The Hutchinson boys swimming and diving took on some of the best teams in Class A last weekend during the True Team State Championship. Although the Tigersharks didn’t finish has well as they hoped, eighth out of 12 teams, the experience was what stood out most to them.
“That was pretty fun,” Noah Tague said. “There were a lot of really good races, which we didn’t expect that much because we’ve been training pretty hard recently. But overall, the result was really good. For us, we beat Willmar, which was the one team we wanted to beat going into it. So that was good. I’m happy with it.”
Hutch’s best placement in the diving competition. Alex Oestreich and Cameron Wagner both had top-five finishes, with Oestreich coming in third and Wagner fifth. Those two have been putting in work on the board, and to see the results pay off on the big stage was a fun experience itself.
“I was excited,” Oestreich said. “I knew that some of the people were in our section, and some people I saw swim at state before, so I wanted to see what my competition will be like for state and sections.”
Conner Hogan had the best individual day of Hutch’s swimmers. He and teammates Tague, Tristin Nelsen and Oestreich led Hutch to sixth in the opening event, the 200 medley relay. Hogan then took seventh in the 100 freestyle and the 100 backstroke.
There were also many swimmers who had top-15 finishes. Matthew Olberg placed 12th and 11th in the 200 and 500 freestyles, respectively. Tague came in 11th in the 200 IM and 13th in the breaststroke, and Nelsen placed 14th in the 100 butterfly.
The relay teams were tough for the ‘Sharks. The top team placed 10th in the 200 freestyle relay but missed out on eighth by less than a second. In the 400 freestyle relay, the team fell to 13th place.
The changes in placement may not have changed scores all that much, but Hutch was only 18.5 points behind Grand Rapids for seventh and 43 points behind Alexandria for sixth.
It was still a good meet for the team. It provided experience in high-pressure meets that will serve them well once sections come around. It is a good benchmark to see where the team stands and what swimmers need to do if they want to compete with the best in the state and in their section.
“It means we’re really set up to win sections. ... We haven’t made it to True Team State in over 10 years,” Tague said. “So it’s pretty big for a team this young to do that, which means we’ll have some really fast years coming.”
The ‘Sharks are taking a couple weeks to prepare for the Wright County Conference Championship Saturday, Feb. 8. Then there’s nothing left but the section tournament Feb. 21-22.
Class A True Team State Meet (Jan. 25)
Team results: 1. Breck/Blake 2173, 2. Saint Thomas Academy 2069, 3. Sartell-St. Stephen 1830, 4. Winona Cotter 1592, 5. Simley 1357.5, 6. Alexandria 1284.5, 7. Grand Rapids 1260, 8. Hutchinson 1241.5, 9. Willmar 1215, 10. Austin 1203.5, 11. Virginia-Eveleth-Gilbert 1132.5, 12. Monticello 1102.5
Individual Results
200 medley relay (48): 1. Austin A (Rafe Dolan-Peterson, Logan Kelly, Trey Meyers, Aaron Knoll) 1:35.18, 6. Hutch A (Conner Hogan, Noah Tague, Tristin Nelsen, Alex Oestreich) 1:44.41, 22. Hutch B (Anthony Witte, Devon Bode, Gabe Stassen, Dane Thovson) 1:51.14, 36. Hutch C (Jackson Kramer, Grant Knopp, Carter Johnson, Ben Becker) 2:06.56, 44. Hutch D (Clayton Moore, Eric Oberg, Ben Campbell, Luke Johnson) 2:21.63
200 freestyle (48): 1. Jack Herczeg (Win) 1:40.61, 12. Matthew Olberg 1:52.09, t25. Thovson 1:59.39, 29. Max Einck 2:00.77, 35. Riley Yerks 2:04.05
200 IM (46): 1. James Pan (BR) 1:54.46, 11. Tague 2:08.99, 17. Nelsen 2:12.42, 35. Stassen 2:23.07, 43. Witte 2:30.00
50 freestyle (48): 1. Charlie Crosby (BR) 21.27, 17. Bode 23.86, 38. Charlie Jenum 26.03, 40. Cameron Wagner 26.18, 41. Ben Becker 26.42
Diving (32) : 1. Dakotah Parker (Mont.) 455.80, 3. Oestreich 368.80, 5. Wagner 308.80
100 butterfly (47): 1. Grant Wolner (Win) 50.84, 14 Nelsen 58.41, 26. Stassen 1:00.79, 33. Oestreich 1:03.26, 36. Ethan Field 1:06.91
100 freestyle (48): 1. Herczeg (Win) 45.17, 7. Hogan 49.74, 42. Field 1:00.19, 43. Becker 1:01.50, 44. Carter Johnson 1:01.80
500 freestyle (47): 1. Nico Losinski (Simley) 4:52.39, 11. Olberg 5:07.56, 27. Einck 5:28.29, 29. Yerks 5:34.19, 38. Carter Johnson 5:52.04
200 free relay (47): 1. Winona A (Herczeg, Alex Jorgenson, Wolner, Tanner Lozenski) 1:26.32, 10. Hutch A (Olberg, Oestreich, Nelsen, Hogan) 1:33.90, 24. Hutch B (Einck, Witte, Stassen, Jenum) 1:43.24, 27. Hutch C (Field, Yerks, Kramer, Wagner) 1:44.86, Hutch D (Becker, Joshua Bjorstrom, Luke Johnson, Knopp) DQ
100 backstroke (48): 1. Crosby (BR) 51.27, 7. Hogan 56.16, 26. Thovson 1:03.41, 30. Witte 1:06.44, 43. Kramer 1:11.19
100 breaststroke (48): 1. Logan Kelly (Austin) 55.57, 13. Tague 1:04.95, 16. Bode 1:07.52, 37. Jenum 1:13.50, Knopp DQ
400 free relay (48): 1. Winona A (Jorgenson, Lozenski, Brayden Coudron, Herczeg) 3:14.23, 13. Hutch A (Olberg, Thovson, Bode, Tague) 3:30.67, 30 Hutch B (Einck, Jenum, Field, Yerks) 3:54.81, 37. Hutch C (Kramer, Knopp, Carter Johnson, Wagner) 4:06.65, 41. Hutch D (Moore, Bjorstrom, Campbell, Luke Johnson) 4:30.11
