Boys swimming and diving: Stillwater turns back St. Paul Central

Trailing by two points after four events, the Stillwater boys swimming and diving took control midway through the meet and pulled away for a 102-82 nonconference victory over St. Paul Central on Tuesday, Feb. 6 at Stillwater Middle School.

It was the third straight victory for the Ponies (6-2 SEC, 7-2), who were scheduled to close out their conference season at Irondale on Feb. 8 before hosting the Section 4AA Meet on Feb. 22-24.

The Minutemen, who also compete in Section 4AA, built a 32-30 lead over Stillwater after four events, but the Ponies used 1-2-3 finish from Tate Sorensen (244.45), Grady Flynn (187.0) and Maccon Kubitschek (172.2) to surge in front 43-34.

“The divers dove real well,” Ponies coach Brian Luke said. “They’ve been doing really well for us all year. We have outscored every team in every meet in diving and that really helps.”

The Ponies never looked back, expanding the lead with a strong showing in the butterfly and two events after that with a sweep of the top three places in the 500 freestyle.

Jackson Kogler (51.96) and Zach Cody (1:00.13) finished first and second for the Ponies in the 100 butterfly and, after getting outscored by Central by two points in the 100 freestyle,

“I got a little concerned there and they gained some points on us, but then we made it back on the fly and waltzed back and forth,” Luke said. “I wasn’t taking anything for granted, that’s for sure.”

Stillwater pulled away with Kogler (4:57.31), Jackson Avery (5:23.84) and Lincoln Wanderer (5:42.40) producing the three fastest times in the 500 freestyle.

“It was a real competitive meet,” Luke said. “They’re in our section and we’ve never swam against them before in a dual meet so that was kind of fun. They have a nice group of swimmers and kept us busy. It was very competitive.”

Wyatt Fredeen joined Kogler as a double winner for Stillwater, claiming the top spot in the 200 individual medley (2:02.44) and 100 backstroke (55.65).

Stillwater also finished first in the 200 medley (1:43.61) and 400 freestyle (3:29.70) relays.

Dominick Ellerd was the top performer for Central while posting two of the team’s five first-place finishes. He won the 100 (50.92) and 200 (1:54.51) freestyle events.

Stillwater 102, St. Paul Central 82

200 medley relay — 1. Stillwater (Wyatt Fredeen, Paul Hartmann, Jackson Kogler and Cameron Winters) 1:43.61; 4. Stillwater (Ethan Finch, Jaxon Benson, Noah Danker and Cooper Larson) 2:00.47.

200 freestyle — 1. Dominick Ellerd (SPC) 1:54.51; 3. Sam Loken (St) 2:00.74; 4. Jackson Avery (St) 2:01.13; 5. Zach Cody (St) 2:01.91.

200 individual medley — 1. Wyatt Fredeen (St) 2:02.44; 4. Ethan Finch (St) 2:23.67; 5. Jaxon Benson (St) 2:28.46.

50 freestyle — 1. AJ Hite (SPC) 23.73; 2. Cameron Winters (St) 23.94; 3. Paul Hartmann (St) 24.51; 6. Cooper Larson (St) 25.95.

Diving — 1. Tate Sorensen (St) 244.45; 2. Grady Flynn (St) 187.0; 3. Maccon Kubitschek (St) 172.2.

100 butterfly — 1. Jackson Kogler (St) 51.96; 2. Zach Cody (St) 1:00.13; 5. Noah Danker (St) 1:06.58.

100 freestyle — 1. Dominick Ellerd (SPC) 50.92; 2. Cameron Winters (St) 52.00; 3. Sam Loken (St) 52.69; 6. Cooper Larson (St) 57.53.

500 freestyle — 1. Jackson Kogler (St) 4:57.31; 2. Jackson Avery (St) 5:23.84; 3. Lincoln Wanderer (St) 5:42.40.

200 freestyle relay — 1. St. Paul Central, 1:35.03; 2. Stillwater (Cameron Winters, Zach Cody, Paul Hartmann and Sam Loken) 1:35.41; 4. Stillwater (Cooper Larson, Levi Winters, Jaxon Benson and Jackson Avery) 1:45.25.

