Teams: Farmington, Lakeville North, Lakeville South, New Prague, Owatonna, Rochester Century, Rochester John Marshall, Rochester Mayo
- 2023 Section Champion: Rochester Century – 482 pts
- 2023 Section Runner-up: Lakeville South – 427 pts
Notable Graduates:
- Jack Homme (Century) – 50 Free (1st Sections), 100 Fly (2nd Sections/12th State)
- Jensen Richard (Century) – 200 IM (4th Sections), 100 Back (1st Sections/8th State)
- Nathan Zhang (Century) – 100 Breast (4th Sections)
- Noah Lind (Lakeville South) – 200 Free (6th Sections), 100 Fly (9th Sections)
- Jake MacLeod (Lakeville North) – 200 IM (3rd Sections), 100 Free (4th Sections)
- Justus Ray (Lakeville North) – 50 Free (4th Sections), 100 Free (5th Sections)
- Nikolas Vinovich (Lakeville North) – 200 Free (45h Sections), 500 Free (4th Sections)
- Aiden Johnson (Mayo) – 100 Fly (5th Sections), 100 Back (8th Sections)
- Payton Mitchell (Mayo) – 100 Fly (6th Sections), 500 Free (5th Sections)
- Alonso Montori (Mayo) – 200 Free (2nd Sections/5th State), 100 Free (2nd Sections/9th State)
- Cole Piepho (Owatonna) – Diving (3rd Sections)
- Andrew Ogren (John Marshall) – 100 Breast (8th Sections)
- Alex Dvorak (New Prague) – 500 Free (5th Section 1A*)
Team Outlook
Section 1AA is a plus one this season with New Prague moving up from section 1A. The remainder of the section stays intact. For all the details of the section realignments, you can visit our previous article.
Reigning section champion Rochester Century graduated 87 sections individual points across three swimmers and some definite relay power. They will rely on a group effort from their sophomores, juniors, and seniors to make up for the loss. Senior Albert Hu was 8th last season in the 50 Free and 4th in the 100 Fly, while fellow senior Nathan Kram placed 5th in the 50 Free and 6th in the 100 Breast. Junior Owen Kelly placed 3rd in the 50 and 100 Free last season and will battle for the section champion spot this year in both. Century has a trio of strong sophomores looking to take the next step. Grady Bargfrede placed 5th in the 200 IM and 3rd in the 100 Breast, Eli Holmes placed 7th in the 200 IM and 5th in the 100 Breast, and Gavin Potter finished 4th in the 200 Free and 2nd in the 500 Free. Potter went on to place 12th at the state meet in the 500. Keep an eye on freshman diver Silas Wagstaff. Wagstaff placed 4th in the sections, just making the state cut, but went on to place 16th at the state meet.
Lakeville South only graduates 34 individual points from last year’s squad and will be hot on the heels of Rochester Century. South has a strong contingent of seniors to lead the way this season. Gage Boushee returns as section champion in both the 200 and 100 Free. He placed top 3 in both events a week later at the MSHSL state meet. Noah Cochran was 2nd at sections in the 50 free and was section champion in the 100 Fly. A third senior, Ethan LaBounty, was section champion in the 200 IM and runner-up in the 100 Breast. Also, part of the senior crew is returning section champion in diving, Porter Woodson, and Alex Morelli, who placed 6th in the 50 Free and 8th in the 100 Free. There is strength below the senior class as well, with sophomore Grady Evenson returning after placing 3rd in the 100 Fly and 2nd in the 100 Back. These boys will be looking to not only win a section title for the team but improve on their 5th-place team finish at the 2023 MSHSL state meet.
Other Notables
Lakeville North will be led by senior Cooper Krance, who finished 2nd in the 200 IM last season and was section champion in the 100 Breast. Krance went on to finish 4th in the 100 Breast at the state meet. Joining Krance will be junior Jonah Hoffman. Hoffman was the section champion last year in the 500 Free and placed 3rd in the 200 Free.
Rochester Mayo will look to rebuild some after losing some powerhouse seniors. Leading the way this season will be senior Logan Atkinson, who placed 5th in the 100 Back, and junior Ben Weingarten, who finished 6th in the 200 IM and 3rd in the 500 Free.
Owatonna seniors Matthew Larson and Carter Quam will be on point for the team this year and looking to improve on their 2023 section finishes. Larson placed 6th in the 200 Free and 5th in the 100 Fly, while Quam was 9th in a very competitive 50 Free and 7th in the 100 Free. Senior diver Henry Hilgendorf placed 5th at sections last season and will be looking to take the state qualifying spot of graduated teammate Cole Piepho.
Farmington will look to improve from 2023 behind senior Jake Peterson and junior Adam Moorlach. Peterson placed 8th in the 200 IM and 3rd in the 100 back, while Moorlach finished 7th in the 50 Free and 6th in the 100 Free.
John Marshall will look to retool after graduating most of their section points from 2023. Junior Maxwell Nguyen returns as the remaining point scorer with a 13th place finish in the 100 Breast.
New Prague will have their first season in class AA and will be led by juniors Jacob Bisek and Brendan Panka. Bisek placed 2nd in the 50 Free and 500 Free in Section 1A last season and Panka was section champion in the 200 Free and 2nd in the 100 Fly. Both will look to make a big impact in their new section.