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Rangers take 2nd at True Team Meet
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Wednesday, 23 January 2008
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Glen Strandberg
Sports Editor
Now that January is rapidly disappearing, the competitions get a little more serious and they carry a little more weight.
Last week, the Forest Lake swimming and diving team had to contend with an always-challenging Mounds View program, and then follow that up with the Section 7AA True Team Meet on Saturday.
“Great performances, unfortunately not enough to win,” head swim coach Barbara Vailodash said, after the Rangers finished with 881 points to Anoka’s 974. “Second place with glory.”
Clint Krummi was one Forest Lake swimmer who cranked out a first place finish, and he did it in the 200 freestyle with a personal best time (PB) of 1:56.57.
Elijah Miller matched Krummi, with a top honor in the 200 IM, and then raised him by taking first in the 100 breaststroke; this one coming with a True Team meet record of 1:01.36.
Krummi and Miller had company from teammates John Goossens, who claimed the top spot in the 50 free, and Peter Sandager who clipped eight seconds from his personal best to take the 500 freestyle.
Vailodash went on to comment about a large number of swimmers turning in personal best times, and the list is impressive.
David Tonkinson: 200 freestyle; 500 freestyle
Zach Curtis: 200 IM; 100 breaststroke
Brenden Woehl: 200 IM; 500 freestyle
Frank O’Neil: 50 free
Charlie Royce: 50 free; 100 butterfly
Josh Stomberg: 100 freestyle
Joe Lichtscheidl: 100 free; 100 breaststroke
Marcus Myre: 100 freestyle; 100 backstroke
Clint Krummi: 200 free; 100 backstroke
Eric Moris: 100 backstroke
Kevin Lalla: 100 backstroke
Kevin Brennhofer: 50 freestyle; 100 breaststroke
John Goossens: 50 freestyle
Peter Sandager: 500 freestyle
Before taking on the entire section, the boys entertained Mounds View on Jan. 17, where the Mustangs were able to win.
“Good meet,” Vailodash noted. “Quality swimming and fast times by all the team members.”
Diving
“True Team Sections had its ups and downs,” head diving coach Deb Welch said. “Blaine’s pool is the coldest pool in the section and conference. It can make for fast swims from the swimmers, but it can really cool a diver’s game down.”
Welch watched her group start out strong, but as the competition went on, the Ranger divers began to make small errors.
The judges’ felt they were big mistakes as they hit Forest Lake with low scores.
“A bright spot in the whole meet for us was Rich Carr partaking in his first 11-dive meet, and the only seventh grader,” Welch said.
Carr put in all of his attempts and ended the day with a solid score. He took 19th place and earned six varsity points for the team.
Jeff Isaacson was the top Ranger, as he placed seventh. Connor Florand was next, having to include a failed dive and coming in eighth. Matt Goossens removed two of his dives and wound up in 15th place.
“We really need to pick up our game, because this meet was not what we had hoped to show the section teams. The boys will really have to bring out their best to get the scores needed to make state a reality now,” Welch shared.
“The good news would be knowing that we did not dive to the best of our abilities and we can do so much more going back there.”
Against Mounds View, Welch felt her crew held its own, considering the Mustangs have Tom Gimm, who is one of the top divers in the state.
“So when we take second (Isaacson), third (Florand) and fourth (Goossens) for varsity, we can still feel good about it,” Welch said.
“Both meets were good for the team,” Vailodash added. “Times continue to drop, (and) many are ahead or have PBs already this season.”
Thursday hi-lights
1st place: John Goossens - 50 freestyle (22.89), new PB; Elijah Miller - 100 breaststroke, breaking the Forest Lake pool record.
2nd place: 200 medley relay team (Clint Krummi, Zach Curtis, Elijah Miller and Frank O’Neil); Krummi - 200 free; Miller - 200 IM, J. Goossens - 100 freestyle; Kevin Lalla - 500 freestyle; 200 free relay team (Peter Sandager, O’Neil, Miller and J. Goossens); 400 free relay team (Sandager, Lalla, Krummi and J. Goossens).
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