100 backstroke — 1. Wyatt Fredeen (St) 55.65; 3. Ethan Finch (St) 1:03.58; 5. Noah Danker (St) 1:07.66.

100 breastroke — 1. Damien Aune (SPC) 1:08.43; 2. Paul Hartmann (St) 1:08.60; 5. Jaxon Benson (St) 1:16.08; 6. Johnathan Stanton (St) 1:17.16.

400 freestyle relay — 1. Stillwater (Zach Cody, Wyatt Fredeen, Sam Loken and Jackson Kogler) 3:29.70; 3. Stillwater (Ethan Finch, Jackson Avery, Noah Vu and Bodie Sheffer) 3:57.38.

Stillwater 94, Park 84

The Ponies celebrated Senior Night with a 94-84 Suburban East Conference win over Park on Thursday, Feb. 1 at SMS.

The four seniors — Wyatt Fredeen, Cameron Winters, Richard Hartmann and Tate Sorensen — were big contributors for the Ponies (6-2 SEC, 7-2), who occupied the top spot in 10 of 12 events.

“There’s only four of them, but ouch, we’re going to be losing four really good seniors,” Ponies coach Brian Luke said.

Fredeen won the 200 (1:50.54) and 500 (5:07.09) freestyle races while Winters delivered victories in the 50 (23.68) and 100 (52.50) freestyle events. Sorensen placed first in diving with a total of 252.55. Hartmann contributed to Stillwater’s first-place finish in the 200 medley relay (1:43.98), a team which also included Sam Loken, Jackson Kogler and Winters.

Kogler joined Fredeen and Winters with two victories, touching the wall first in the 200 individual medley (1:57.32) and 100 butterfly (51.69).

Stillwater finished first in 10 of 12 events, including all three relays.

Stillwater 94, Park 84

200 medley relay — 1. Stillwater (Sam Loken, Paul Hartmann, Jackson Kogler and Cameron Winters) 1:43.98; 3. Stillwater (Ethan Finch, Jaxon Benson, Noah Danker and Cooper Larson) 2:01.33.

200 freestyle — 1. Wyatt Fredeen (St) 1:50.54; 2. Zach Cody (St) 1:58.62; 3. Jackson Avery (St) 2:01.82.

200 individual medley — 1. Jackson Kogler (St) 1:57.32; 5. Paul Hartmann (St) 2:22.51; 6. Ethan Finch (St) 2:23.68.

50 freestyle — 1. Cameron Winters (St) 23.68; 2. Sam Loken (St) 24.07; 4. Cooper Larson (St) 26.10.

Diving — 1. Tate Sorensen (St) 252.55; 3. Maccon Kubitschek (St) 172.20; 4. Grady Flynn (St) 161.55.

100 butterfly — 1. Jackson Kogler (St) 51.69; 5. Ethan Finch (St) 1:07.71; 6. Bodie Sheffer (St) 1:08.02.

100 freestyle — 1. Cameron Winters (St) 52.50; 2. Levi Winters (St) 59.98; 5. Lincoln Wanderer (St) 1:01.49.

500 freestyle — 1. Wyatt Fredeen (St) 5:07.09; 2. Zach Cody (St) 5:21.30; 3. Jackson Avery (St) 5:26.37.

200 freestyle relay — 1. Stillwater (Cameron Winters, Wyatt Fredeen, Jackson Kogler and Zach Cody) 1:33.04; 3. Stillwater (Cooper Larson, Paul Hartmann, Jackson Avery and Levi Winters) 1:43.65.

100 backstroke — 1. Parker Jeseritz (Par) 56.79; 2. Sam Loken (St) 1:00.65; 3. Noah Danker (St) 1:05.85; 4. Parker Severson (St) 1:07.66.

100 breastroke — 1. Mason Darling (Par) 1:04.64; 4. Paul Hartmann (St) 1:08.93; 5. Johnathan Stanton (St) 1:16.86; 6. Jack Howell (St) 1:20.87.

400 freestyle relay — 1. Stillwater (Sam Loken, Zach Cody, Wyatt Fredeen and Jackson Avery) 3:37.78; 3. Stillwater (Lincoln Wanderer, Cooper Larson, Ethan Finch and Bodie Sheffer) 3:56.91.