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Sports

Seven from Orono and Mound Westonka Swim and Dive medal at State

Five swimmers and two divers from Orono and Mound Westonka finished top-8 to medal at the Class A Boys State Swimming and Diving Tournament. MW was one of two schools to have two divers in the Championship Final.

Five swimmers and two divers from Orono and Mound Westonka finished in the top-eight to medal at the Class A Boys State Swimming and Diving Tournament Feb. 28-March 2 at the U of M.

The OMW co-op team is required to compete as separate teams for Section and State competition. Mound Westonka finished in 11th place overall among 38 scoring teams with 80 points. Orono had 25 points. Conference rivals Hutchinson and Dassel-Cokato/Litchfield scored 105 and 91 points. The top-16 finishers in prelims advanced to Saturday’s competition with the top-eight competing for all-State medals while 9th-16th place compete in the Consolation Final.

The first medals were claimed by the all-senior Mound Westonka 200 medley relay with captain Merv Moorhead, Damian Urwyler, Conner Anderson and senior captain Ryan Strother whose 1:40.50 (26.08/27.63/25.26/21.53) time in prelims earned them a lane in the championship final and set a new school record. In finals they placed seventh with 1:40.99.

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“This is the first year Mound Westonka has had an all-state relay team,” said Strother. “As a senior, this is a great way to go out.”

These same swimmers also qualified for the consolation heat in 200-free relay with an 11th place finish with a time of 1:30.99 (23.39/22.57/23.40/21.63) and placed 11th overall in finals with 1:31.11 (23.65/22.31/23.60/21.55).

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In the 50-yard free, Strother won the consolation final with 22.07, after a heart-breaking 9th place in prelims with 22.02, reflecting a taper interrupted by eight days out of the pool due to injury. Coming into State undefeated for the season, Mound Westonka senior diver Tyler Jordahl completed eight dives to finish second in prelims and third in semifinals. After the three final dives on Saturday, Jordahl earned a 5th place medal with 378.8 points among a very close field of contenders.

First and second place were won with 397.25 and 388.8 points.

Mound Westonka junior Tanner Azeltine finished both prelims and semifinals in sixth place to medal with 344.25 points for seventh place.

In the 100-yard free, Orono senior captain Mitch Miller earned All-State honors with 48.27 for an 8th place finish after swimming 47.92 in prelims, a personal best, to finish seventh. Strother’s 49.61 in the 100 free prelims ranked 20th. In the 500-yard free prelims, Cumming’s 5:08.91 ranked 19th. In the 100-yard breastroke, Urwyler finished at 1:04.22 to earn a spot as an alternate for the consolation final at 18th place.

In the 100-yard back, Miller earned All-State honors again with 54.4 for a 5th place finish in finals. He swam his personal best in prelims with 54.16 to set a new school record and finish fourth. Moorhead had a shot at qualifying for the championship final in the 100-yard back but his 9th place seed put him in the first heat of the 100-yard back which was immediately after his 200-free relay heat. He finished 15th with 58.16 but returned Saturday to win the consolation final with a personal best and new school record time of 56.03.

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