about swimming and diving is you don’t have to win to celebrate success,” Ringeisen said. “Being undefeated is an incredible feeling for our team. However, personal goal setting and improvement are what drive athletes to work harder.

“At Shakopee, one of those golden moments happened in the 100 freestyle. Senior Brandon Clark set a goal to break a minute in the 100 freestyle, and he has been whisker close all year. Racing his teammate, Aiden Nguyen, brought out the best. Both swam their lifetime best swims. Aiden swam 57.27 and Brandon swam 58.01. Brandon did not just break a minute. He crushed his goal.”

For Ringeisen, the pieces are falling into place as he eyes the upcoming Section 1AA meet that will be held in Lakeville at the Blanchard Aquatic Center. First, the Cougars took on Prior Lake on Tuesday in a meet that decided the SSC championship. Results will be available next week.

Section 1AA swimming preliminaries will be noon Wednesday, Feb. 21. The diving competition will be Feb. 22 and the swimming finals will be Feb. 23. Live streaming is expected to be available on the Cougar Live Media link.