The Cougars Handed a Loss East of the Saint Croix River

For the first time in Centennial Boy’s Swimming ten year history, it competed on the other side of the St. Croix River in the "Dairy State", in a dual meet against Hudson, WI.  Upon the Cougars arrival at the Raiders' beautiful aquatic facility, the Centennial athletes were bewildered by Hudson’s numerous state champion banners, Olympic Trial competitor banners, and the impressive team records displayed proudly on the pool’s record board.  "The space was sort of intimidating", one Cougar diver expressed while another Centennial athlete was heard saying, “wow, this is a classy team!” 

Head Coach Pete Crawford saw this meet as an opportunity to compete with swimmers outside of our area.  He was surprised at how well Hudson preformed and he was impressed by facilities and overall program of the Raiders Swim and Dive Team. "Hudson's level of swimming opened our young team's eyes and gives the Cougars a target to aim for as we improve as a program", stated Crawford the day following the meet.

The Cougar’s competition was tough, and the final meet score of Centennial’s 65.5 points to Hudson’s 120.5 points showed just how strong the Raiders are.  Centennial’s junior swimmer, Joe Murray, performed the Cougar’s only first place finish by entering a time of :24.24 in 50 yard freestyle event. 

Two other notable performances turned in by Centennial’s athletes were by middle school divers Blake Thorson and Elijah Manthei.  Seventh grader Blake Thorson's score of 139.5 at the meet placed him in the sixth position on the middle school All Time Best Performances list while eighth grader Elijah Manthei’s score of 139.6 moved him up on the list from sixth place to fifth place.  

The meet video can be accessed at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZ0lchY60DM  

Centennial's next dual meet will take place in just two days on Thursday, December 21, against the Blaine Bengals at Northdale Pool.  This meet promises to be very exciting.