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  • Mankato West junior Randall Wempen has the distinction of being the only local backstroke swimmer to qualify for the Class A state meet this season. John Cross

    West state swimming

March 2, 2010

West, East/Loyola figure to be busy at state swim meet

By Jim Rueda Free Press Sports Editor

MANKATO — If high school coaches were compensated for overtime, there’s a pretty good chance Andy Viker and Tim Johnson would be in line for some extra cash this week.

Viker of Mankato West and Johnson of Mankato East/Loyola figure to be plenty busy this week as they prepare to close out the high school boys swimming and diving season. Both coaches guided their teams to strong section showings Saturday, qualifying a number of student-athletes to this week’s Class A event at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center.

“We swam well,” Viker said during practice Monday. “You always want to do just a little bit better, but we got the kids to state that we thought we would.”

The Scarlets’ state tournament contingent is led by the Wempen brothers — senior Ross and junior Randall. Ross will be swimming in four events at the state competition while Randall will participate in three.

Ross Wempen will compete in the 50-yard freestyle (seed time 22.49), 100-butterfly (54.92), 200-free relay (1:33.46) and 400-free relay (3:24.60). Randall figures to swim in the 100-backstroke (57.76), 400-free relay and 200-medley relay (1:45.78).

“As a team, we’re looking at trying to finish in the top 10,” Ross Wempen said. “Individually, we’d like to get everybody in the top 16 so they’re still swimming on Saturday.”

Also swimming the 200-free relay for West will be Greg Vose, Austin Koepp and Mitch Peters. Completing the 400-free relay will be Peters and Vose. The medley relay will include Kelly Davis, Steve Sorenson and Chris Kolb.

Davis has also qualified in the individual medley (2:09.9), and James Mulligan will compete in the 500-freestyle (5:10.36). Both are sophomores, and Viker said that should pay dividends down the road.

“Being able to compete in state as a sophomore is a great experience for these guys,” he said. “That’s something they can build on next season and the year after.”

East/Loyola had perhaps the best section meet the program has ever had. In addition to three relay teams, the Cougars will have nine swimmers competing as individuals.

Andrew Hall and Aaron Laven will lead the way as four-event qualifiers. The duo combined with Alex Schmidt and Mike Neufeld to qualify in the 200-free relay (1:32:11) and with Schmidt and Max Rykhus to advance in the 400-free relay (3:25.41).

Hall is also competing in the 200-freestyle (1:48.37) and butterfly (55.15). Laven is scheduled to swim the 50-free (22.84) and 200-medley relay (1:45.47). Rykhus, Tietema and Robert Schulze round out the medley relay.

Senior diver Zach Small, who finished third in last year’s state meet, is looking to move up into the top two. He’s increased his degree of difficulty from a year ago and is poised for a big meet.

“I looked it up over the weekend, and this is the most swimmers we’ve ever qualified,” Johnson said. “We knew we were close to the state cuts in a lot of events, and the kids had a great taper and went out and did it.

“You have to give a lot of credit to (assistant coach) Dave Burgess, who handles conditioning, and Raymie Benjamin, who’s our diving coach. I handle most of the technique stuff, and we seem to complement one another very well.”

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