ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
Swimmer rocks in and out of water
Mike Vesely plays guitar in a rock band called "Girlskouts," which has performed throughout the state.
Last weekend Vesely rocked the Class AA state swim meet at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center with three all-state performances in his four events.
Vesely placed sixth in the 50-yard freestyle and swam the leadoff leg on the fourth-place 200 free relay and seventh-place 400 free relay. The times churned out by those two relays were worthy of All-American consideration.
Mike Vesely profile
Sport -- Swimming
Events -- 50 free, 200 and 400 free relays, 200 medley relay
Year -- Senior
Age -- 18
Height -- 6-foot-2
Weight -- 170 pounds
Grade-point average -- 3.72
Memorable sports achievement -- Qualifying for this year's state swim meet in four events
School activities -- A capella choir, Windfall, Economics Club
Favorite subject -- History
Favorite food -- Pizza
Favorite movie -- "UHF"
Hobbies -- Playing guitar
Future plans -- Attend Minnesota-Duluth, become secondary education teacher
Parents -- Tom and Miriam Vesely
Warriors coach John Zemke said Vesely leads off both relays because he usually produces a consistent time.
"We don't have to worry about him going slower in the front of a relay," Zemke said. "Mike almost always swims the same time or faster."
Vesely also was a member of the 200 medley relay along with Ty Goeman, Karl Antolak and Pat O'Brien, that placed 17th at state.
In addition Vesely helped the Warriors' team to an eighth-place finish, the highest in program history.
"It was just an awesome season," Vesely said. "It has been an honor to be part of this team. We have so many great swimmers on this team. They have to be to set the records we have."
The 200 free relay broke the school record three times, the 400 free relay broke the school record twice and the medley relay clocked the second fastest time in Warriors history. In the 50 free Vesely turned in the second-fastest time in school history.
Zemke said Vesely is one of the Warriors' most versatile swimmers.
"If Mike swam the 100 free he could easily have swam the 100 free at state," Zemke said. "The reason we chose him to do three relays is because we needed to have one of our top kids in relays to get all of them to state. Mike could easily swim two open events and two relays as well.
"Mike is also a great backstroker. We had three backstrokers we used throughout the year. Last year as a junior Mike was in the finals at the section in the backstroke. He can swim it all."
Zemke mentioned the Warriors' meet at Willmar this season as an illustration of Vesely's versatility.
"We were missing about five guys," Zemke said. "We were concerned about winning the meet. Mike swam the 200 IM and 100 breaststroke. He did a tremendous job in both. He won one and was second in another. He came through.
"Mike is such a positive person. He never complains about anything. He works hard. He's a tremendous attribute to our team."
In the state finals Vesely went 22.22 in the 50 free.
"That's an event where you have to go," Vesely said. "If you spend any time thinking about it you have already lost. It's so fast. You can't make any mistakes at all."
In the state 200 free relay Vesely, O'Brien, Jim Clabo and Paul Fitzpatrick finished at 1:28.0.
"The amount of time we dropped over the year was just amazing," Vesely said. "Basically we had the same four guys on it. It has been a great group of guys to swim with. We gave each other a lot of competition to get on relays."
In the 400 free relay state final Vesely was joined by Ryan Scheeler, Clabo and Fitzpatrick to finish at 3:16.58.
"It was a close race," Vesely said. "Even if we swam our seed time we knew we would still be in the same place as we ended up. We swam great. Every team ahead of us dropped more time the second day. It was hard to move up."
Other notable efforts by Warriors:
Nick Praska, floor hockey, scored five goals against Dakota United.
Lisa Renneke, girls' basketball, scored 27 points against Apollo.
Preston Hines, wrestling, finished fifth in the Class 3A state tournament at 103 pounds.
Paul Fitzpatrick, swimming, was fourth in the 200 free and fifth in the 100 free at state.
Jim Clabo, swimming, was 15th in the 100 free at state.
Shaun Kennedy and Jake Carson, diving, placed fifth and 21st, respectively, at state.
(Athlete of the week is honored by the Brainerd Sports Boosters Club.)