Swimming: Irish win second straight Lake title

• Swimming

Rosemount will send three relays and six individuals to this week's state meet.

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With a second straight Lake Conference title on the line, Rosemount boys swimming and diving coach Jim Ertl knew his team would be focused.

If Eagan had somehow managed to beat the Irish, there would have been a three-way tie for the conference title. Rosemount’s swimmers and divers weren’t going to let that happen.

The Irish beat Eagan 120-66 last week to finish the conference undefeated at 11-0. It’s the second consecutive title for Rosemount.

“We have improved more from the beginning of the season than they have,” Ertl said of the matchup against Eagan. “We had the kids in the right events too. For us, we couldn’t take a chance of something going crazy and them making a close meet out of it. We just had so many things go right that we didn’t have to worry about it.”

Rosemount took first and third in the opening 200-yard medley relay, just missing a 1-2 finish.

Braden McCormack, Jacob Stern, Tony Spiel and Luke Dowell combined to place first. David Baker, Alex Roberts, David Officer and Tyler Lawson took third place.

Devon Meeks won the 200 and 500 freestyle races, going up against the top Eagan swimmer.

“Devon took care of business there,” Ertl said.

Spiel and Stern finished 2-3 in the 200 individual medley.

Max Hubbard won the 50 freestyle, just missing the pool record. Connor Manning placed third.

For Ertl, the diving competition showed the difference in improvement between the two teams. Eagan appeared to have the stronger diving crew entering the season.

However, Jim Peterson won the diving competition last week. Anthony Tooley finished second and Daniel Monaghan was fourth. Monaghan missed third place by just 6.5 points.

“Their divers looked for sure 1-2 earlier,” Ertl said. “We went 1-2-4 and almost had 1-2-3. Our guys just did a great job. They’ve really been doing a great job recently. That’s a good thing going into the section meet.”

Spiel placed second in the 100 fly as Rosemount took a 57-37 lead. Even with the lead, Ertl felt the Irish really took control in the later events.

Hubbard won the 100 freestyle with Manning placing third. Nick Jeffrey finished fourth.

“We started OK, but we really started turning the corner once we got to the 100 free,” Ertl said.

Baker finished third in the 500 freestyle, backing Meeks’ winning effort.

“David Baker is tougher than nails,” Ertl said. “That’s his best swim ever. He’s tough.”

Rosemount broke the pool record in the 200 freestyle relay. Hubbard, Dowell, Manning and Meeks teamed up to place first in 1 minutes, 28.67 seconds. Jeffrey, Michael Young, Roberts and Lawson combined for second place.

“I told all of our guys, the ‘B’ relay guys, that if they split their relays to go run them down and go after them,” Ertl said. “That’s what they did there and our relays did what they needed to do.”

McCormack and Baker went 2-3 in the 100 backstroke.

Stern and Roberts placed first and second, respectively, in the 100 breaststroke.

Hubbard, Manning, Spiel and Meeks teamed up to win the 400 freestyle relay.

“At the beginning of the season I thought the conference title was probably going to be a struggle,” Ertl said. “ I started to get a look at times and the other teams. We had our work cut out for us. The guys really responded. They knew what it takes to be champions. I couldn’t be prouder.

“The section meet is going to be a little more competitive. There are a lot of good teams and good individuals. We don’t really get to use our relay depth.”

The JV championships are this weekend, and then the section championships are next week at Prior Lake.

Tags: sports, rosemount, irish, swimming, minnesota, prep