St. Michael Swimmers Shoot for Conference Title Tonight

St. Michael-Albertville heads to Buffalo with a shot at something perhaps no one expected this swimming season: a Mississippi 8 Conference title.

The Knights would hold both the boys and (a share of) the girls title at the same time in school history.

STMA moved two steps closer to the perfect season as they improved their record to 7-0 with two dual meet wins last week.

The Knights beat Princeton in conference competition Thursday night, and then followed up with a win over Fargo North on Friday night at St. Michael-Albertville pool.

STMA cruised by the Tigers winning 10 of the 12 events. Brandon Richardson's 100-yard backstroke was the highlight of the evening as he broke a school record that had stood since the inaugural season of boys swimming at STMA.

The Knights took the top spot in 8 of 12 events against Fargo North. Two school records were set. First senior captain Kyle Winkelman topped his own school record in the 1 meter diving finishing with a score of 213.30, then freshman Grant Moser lowered his school record in the 100 butterfly with a time of 55.77 seconds.

The Knights Junior Varsity team also finished on top in both meets improving their record to 7-0. Top swims came from Matt Swedzinski in the 50 and 100 freestyle, Ryan Marhula in the 100 butterfly, Cam Johnson in the 200 IM, and Mike Schoenke in the 200 and 500 freestyle.

Those wins followed a huge performance in Watertown earlier in January.

STMA placed 1st at the Watertown Invitational with 610.5 points followed by Eagan High School with 503 points, Orono with 425.5, Watertown-Mayer with 336.5 points, Buffalo with 323.5 and White Bear Lake schools with 126 points.

The team of Mitch Cusick, Kyle Kackman, Grant Moser, and Noah Dalluge placed first in the 200 yard IM relay. Brandon Richardson placed 1st in the 200 yard Free with a time of 1:52.69 and Cole Haeska placed 3rd with a time of 1:58.32. Grant Moser, Sam Konsor, and Kyle Kackman finished 2nd, 3rd and 5th in the 200 yard IM with times of 2:10.63, 2:11.29 and 2:15.11 respectively. Noah Dalluge placed 1st in the 50 yard Free with a time of 22.73. In the 100 yard Free, Grant Moser placed 2nd with a time of 56.71,

Brandon Richardson placed 2nd in the 100 yard Free with a time of 50.92 and Cole Haeska placed 2nd in the 500 yard Free with a time of 5:16.54. In the 200 yard Free Relay, the team of Sam Konsor, Kyle Kachman, Connor Schmidt and Brandon Richardson placed 1st with a time of 1:34.39. Additional key wins included a 4th and 5th finishes for Mitch Cusick and Max Rooney with times of 1:01.28 and 1:01.69 respectively. In the 100 yard Breaststroke, Eli Guillou finished 1st with a time of 1:06.74 and Kyle Kackman finished second with a time of 1:07.25. The meet finished with the team of Sam Konsor, Noah Dalluge, Grant Moser and Brandon Richardson placing 1st in the 400 yard Free Relay with a time of 3:24.69.

The Knights also made it a swimming sweep over Monticello this year, as the boys clipped the Magic 95-91 for the inside track to the conference crown.