Skippers Win State Swimming And Diving Title

The Minnetonka boys swimming and diving team claimed its first state swimming and diving championship since 1997, ending Edina's three-year run as Class AA title-holders at the University of Minnesota Aquatics Center on Saturday night.

"It was very tense," Skippers senior Zach Stettner said. "You just got to give it all you got."

After 11 events, Minnetonka held a healthy lead over the Hornets, yet trailed Eden Prairie by a single point for the top spot heading into the final race of the night -- the 400-yard freestyle relay.

The Skippers foursome of Stettner, Kurt Youngdahl, Noah Busch and Austin Sarna had swam the fastest preliminary time in the relay, nearly a full two seconds faster than the Eagles in the first round 24 hours earlier.

While Edina took the event victory on Saturday, Minnetonka clinched the state championship by taking second in an All-American consideration time of 3 minutes, 8.79 seconds as Eden Prairie took fifth.

"We tried hard not to think about how close we were," said Stettner, who swam anchor on the relay.

In the end, the night belonged to the Skippers as the final standings showed: Minnetonka 253.50, Eden Prairie 248, Edina 232.50.

The Skippers did not claim a single event championship en route to claiming the Class AA crown, but — in addition to the 400 relay finish — had several swimmers make trips to the medal stand with enough all-state results to put their team over the top.

Minnetonka's 200-yard medley relay quartet of Youngdahl, Busch, Kendall Dunn and Dane Oberman placed fifth in 1:40.37 and the 200-yard freestyle relay squad of Youngdahl, Oberman, Sarna and Stettner came in third with an All-American consideration time of 1:26.09.

Individually, Stettner placed second in the 200-yard freestyle in an all-american consideration time of 1:41.12 before taking third in the 500-yard freestyle in 4:38.68; Sarna took third in both the 200-yard individual medley (1:56.29) and 100-yard breaststroke (58.79).

Youngdahl claimed third in the 100-yard freestyle in 46.53 after tying for fourth in the 50-yard freestyle in 21.41, with Kendall Dunn coming in fifth in the 100 breaststroke (59.55), Eric Sirjord placing sixth in the 500 freestyle (4:46.71) and Busch taking eighth in the 100-yard backstroke (53.12).

The title is the Skippers' first of the two-class era and the first since Minnetonka won nine-out-of-10 championships from 1988 to 1997. It was also the final meet for Skippers head coach Chris Guerrera and assistant caoch Tony Mosser.