A three-meet week for the Cougars!

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

This last week was a raucous one for the boys with a grand total of three meets in six days (not to mention a meet the previous Friday!). On Tuesday, the boys travelled through the snowiest of blizzards to take on the Irondale Knights at Edgewood Middle School. As a non-conference match up, the swimmers got to participate in some events that they wouldn't otherwise have competed in. We also got to see some great dives by our divers, too, helping the score stay competitive. While the Cougars eventually fell to the Knights, great swims were had all around. A large kudos to Scott and his Irondale team for hosting a great meet!

On Thursday, the Coon Rapids Cardinals made their way to the Centennial pool where the Cougars dominated in both swimming and diving. Winning 100-77, the boys got a taste of what it means to not only be dominant in the water but also showed great character rooting for each other as well as the Cardinals. As the boys continue to build sportsmanship and develop into gentlemen with strong character, it's worth mentioning the great leadership shown by our captains. Coach Pete's swimmer of the meet was senior and captain Isaac Nguyen who had notable races in both the 100 Varsity Butterfly (swimming a 57.29!) and the anchor of his 400 Freestyle Relay (Swimming at 50.34!). Long-distance swimmer and captain Brendan Chrieten got to swim the 50Free and the 100 breast stroke, showing the breadth of his skill. 
 

Lastly, the varsity boys travelled to Northdale Middle School this past Saturday to take part in the Bengal invite, placing 3rd out of 12, holding onto their place from last year. Beaten only by Hudson and Maple Grove, our athletes left all they could in the pool to cap off what was an otherwise busy and tiring week. Here are some of Coach Pete's highlights for the event: "The only 1st place performance came in the 1st event of the 200 Medley Relay. Grant Page, Benno Schuhbauer, Devin Swenson, and Eliot Shepard out touched Hudson by 3 one hundreths of a second in an exciting 1st race of the meet. Other top finishes for the cougars include Brendan Chretien who finished 6th in the 200 Freestyle (1:59.09) and 5th in the 500 Freestyle (5:22.72). Eliot Shepard finished 3rd in the 50 freestyle (23.46) and 8th in 100 freestyle (56.18). Blake Thorson finished 6th in Diving with a 322.85 final score. Benno Schuhbauer finished 2nd in 100 Butterfly (54.01) and 3rd in 100 Breaststroke (1:01.90). Grant Page finished 5th in 100 butterfly(59.32) and 6th in 100 Backstroke(58.69). The 200 Freestyle relay of Eliot Shepard, Devin Swenson, Ethan Stegora, and Brendan Chretien finished 6th. Then the 400 Freestyle relay team of Grant Page, Blake Thorson, Bendan Chretien, and Benno Schuhbauer finished the meet with a 2nd place finish time of 3:32.05."
 

We look forward to this coming Thursday when the boys travel to Spring Lake Park to take on the Panthers at 6PM! This meet will be televised so make sure to wear your favorite Cougar apparel and cheer loudly! 

A large thank you to Ms. Hoerl for the photos used in this post!