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Six state records fell at the 2017 Minnesota Boys AA state swimming championships on Saturday.
Minnetonka High School opened the meet with a National Public School record in the 200 medley relay. The team of Erik Gessner, Corey Lau, John Shelstad and Sam Schilling combined for a time of 1:29.20, eclipsing the previous mark of 1:29.64. Eden Prairie picked up second place, highlighted by a 20.19 anchor split from Jordan Greenberg, solidifying a lead over third place Chanhassen. These schools set the tone for the meet as all three would go on to finish in the top three of the final team standings.
Schilling was immediately back in action for the 200 freestyle. While he was off his state record time of 1:35.82 from the preliminaries, he still beat the field by three seconds. Minnetonka took the top three spots in this event, with Joe Hanson going 1:39.96 for second and Thomas Pederson finishing third in 1:40.20.
Texas commit JohnThomas Larson comfortably won the 200 IM setting a new state record of 1:46.30 while Minnetonka’s Shelstad got under 1:50 with his 1:49.30. Chanhassen junior Dolan Craine picked up bronze in 1:50.21.
The splash and dash featured a 20.33 for Edie Prairie swimmer Greenberg, taking the win by two-tenths over Andrew Trepanier, who swam 20.55. Abe Townley ventured under 21 seconds for the first time by swimming 20.80 for third place.
Joshua Withers just missed the state record of 48.20 from 1995 with his winning time of 48.25 in the 100 butterfly. Jack Dahlgren dropped nearly a second from prelims to swim 48.85 in second and 50 freestyle runner-up Trepanier went 49.23 for third in his other individual event.
The 100 freestyle was won by Schilling of Minnetonka, who produced a new state record of 44.02 in the preliminary heats. The aforementioned Greenberg was well back in 45.14 while 200 IM second place finisher Shelstad took third in 45.53. Jared Baetzold swam a very similar race to Shelstad, finishing fourth with a time of 45.57.
Larson had a massive swim in the 500, swimming 4:16.92 in the final, which beat the field by twenty seconds. That performance also broke the Minnesota state record by ten seconds. Larson will head to Austin next fall with a class that includes 14:55 miler Chris Yeager and 4:23 500 swimmer Parker Neri. Robert Niemann won a touch-out for second place over Minnetonka’s Pederson, 4:36.43 to 4:36.45.
Eden Prairie won its first relay of the day with a balanced attack. The squad got three 21 low splits before 50 freestyle champion Greenberg anchored in 19.94. A final time of 1:23.49 took .01 off their state record established in prelims. Minnetonka did not let up in the team race, finishing second in 1:25.54. Eagan High School used a strong fourth leg from Jasper Appleton to pass Lake Forest High School for third.
In the 100 backstroke, the state record of 48.86 was beaten by 100 butterfly silver medalist Dahlgren in 48.28. Mitchell Whyte was the only other swimmer in finals under 50 seconds, going 48.93 for second place honors. Jon Busse produced a 50.23 to secure third place by a tenth.
Minnetonka won the 100 breaststroke through medley relay member Lau. He used a strong 25.88 opening split to hang on over Sam Pekarek, who closed in 28.76 and ran out of real estate. The pair swam 55.04 and 55.09, respectively. Eden Prairie junior Nicholas Tullemans dropped over 1.5 seconds at this meet to secure third in 57.76.
The Minnetonka boys ended the meet by shattering the previous state record of 3:04.10 with a quick 3:01.59. The team got a pair of 45 second swims to getting going before adding a 46.8 on the third leg. The Virginia bound Schilling exploded on the anchor leg to seal the victory with a 43.37 split. Chanhassen High School finished second, which included a 44.92 lead-off from 100 butterfly runner-up Dahlgren. Egan High School found itself in the third position after swimming 3:09.21.
Minnetonka won its first state championship since 2011 after back to back second place finishes in 2015 and 2016.
Final Team Standings:
Minnetonka 340
Eden Prairie 274
Chanhassen 155
Stillwater 140
Shakopee 122.5
Full results available here.
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re: 200f relay, Eagan edged out Forest Lake High School NOT Lake Forest.
Mady Marie Hendricks
Martin Zielinski, your record withstood the assult, but it’s looking iffy for next year
It was so cool to watch.