Boys swimming and diving: Wingers send 10 entrants to state

Red Wing advanced 10 entrants to the state tournament at Saturday's Section 1A finals, which was second only to St. Thomas Academy.

"This was the hardest qualifying year I ever remember out of Section 1," said Wingers coach Gene Petersen, who has been involved in Section 1A swimming for 10 years. "We got done what we needed to get done in the pool."

The Wingers scored 272 points and finished in fourth place, six points out of second. St. Thomas won the 13-team meet in Inver Grove Heights with 511.5 points.

Red Wing and St. Thomas are the only two schools that are sending all three relays to state.

"That's insane," Petersen said, adding that typically five or six teams advance all three relays.

In order to advance in a relay, a state standard time must be met. The 200 medley relay team of Andrew Berg, Ethan Sellers, Travis Carlson and Sam Whitebear finished in fifth place with a time of 1 minute, 45.85 seconds. Whitebear, Carlson, Connor O'Keefe and Tanner Alms advanced to state by finishing the 200 freestyle relay in 1:32.57. They took third. The 400 freestyle relay team also took third place. Alms, O'Keefe, Berg and Adam Sienczak finished the race in 3:22.69.

Individuals can qualify for state by achieving a state standard time or by finishing in the top four in the championship final.

Alms, who was named the Section 1A swimmer of the meet, also advanced to state in the 500 freestyle -- in which he broke his own school record with a time of 4:51.74 -- and the 200 freestyle. Alms touched the wall in the 200 free in 1:47.27. He won both events.

Carlson advanced to state as a diver by finishing in the top four. He took fourth place, 1.2 points ahead of the fifth-place finisher. Carlson scored a 287.8. He also advanced via a state standard time in the 100 butterfly (57.09).

O'Keefe will swim the 200 freestyle at state. He took third with a time of 1:51.04. Ethan Myers took third in the 500 freestyle (5:07.05) and will swim at state.

The three-day state meet begins Thursday at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center.

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