Rochester has two individuals, one relay team earn All-State honors

Mar. 4—MINNEAPOLIS — Rochester swimmers shook off a case of the jitters to have a strong outing at the Class AA boys state swimming and diving meet during the championship finals on Saturday at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center.

Alonso Montori of Mayo and Jensen Richard of Century both had top-eight individual finishes as did a Century relay team. All three earned All-State honors.

"We had an unbelievable season," Century coach Linda Freeman said.

The Panthers were unbeaten in dual meets and then won both the Big Nine Conference and Section 1AA meets. Century capped its season by finishing 12th at the Class AA state meet with 64 points. Eden Prairie claimed the team state title and Edina was second.

"I'm so proud of these guys and we have two really special seniors here," Freeman said.

Richard, a senior, placed eighth in the state in the 100 backstroke.

Jensen wasn't able to match his time from the Section 1AA final in the 100 backstroke, but he was excited to advance to the championship final. As a junior, Richard considered the backstroke to be his worst stroke. A year later, he was eighth in the state in the event and earned All-State honors.

"It was a (great) progression from a year (ago)," he said. "I'm just happy to be here and happy to medal because it's something I never saw myself doing a year ago."

Senior Jack Homme was part of Century's 200 freestyle relay team that placed eighth. He was joined by juniors Nathan Kram and Albert Hu and sophomore Owen Kelly to earn All-State honors.

"I was really proud of the relays and (finishing) eighth in the 200 relay was really exciting," Homme said. "And we had a really fun race in the 400 relay and I had a great time."

Homme joined Andrew Linden, Gavin Potter and Owen Kelly to take 12th in the 400 freestyle relay. As an individual, Homme was 12th in the 100 butterfly and 15th in the 50 freestyle.

"I was just happy to make it back," Homme said of placing in the top 16 during the preliminaries. "Both of my heats were really, really close, everyone just a couple of tenths (of a second) off of each other."

Montori had the top finish by a Rochester swimmer. He placed fifth in the state in the 200 freestyle. He came into the championship round as the sixth seed out of the preliminary round. But he moved up a spot as he posted a personal-best time of 1:41.13.

"I'm really happy with how I swam and how I placed," Montori said.

Montori thought he made a mistake prior to the preliminary round by not warming up in the main pool.

"In the 200 free, I felt like I wasn't quite ready to put it into high gear," he said.

He corrected that going into the finals, warming up in the main pool, and he felt it made a big difference.

"I was also feeling a little under the weather (prior to the prelims), but I bounced back," Montori said. "I woke up (Saturday) and I felt super fresh."

Montori also won the consolation championship in the 100 freestyle as he placed ninth. He had a strong swim in the 100 as he posted a personal best by over half a second. If he would have been swimming in the championship finals, his time of 46.72 would have been good for sixth in the state.

Montori was swimming at the state meet for the first time as an individual qualifier. He swam on one relay as a freshman.

"I was surprised at how nervous I was," he said. "I always get nervous before big meets, but I've never been as nervous as I was (prior to the preliminary round)."

Richard was also swimming at the state meet for the first time as an individual.

"Of course I was nervous, but it happens with every meet," Richard said.

Homme said the nerves kicked in more prior to the preliminary round.

"It was more do or die," he said. "So (in the finals) we just got to have fun."

Freeman was thrilled that all of the Century swimmers except one made it to Saturday's championship round after Friday's prelims.

Century's 200 medley relay team of Andrew Linden, Nathan Zhang, Hu and Kram placed 13th. Potter, a freshman, improved on his prelim time in the 500 freestyle and he placed 12th.

Century eighth-grader Silas Wagstaff was 16th in diving.

"To come up here against these kinds of schools, these guys did awesome," Freeman said. "They kept their wits about them and did a phenomenal job. Because this is big pressure, huge pressure."

Team scores

(Top 10, Century, Mayo)

1. Eden Prairie 263.5, 2. Edina 219, 3. Prior Lake 194, 4. Minnetonka 161, 5. Lakeville South 152, 6. Wayzata 138, 7. East Ridge 110, 8. Chanhassen-Chaska 108, 9. Lakeville North 104, 10. Rosemount 79.5, 12. Century 64, 23. Mayo 23.

Individual results

(Winners, Century, Mayo top 16)

200 medley relay — 1. Eden Prairie 1:32.19, 13. Century (Andrew Linden, Nathan Zhang, Albert Hu, Nathan Kram) 1:39.44.

200 freestyle — 1. Micah Davis (St. Cloud Tech) 1:37.68, 5. Alonso Montori (Mayo) 1:41.13.

200 IM — 1. Luke Logue (Eden Prairie) 1:49.28.

50 freestyle — 1. Braden Ripken (Spring Lake Park) 20.69, 15. Jack Homme (Cen) 21.69.

Diving — 1. Lucas Greten (Rosemount) 480.60, 16. Silas Wagstaff (Cent) 292.30.

100 butterfly — 1. Davis (St. Cloud Tech) 48.41, 12. Homme (Cen) 51.24.

100 freestyle — 1. Evan Witte (Minnetonka) 45.31, 9. Montori (Mayo) 46.72.

500 freestyle — 1. Jiarui Xue (Edina) 4:31.26, 12. Potter (Cen) 4:46.17.

200 freestyle relay — 1. Eden Prairie 1:24.33, 8. Century (Homme, Kram, Hu, Kelly) 1:28.13.

100 backstroke — 1. Luke Logue (Eden Prairie) 47.4, 8. Richard (Cen) 52.11.

100 breaststroke — 1. Max Scheurer (Centennial) 55.47.

400 freestyle relay — 1. Eden Prairie 3:06.86, 12. Century (Homme, Linden, Potter, Kelly) 3:13.54.