Redbird swimmers battle some of the state's best at True Team

• Vinje

Echo Press file photo by Eric Morken Sam Vinje had two top-16 individual finishes at the True Team meet.

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The Cardinal boys’ swimming and diving team battled some of the best teams in the state in its first-ever appearance at the Minnesota Swim Coaches Association True Team State Meet at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center this past Saturday.

Alexandria finished 11th in the team standings with 1,021 points. The true team meet is based on the philosophy that every team member’s performance counts toward the team’s score. First place is worth as many points as the number of possible entries in the event.

The Cardinals did not back down from the tough competition that came with facing some of the metro’s strongest teams. Ben Vogeler and Sam Vinje led Alexandria with two top-16 finishes. Vogeler finished 11th in the 50 freestyle (22.64) and ninth in the 100 free (50.12). Vinje earned a 13th-place finish in the 200 freestyle (1:53.36) and a 15th-place finish in the 100 free (51.46).

Aaron Rooney had the highest finish of the day for the Cardinals. He took fifth in the diving competition with 319.30 points. Dylan Johnson also had a top-16 finish in the 100 breaststroke. He took 13th with a time of 1:04.29. Two of the Cardinal relay teams finished inside the top 16, as well. Jon Schwegel, Bennett Freitag, Johnson and Vogeler placed 13th in the 200-medley relay with a time of 1:46.19. Chris Vogeler, Freitag, Vinje and Rooney were 16th in the 400 free relay in a time of 3:32.46.

The Cardinals had 18 individuals finish with season best times at the True Team meet. Johnson, Phil Golde, Austin Biskey and Ben Vogeler each had two. Johnson dropped 2.2 seconds off his 200 IM time and 2.1 seconds in the 100 breaststroke. Freshman Aaron Pietrowski also lowered his 500 freestyle time by six seconds.

STATE TRUE TEAM MEET RESULTS

TEAM RESULTS – 1. Edina – 2,084; 2. Minnetonka – 1,814.5; 3. Rosemount – 1,739.5; 4. Cretin-Derham Hall – 1,621.5; 5. Stillwater Area – 1,617; 6. Eden Prairie – 1,540; 7. Maple Grove – 1,439; 8. Mounds View – 1,382.5; 9. Eastview – 1,347.5; 10. Anoka – 1,084; 11. Alexandria – 1,021; 12. Northfield – 870.5

ALEXANDRIA RESULTS – 200 MEDLEY RELAY – Jon Schwegel, Dylan Johnson, Bennett Freitag, Ben Vogeler – 13th place, 1:46.19; Austin Biskey, Will Sieling, Colin Larter, Aaron Rooney – 30th place, 1:53.95; Bryce Bowser, John Vinje, Sean Norheim, Ryan Dahlquist – 42nd place, 2:02.39; Zac Bartolomeo, Kyle Blank, Matt Sheets, Jesse Hacker – 44th place, 2:04.03

200 FREESTYLE – Sam Vinje – 13th place, 1:53.36; Kris Aaseng – 27th place, 1:58.71; Chris Vogeler – 38th place, 2:02.67; Phil Golde – 41st place, 2:04.14

200 IM – Jon Schwegel – 26th place, 2:13.57; Dylan Johnson – 30th place, 2:14.71; Will Sieling – 36th place, 2:18.82; Colin Larter – 42nd place, 2:21.85

50 FREESTYLE – Ben Vogeler – 11th place, 22.64; Eric Moe – 39th place, 24.75; Ryan Dahlquist – 43rd place, 26.39; Ben Roers – 45th place, 27.12

DIVING – Aaron Rooney – fifth place, 319.30; Elliot Jacobson – 33rd place, 69.60

100 BUTTERFLY – Bennett Freitag – 22nd place, 59.55; Austin Biskey – 38th place, 1:05.07; Colin Larter – 40th place, 1:05.81; Matt Sheets – 45th place, 1:10.28

100 FREESTYLE – Ben Vogeler – ninth place, 50.12; Sam Vinje – 15th place, 51.46; Chris Vogeler – 32nd place, 53.61; Eric Moe – 35th place, 54.27

500 FREESTYLE – Kris Aaseng – 24th place, 5:22.15; Austin McCulloch – 37th place, 5:39.30; Phil Golde – 40th place, 5:42.71; Aaron Pietrowski – 42nd place, 5:46.99

200 FREESTYLE RELAY – Chris Vogeler, Bennett Freitag, Sam Vinje, Ben Vogeler – ninth place, 1:33.31; Dylan Johnson, Eric Moe, Will Sieling, Ryan Dahlquist – 26th place, 1:39.31; Kyle Blank, Matt Sheets, Bryce Bowser, Colin Larter – 39th place, 1:44.97; John Vinje, Ben Roers, Sean Norheim, Jesse Hacker – 44th place, 1:47.15

100 BACKSTROKE – Jon Schwegel – 24th place, 1:00.70; Austin Biskey – 31st place, 1:02.43; Zac Bartolomeo – 37th place, 1:04.78; Jake Strand – 42nd place, 1:09.81

100 BREASTSTROKE – Dylan Johnson – 13th place, 1:04.29; Will Sieling – 42nd place, 1:12.45; John Vinje – 44th place, 1:14.89; Kyle Blank – 48th place, 1:16.75

400 FREESTYLE RELAY – Chris Vogeler, Aaron Rooney, Bennett Freitag, Sam Vinje – 16th place, 3:32.46; Eric Moe, Kris Aaseng, Phil Golde, Jon Schwegel – 24th place, 3:40.39; Austin McCulloch, Bryce Bowser, Austin Biskey, Ryan Dahlquist – 39th place, 3:52.40; Sean Norheim, Matt Sheets, Ben Roers, Jesse Hacker – 40th place, 3:55.33

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