Marching through Maple Grove to Red, White, and Blue

Good evening from the Centennial Boys' Swim & Dive team!

This last week had the swim and dive team facing some tough competition as they travelled to Maple Grove to take on the Crimson in their home pool. With fierce competition all around, the winner of the meet was to be decided with the final 400yard Freestyle Relay. Not to be bested, the Cougars put their best foot forward and went out strong with a final relay time of 3:28.60, speeding past the Maple Grove A Relay team by over 15 seconds! With every swimmer from both teams either in the water or cheering on their teammates at the end of the lanes, it was an electrifying moment to witness and allowed the swimmers to be something greater in that moment. On the bus ride home, Head Coach Pete Crawford said that if there was ever any question that we were a team before this moment, all doubts were washed away in that race. The team would like to extend a heartfelt congrats to the Maple Grove Crimson for not only being gracious hosts, but for their sportsmanship and effort as well. It's moments like those that provide growth for all swimmers involved. 

On Saturday, it was a chance for the 7th, 8th, and 9th graders to shine as the team headed to the Red, White, and Blue meet at Northdale Middle School. For many of these swimmers, they not only swam some of their fastest times all year, but they also swam new events for the first time, finding success in either longer distances or something other than freestyle. Coach Bob said, "These boys have really worked hard improving their technique and really getting a feel for the water."  Nearly all swimmers and divers either hit a personal best or maintained some of their fastest speeds all year. The meet showed that every swimmer truly mattered, narrowly edging out Maple Grove for the top spot by just 1.5 points! Coach Lee wanted to give a shout out to his divers Blake Thorson who placed 2nd in diving, Elijah Manthei who placed 3rd in diving, and to Caleb Saucier who had a personal best at this meet, breaking 100 points for the first time! Way to go divers!
 

Tomorrow, the boys have their last home meet of the season where they will face off against the Park Center Pirates. Be sure to come root on the boys swimming and diving team as they honor their seniors Aidan Anderson, Jindrich Boula, Austin Brang, Caleb Cregan, Jacob Digre, Matt Kufner, Jaden Manthey, and Joe Murray for their last meet here at the Centennial pool. The meet starts at 6PM and will for sure be one to remember!