BHS tops grueling week with a win

Zach Schneider said it's a process.

• Photos

A long, grueling, energy-sapping process that the Brainerd Warriors swimming and diving team hopes gets them to the state tournament.

The Warriors have racked up the yardage in practice, but took a break long enough to defeat the Sauk Rapids-Rice Storm Thursday 105-76 in Central Lakes Conference action at Brainerd High School.

Brainerd's times aren't dropping as fast as the swimmers would like, but it's a process.

"Sometimes going into a meet it can be frustrating because we work so hard in practice," said Schneider. "We get broken down so much it's hard to progress through the season, but our main goal is the section meet at the end of the season. Once we're rested and this all catches up to you that's where the money is at."

Brainerd swimmer Chris Dens competed in the 200-yard individual medley Thursday at Brainerd High School. Brainerd Dispatch/Nels Norquist » Purchase reprints of this photo.

The process involved changing events for some swimmers. Jared Anderson won the 500-yard freestyle. Evan Reese almost topped teammate Mike Brekken in the 100 backstroke.

Andrew Goll won the 200 free, Mike Ruen won the 100 butterfly and Jonathan Warling won the 200 individual medley. Despite being an exhibition Josh Sachs won the 100 breaststroke and the Warriors won the 200 medley and 200 free relays.

"It was fun to move some kids around because sometimes you get stuck in the same events over and over and over," said Warriors coach John Zemke. "It was nice to have this meet where we could move some people around. We also came away with the win which is our goal, so overall a pretty decent meet."

The Warriors will need better than decent next week when they travel to Alexandria and host St. Cloud Tech. But don't expect Brainerd to rest during practice.

"We base our season on the last meet of the year which is the section meet," said Zemke. "We either want to win the section title or get as many kids to state as we can. At the very least swim as fast as we can and get our season best. That's always the goal at the section meet. During the year we're trying to win as many meets as we can and in the meantime to get to the ending point you have to train. The only way to get fast at the end of the year is to train really hard now."

Warriors 105, Sauk Rapids-Rice 76

Key: Seven first-place finishes and first, second, third finishes in the 500-yard freestyle and 100 backstroke led Brainerd to victory

Conf: Brd 4-1, 1-4

Overall: Brd 4-2, 2-4

Next meet: Brainerd at Alexandria 6 p.m. Tuesday

The Warriors swept the top three spots in the 500 freestyle with Anderson followed by Josh Sachs in second and Will Henningson in third.

They also swept the 100 backstroke as Chris Dens followed Brekken and Reese. Jake Larson led the Brainerd divers with a second-place score of 158.95. Britton Murray was third.

Brainerd 105, Sauk Rapids-Rice 76

200 medley relay - 1-Brainerd (Michael Brekken, Jared Anderson, Mike Ruen, Evan Reese) 1:49.86, 2-Brainerd (Alek Rudstrom, Josh Sachs, Chris Dens, Karl Magnuson) 1:54.60, 4-Brainerd (Trevor Howard, Zach Schneider, Brian Kolbeck, Peter Jacobsen) 1:56.35

200 freestyle - 1-Andrew Goll (Brd) 1:59.55, 3-Mike Ruen (Brd) 2:04.78, 5-Jake Larson (Brd) 2:10.16

200 individual medley - 1- Jon Warling (Brd) 2:27.06, Kolbeck (Brd) 2:28.29, Dens (Brd) 2:30.72

50 freestyle - 1-Adam Gross (SR) 24.08, 2-Jared Anderson (Brd) 24.15, 3-Reese (Brd) 24.20, 4-Brekken (Brd) 25.28

Diving - 1-Wes Schlichting 226.10, 2-Jake Larson (Brd) 158.95, 3-Britton Murray (Brd) 158.00, 5-Keenan Goodrich (Brd) 139.75

100 butterfly - 1-Ruen (Brd) 1:00.13, 3-Kolbeck (Brd) 1:03.08, 4-Magnuson (Brd) 1:04.80

100 freestyle - 1-Ben Swanson (SR) 32.89, 2-Goll (Brd) 53.50, 3-Rudstrom (Brd) 54.64, 6-Howard (Brd) 57.37

500 freestyle - 1-Jeremy Anderson (Brd) 5:18.03, 2-Sachs (Brd) 5:43.67, 3-Will Henningson (Brd) 5:45.69

200 freestyle relay - 1-Brainerd (Reese, Ruen, Goll, Anderson) 1:37.54, 3-Brainerd (Peter Jacobsen, Larson, Magnuson, Jeff Schutey) 1:42.89, 4-Brainerd (Ethan Davis, Jesse Macarthur, Will Henningson, Nate Henningson) 1:48.30

100 backstroke - 1-Brekken (Brd) 1:02.93, 2-Reese (Brd) 1:03.27, 3-Dens (Brd) 1:06.47

100 breaststroke - EX-Sachs (Brd) 1:11.51, Schneider (Brd) 115.65 Jacobsen (Brd) 1:16.10

400 freestyle relay - EX Brainerd (Goll, Dens, Rudstrom, Warling) 3:43.89, Brainerd (Will Henningson, Howard, Magnuson, Brekken) 3:49.85, Brainerd (Nate Henningson, Corey Kuglin, Jordan Westpahl, Clark Eggen) 4:02.69

JEREMY MILLSOP can be reached at jeremy.millsop@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5856.