Many Cougars Sparkle at the 2022 North Dakota / Minnesota Border Battle

On Friday, January 7, 2022, Centennial braved subzero temperatures and blizzard like conditions to make a four-hour trip to West Fargo, ND to compete in the 2022 North Dakota / Minnesota Border Battle Invitational on following day.  This swimming meet may turn out to be the Cougars’ highlight event of the season because of the unique experiences of spending a night in a hotel, sharing meals with teammates, and competing in a ten-lane, Olympic trail pool against 13 rural Minnesota and North Dakota swimming teams.

Both the coaches and the athletes encountered many learning experiences during the weekend, such as not to be part of testosterone focused roughhousing in the hotel pool before “lights-out” and the importance getting at least 7 hours of sound sleep before facing stiff competition the following morning.

Head Coach Pete Crawford intentionally did not go into the meet with Centennial’s best lineup.  He used this meet to give many of Cougar swimmers a chance to swim events that they usually would not compete in during a typical Northwest Suburban Conference swimming meet.  The result of this fun approach was many surprising swims and the realization that team’s novice and junior varsity swimmers are on the path to creating a very successful varsity swimming team in the coming years.

At the conclusion of the trip, it was decided by all that were involved in the two-day event that the experience will be memorable and that it needs to be repeated next year - incorporating lessons learned of course ;-) . 

Team standings at the conclusion of the meet are the following:

• Alexandria – 384
• Fargo Davies High School – 372
• Moorhead High School – 227
• Melrose/Sauk Center – 205
• Andover – 192
• West Fargo Sheyenne – 171
• West Fargo Packers – 153
• Bemidji – 139
• Fargo North – 127
• Grand Forks – 100
• Centennial – 76
• Fergus Falls – 61
• Detroit Lakes – 45
• Perham – 28
• Morris Area – 21