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Centennial Junior Invitational Brings Tough Competition to All Four Teams

Coach Kevin Setterholm

The 7th, 8th and 9th grade Centennial Junior Invitational brought four teams together to turn out many extremely fast swims for everyone one that competed.  The competition was so tight between the four teams, that the team rankings were not known until the completion of the last event when it was announced that Maple Grove placed first with 366.5 points, Centennial placed second with 340.5 points, St. Michael-Albertville placed third with 321 points and Duluth East placed fourth with 254 points.

The 200 Freestyle relay team of Jaedyn Lynch-Rygh, Owen Leiter, Sawyer Celotta, and Gavin Manthei was Centennial’s only first place finish.  Assistant coach Kevin Setterholm was quick to point out that the lack of first place finishes does not reflect how well the Cougar athletes preformed at the meet.  Setterholm went on to explain that 70% or 38 of the Cougars swims were best times and that both Elijah Manthei and Gavin Manthei got personal high scores in diving.   Coach Kevin also pointed out that many of the Centennial swimmers had significant time drops, such as:  Willem Nibblenlink’s 8 second drop and Sawyer Celotta’s 6 second drop in the 200 freestyle; Nick Peacock’s 2.5 second drop in the 50 freestyle, Benno Schbauer’s 2 second drop in the 100 backstroke, Grayson Wespiser’s 8 second drop in the 100 breaststroke and Gavin Manthei’s whopping 46 second drop in the 500 freestyle.

Bringing home ribbons from the meet were: Benno Schubauer, Isaac Nguyen, Charlie Bryant, Garrett Clark, Jaedyn Lynch-Rygh, Alex Peacock, Grant Page, Gavin Manthei, Brennan Nielson, Evan Lautenschlager, Ethan Stegora, Elijah Manthei, Sawyer Celotta, Brendan Chretien, Gavin Manthei, Owen Leiter, Evan Lautenschlager, Chase Horstman, Eliot Shepard, and Willem Nibblelink.

The Cougar coaching staff all agreed that the team’s success at this meet is setting the young Centennial swimmers up for a fantastic end of the season JV Conference Championship meet which will take place on February 11, 2023 at Northdale Pool in Coon Rapids.