Short Course Championships
The Med-City Aquatics swim club of Rochester played host to the Minnesota State Short Course Swimming Championships on March 14-17. This event featured 651 competitors on 39 teams from Minnesota and western Wisconsin.
For many swimmers, the event was their last chance to qualify for USA-Swimming's Phillips 66 National Championship held recently at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center.
The top 10 teams at each year's championship comprise the AAA teams for the following season; teams in places 11-20 are the AA teams; and the remaining teams are A teams.
After winning the A Division at this meet last year, Med-City Aquatics moved to AA this season. The team finished behind the Dolphin Aquatic Team for the AA team title and 11th overall.
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Several MCA swimmers competed in both individual consolation and finals to add points to the team total. Leading the way was Jenny Shaughnessy (15) who swam many of her off events since she raced her stronger events at last week's Speedo Championship Sectional meet in Chicago. Shaughnessy won both the 15-16 Womens 100 and 200 Individual Medley events, posting the best time in any age group and was the runner-up in the 100 Butterfly and was third in the 200 Backstroke. She also qualified for the Central Zone Championships in the 100 Backstroke and 100 Breaststroke. Rachel Clark (18) hyper-extended her knee during Friday morning's preliminary session but still qualified for consolation finals in five events, including winning the consolation finals in the 100 Butterfly by almost a body length.
Luke Fluegel (13) had six of seven best times, finished in the top 6 in three events (100 Butterfly, 50 and 100 Freestyle), and won the consolation finals in the 100 Free in the fifth fastest overall time. Mike Shaughnessy (18) was top 16 in the 100 IM and 100 Breaststroke and posted his personal best time in the 200 Breaststroke. Barret Myers qualified for Zones in the 100 Breaststroke in an 8th place finish and won the consolation finals in the 200 Breaststroke. Ryan Munden (18) finished in 11th place in the 50 Free and competed in the 100 Free. Danaca Heidorn made consolation finals in the 100 Back(14th), 200 Back (15th), 100 Free (15th), and 100 IM (16th) and also qualified for Zones in the 50 Free (17th). John Klocke (14) was 11th in the 1000 Free, 13th in the 1650 Free and 14th in the 500 Free-all personal best times. David Wang won the consolation finals of the 200 Backstroke and also competed in the 200 Fly (13th), 100 Fly (14th), and 100 Back (15th). Also competing in individual events were: Grayson Baughan (50 and 100 Free), Theresa Bea (50, 100, and 200 Free), Molly Eagen (50 and 100 Free), Kate Klocke (100 Free), Ben Leslie (50 and 100 Free), Britney Manthey (50 and 100 Free), Alex Schiebel (100 IM, 200 IM, 100 Free, 200 Free), Dan Schraufnagel ((50, 100, and 200 Free). There were also five relays offered during the meet: 200, 400, and 800 Freestyle Relays and the 200 and 400 Medley Relays. Two MCA relays posted National Top 16 Consideration times: the 15-16 Womens 200 Freestyle relay (Heidorn, Myers, Shaughnessy, Eagen) which finished 4th and the Senior Mens 200 Freestyle relay (Shaughnessy, Munden, Schraufnagel, Leslie) which finished 8th.
Other MCA Swimmers who competed on relays were,13-14 Girls, Sydney Kuramoto, Emily Kasemeotes, Jena Arnold, and Cat Lee; 13-14 Boys, Brian Hubbard; Senior Women, Beth Bishop; Senior Men, Sid Arnold, Adam Leslie, Kirk Klocke, Josh Altchuler and PJ Hubbard.
Rochester Swim Club Orcas finished fifth in the AAA Division at the Senior State Championships. Combined with the 5th-place finish at the 12-and-under championships, the Orcas finished the season ranked 4th overall among the 46 teams that competed in championship competition. Last season, the Orcas finished 5th overall.
Minnesota Swimming final team rankings: Foxjet-Minneapolis 4280, Burnsville 3891.5, Mach 3 Flyers-Minneapolis 3038.5, RSC Orcas 2253, Twin Cities Swim Team 2157.5, Edina Swim Club 2107, Star Swim Club-St. Paul 2092.5, Dolphin Aquatics-Minneapolis 1799, Minnesota Federated-Minneapolis 1506, Northern Lights Aq.-Minneapolis 1357.5.
Swimmers of the Meet (named by the coaching staff) for the Orcas were Erica Triebenbach (16) and Alex Schulz (17).
