Section 2AA
Teams: Bloomington Jefferson, Burnsville, Chanhassen/Chaska, Eden Prairie, Minnetonka, Prior Lake, Shakopee, Waconia
- 2023 Section Champion: Minnetonka – 488 pts
- 2023 Section Runner-up: Eden Prairie – 412 pts
Notable Graduates:
- William Anderson (Minnetonka) – 100 Breast (8th Sections)
- Graham Muench (Minnetonka) – 50 Free (7th Sections), 100 Free (7th Sections)
- Charlie Folks (Eden Prairie) – 200 Free (2nd Sections/9th State), 500 Free (2nd Sections/4th State)
- Eric Howard (Eden Prairie) – 50 Free (4th Sections/4th State)
- Matthew Lillejord (Eden Prairie) – 50 Free (8th Sections), 100 Free (4th Sections/13th State)
- Luke Logue (Eden Prairie) – 200 IM (1st Sections/1st State), 100 Back (1st Sections/1st State)
- Alex Oestreich (Eden Prairie) – Diving (1st Sections/5th State)
- Erik Peterson (Eden Prairie) – 100 Back (5th Sections)
- Owen Dryer (Prior Lake) – 200 IM (3rd Sections/7th State), 100 Fly (2nd Sections/3rd State)
- Blake Wallen (Prior Lake) – Diving (2nd Sections/3rd State)
- Lucas Becker (Chan/Chaska) – 50 Free (1st Sections/2nd State), 100 Free (9th Sections/3rd State)
- William Currie (Chan/Chaska) – 100 Fly (8th Sections)
- Danton Dale (Chan/Chaska) – 500 Free (7th Sections)
- Brian Gilbertson (Chan/Chaska) – Diving (3rd Sections/9th State)
- Landon Vaupel (Shakopee) – 50 Free (6th Sections), 100 Free (2nd Sections/10th State)
- Aiden Shermak (Jefferson) – 50 Free (5th Sections/12th State), 100 Free (3rd Sections/7th State)
- Matthias Wong (Burnsville) – 100 Back (7th Sections)
Team Outlook
The same 8 teams go at it again this year in section 2AA. Graduation will shake some things up, but this section always features some of the top swimmers and divers in the state. For all the details of the section realignments, you can visit our previous article.
Minnetonka was section champion in 2023 and placed 4th as a team at the MSHSL state meet. They still have a young team and will be the heavy favorite to repeat as section champs this season. The Skippers will be led by junior Evan Witte, who placed 2nd in the 200 IM at sections and was section champion in the 100 Free. Witte placed 3rd and 1st respectively in those events at the state meet. Fellow junior Daniel Shelstad placed 3rd in the 50 Free and 2nd in the 100 Breast last season and placed in the top 16 in both at state. Sophomore Ben Jabs placed third last season in both the 200 Free and 100 Back, finishing 5th at the state meet in the backstroke. Senior Myonghai Choi will look to move up from his 2023 7th place finish in the 200 IM and 5th place finish in the 100 Fly. Junior Reece Carlson placed 8th last season in the 200 Free and will battle Choi in the fly, finishing in 4th last year. Junior Max Louie was just ahead of Carlson in the 200 Free, with a 6th place finish, and right behind him in the Fly with a 6th place finish. Senior diver Trey Maroney will be the top returning diver in the section after his 4th place finish last season.
Eden Prairie is the defending state champions but will have to rebuild after graduating a ton of points on both the section and state level. Sophomore Drew Ploof is the top returner for the Eagles. Ploof was section champion in both the 200 Free and 100 Fly and placed 4th and 2nd respectively at the state meet. Senior Mark Derouin also returns after finishing 9th in the 200 Free and 4th in the 500 Free at the section meet last season.
Prior Lake will look to continue to build on their 3rd place team finish at the state meet in 2023. They graduate some high-end performers but have plenty of returning horsepower. Junior Ethan Kosin returns as defending section champion in the 500 Free and runner-up in the 100 Back. Kosin went on to place 3rd in the 500 Free at state and 2nd in the 100 Back. Senior Kaden Cheung placed 4th in the 200 Free at sections and 3rd in the 100 Fly. He placed 7th in the 100 Fly at the state meet the following week. Fellow senior Victor Tran will be a factor in the sprints. Trinh placed 2nd in the 50 Free and 6th in the 100 Free at sections and added some points for the team in those events at state. Sophomores Braxton Helmers and Owen Baudette will also be strong contributors to the squad. Braxton placed 5th in the 200 IM and 4th in the 100 Back, while Baudette placed 4th in the 100 Breast.
Other Notables
Chanhassen/Chaska will be led this season by a pair of Caseys. Senior Casey Bret returns from a 4th place finish in the 200 IM and an 8th place finish in the 100 Free. Junior Casey Parker placed 5th in the 200 Free and 3rd in the 500 Free in 2023. At state, Bretz placed 12th in the 200 IM and Parker 9th in the 200 Free.
Waconia is a young and improving team and will be led by Jack Hacker, who placed 6th in the 200 IM and was section champion in the 100 Breast. Hackler finished his season with a 3rd place at the state meet in the breaststroke. Junior Alex Kearney returns after a 7th place finish in the 200 Free and 8th place finish in the 100 Back. Sophomore Sam Swanson will look to take the next step after a 10th place finish in the 200 IM and 6th place fish in the 100 Breast.
Shakopee will look to rebuild after graduating quite a few section points in 2023. Senior Kale Flemming will look to crack into the top 8 at sections in the 200 IM and 100 Breast. He placed 12th in both in 2023.
Bloomington Jefferson also graduated most of their individual section points and will look to junior sprinter Brenden Lucas to lead the charge this season. Lucas placed 14th in the 50 Free, 18th in the 100 Free, and was part of Jefferson’s state qualifying 400 Free relay.
Burnsville will be looking to add some depth to their team after graduating quite a few seniors. Sophomore diver Zander Boyko placed 10th in sections last year and contributed on all three relays.