Teams: Benilde-St. Margaret’s, Bloomington Kennedy, Breck/Blake, Mound-Westonka, Orono, St. Anthony
- 2023 Section Champion: Breck/Blake – 560 pts
- 2023 Section Runner-up: Orono – 375 pts
Notable Graduates:
- Charlie Egeland (Breck/Blake) – 200 IM (1st Sections/1st State), 100 Breast (1st Sections/1st State)
- Ivars Emerson (Breck/Blake) – 200 Free (6th Sections), 100 Back (2nd Sections)
- Eli Peter (Breck/Blake) – 50 Free (6th Sections)
- Jack Schurtz-Ford (Breck/Blake) – 100 Free (1st Sections), 100 Back (1st Sections)
- Nam Truong (Breck/Blake) – 50 Free (4th Sections), 100 Fly (3rd Sections)
- Toby Wieland (Breck/Blake) – 200 Free (8th Sections), 500 Free (7th Sections)
- Kaden Starcznski (Orono) – 200 IM (4th Sections), 500 Free (2nd Sections)
- Colin Ziegler (Orono) – 50 Free (8th Sections), 100 Breast (7th Sections)
- James McCarthy (St. Anthony) – 200 IM (2nd Sections), 100 Fly (2nd Sections)
- Grant Ravndahl (St. Anthony) – 100 Free (8th Sections)
- Samuel Haddad (Benilde) – 100 Fly (8th Sections)
- Parker Roos (Benilde) – 100 Back (8th Sections)
- Charles Shideman (Benilde) – 200 IM (8th Sections), 500 Free (4th Sections)
- Tyler Kauffman (Kennedy) – 50 Free (3rd Sections), 100 Free (6th Sections)
Team Outlook
Even though there are a smaller amount of teams this year with Richfield moving to AA and Delano Watertown Mayer moving to 3A, there is still a lot of horsepower in this section. For all the details of the section realignments, you can visit our previous article.
Breck/Blake will continue their reign on top of Section 2A despite some notable graduates. Junior Henry Webb returns as section and state champion in the 200 Free and section and state runner-up in the 100 Free. Senior Josiah March also returns as runner-up in sections and state in the 200 Free and section and state champion in the 500 Free. Fellow senior Andrew Colgan placed 3rd at sections in the 200 IM and second in the 100 Breast. Colgan went on to finish in the same positions at the state meet. Senior Cayden Liao was section champion in the 50 free in 2023 and later placed 7th at the state meet. In the 100 Breast, he placed fourth at sections and 5th at the state meet. Junior Dominic Bollettieri placed 4th in the 100 Fly at sections and 6th in the 100 Breast in 2023. Finally, senior diver Colin Craig was section runner-up and placed 4th at the state meet.
Orono returns much of its third-place state and section runner-up team this season. Senior Walter Royal returns as section champion in the 100 Fly and placed 3rd in a stacked 200 Free. Royal went on to place 4th in both at the state meet. Fellow senior Owen Gagne returns after a 5th place finish in the 200 Free and 3rd place finish in the 100 Breast at the section meet. Gagne placed 7th in the 100 Breast at the state meet. Sophomore Eli Fish placed 7th in the 200 IM and 5th in the 100 Back at sections and competed in both at the state meet. Another Fish, 8th grader Gideon returns as section champion and 3rd place finisher in diving. Fellow diver, sophomore Bjorn Jaenchen, placed 4th in the section meet and 15th at the state meet.
Other Notables
Benilde St. Margaret’s will be led by a trio of juniors. Lucas Wurst placed 5th in the 50 Free and 4th in the 100 Free in 2023. Joey Sandhoefner was a 6th place finisher in the 100 Fly and 5th in the 100 Breast. Finally, Mason Rokala placed 4th in the 200 Free and 5th in the 500 Free. All three made an appearance in individual events at the state meet and scored in the top 16.
For St. Anthony, seniors Bennett Wartner and Samuel Benson will try to make up for the graduation of James McCarthy. Wartner placed 5th in the 200 IM and 4th in the 100 Back at sections and went on to place in the top 16 at state in both. Benson placed 7th in the 200 Free and 5th in the 100 Free at the section meet in 2023.
Bloomington Kennedy returns section 3rd place finisher in diving with senior Samuel Gardner. Gardner went on to place 8th at the state meet. Junior Sid Rezac placed 8th in the 100 Breast, and freshman brother Franklin placed 5th in diving.
Mound-Westonka senior Bryce Helms was section runner-up in the 50 Free and placed third in the 100 Free. Helms went on to place 10th in the 50 Free and 15th in the 100 Free at the state meet.