In the 13-14 age group girls division Melissa Heyrman won the state championship in the 200 Backstroke, breaking a team record. Melissa was named Swimmer of the Meet for 13-14 girls. She finished 2nd in the 100 Back, 7th in 100 Free, and 8th in the 200 Free. Melissa swam to 4 Zone championship qualifying times during the competition.
Jenny Einck finished 4th in the 100 fly and 7th in the 200 IM and made 2 Zone championship times. Tanya Sylvester scored top 16 in he 400 IM swimming to 4 best times. Combined with Faith Grunewald, Kari Slawson, and Caitlin Shull, the Orcas finished 7th in the 800 Freestyle Relay, 9th in the 200 Medley Relay, 5th in the 400 Freestyle Relay, 6th in the 400 Medley Relay, and 5th in the 200 Freestyle Relay.
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In the 13-14 boys age group division Matt Stewart was named Swimmer of the Meet for the Orcas. Matt finished 6th in the 400 IM, 7th in the 200 Fly and 7th in the 1000 and 1650 freestyles. He qualified for the Zone championships in the 1000 Freestyle. Matt Youngers finished 6th in the 200 Fly and 9th in the 400IM. Combined with Alex Colborn and Matt Ulsh the Orcas finished 13th in the 800 Free Relay, 15th in the 400 Free Relay, 14th in the 400 Medley Relay, 15th in the 200 Free Relay, and 14th in the 200 Medley Relay.
In the 15-16 girls division Alex Borgen and Erica Triebenbach were named Swimmers of the Meet. Erica swam to 6th palce in the 100IM and had top 16 finishes in 100 Breast, 200 IM, and 100 Fly. Alex swam to 3rd place finishes in the 200 and 1650 Free, 4th in the 100 and 500 free, and 7th in the 1000 free making 4 new Zone Championship times. Meg Chida took 5th in the 200Fly, 6th in 400 IM, and 7th in the 200 Free qualifying for Zones in 4 events. Karrie Stewart took 3rd in the 100 Free and 4th in the 1650 free and qualifyied for Zones in 3 events. Ane Klomps finished 6th in the 50 free qualifying for the Zone championships. Paula Wright scored 4th in the 200 Breast and 7th in the 100 Breast and 400IM qualifying for Zones in two events. Liz Schulz swam to a top 16 finish in her 1650 freestyle qualifying in 5 other events. Chelsea Colborn finished top 16 in the 100 and 200 backstrokes and competed in 5 other events.
The combined team scored many points in relays. The team of Stewart, Borgen, Wright, and Chida qualified for top 16 USA-Swimming with a State Championship in the 800 Freestyle Relay. Orcas also finished 8th in the same event with their "B" team. They finished 6th and 9th in the 200 Medley Relay, 6th and 11th in the 400 Freestyle Relay, 6th and 8th in the 400 Medley Relay, and 3rd and 9th in the 200 Free Relay.
In the 15-16 Boys division, the Orcas named Greg Pokorski Swimmer of the Meet. Greg swam to 2nd place in the 1650 Free, 3rd place in 1000 Free, 5th in 200 Free, 7th in 200 IM, and 8th in 100 and 200 fly. He qualified for the Zone championships in 3 events. Ryan Sullivan had a huge meet with best times in every event finishing 7th in the 100 free and 8th in the 500 and 1000 freestyle events.
Alex Shulz was named Swimmer of the Meet for Senior Swimmers finishing 3rd over-all in High Point individual Scoring. Alex was state champion in the 200, 500, 1000, and 1650 Freestyle, winning by large margins. He also finished 6th in the 200 IM, qualifyed for Zone championships in all events swum and for Junior Nationals in his 200 Free. John Jacobson returned from the High School Boys State Championships as the only Rochester swimmer to finish in the top 8. John finished 4th in the 200 Back and 6th in the 100 Back making 2 new Zone championship times. Danny Binkowski swam to a State Championship in the 100 Breast and a 3rd place finish in the 100 fly.
Alex, John, and Dan combined with Greg Pokorski and Ryan Sullivan to finish 6th in the 800 Free Relay, 4th in the 200 Free Relay, 3rd in the 400 Free Relay, 4th in the 400 Medley Relay, and 2nd in the 200 Free Relay.
Alison Becker, Jessica Westland, Jessica Abenstein, and Angie Blazek combined to finish 16th in the 800 Free Relay, 16th in the 200 Medley Relay, 15th in the 400 Free Relay, and 17th in the 400 Free Relay.
Orcas coaches include John Sfire, Steve Varney, Cy Cyganiewicz, Dave Villafana, Ginger Cyganiewicz, Beth Youngers and Matt Joyce.
