Teams: Chisago Lakes, Columbia Heights, Fridley, Hill-Murray, Minneapolis Edison/Henry/North, North St. Paul, South St. Paul, St. Paul Como Park, St. Paul Harding, St. Paul Johnson/Humbolt/Open World Learning, St. Thomas Academy
- 2023 Section Champion: St. Thomas Academy – 595 pts
- 2023 Section Runner-up: Chisago Lakes – 296 pts
Notable Graduates:
- Austin Aldridge (St. Thomas Academy) – 200 Free (5th Sections), 100 Back (2nd Sections)
- Luke Audette (St. Thomas Academy) – 200 Free (2nd Sections), 100 Free (3rd Sections)
- Harvey Holmstadt (St. Thomas Academy) – 100 Fly (6th Sections), 100 Back (4th Sections)
- Joe Matschina (St. Thomas Academy) – 50 Free (3rd Sections), 100 Free (7th Sections)
- Hung Nguyen (St. Thomas Academy) – 200 IM (4th Sections), 100 Fly (1st Sections)
- Roman Perri (St. Thomas Academy – 200 IM (2nd Sections), 100 Breast (3rd Sections)
- Tommy Simmons (St. Thomas Academy) – 50 Free (7th Sections), 100 Free (8th Sections)
- Jimmy Nord (Chisago Lakes) – Diving (1st Sections)
- Evan Sundberg (Chisago Lakes) – 200 IM (7th Sections)
- Nick Olson (Chisago Lakes) – 100 Breast (6th Sections)
- Max Arntson (Chisago Lakes) – 200 Free (8th Sections)
- Sig Isaacson (Como Park) – 200 Free (3rd Sections), 100 Free (1st Sections)
- Gabe Napierala (Como Park) – 100 Fly (2nd Sections), 100 Breast (2nd Sections)
- Charlie Power Theisen (Como Park) – 500 Free (8th Sections)
- Garrett Seppanen (Como Park) – 500 Free (7th Sections)
- Daniel Everson (South St. Paul) – 100 Breast (5th Sections)
- Quinn Shannon (South St. Paul) – Diving (4th Sections)
- Lennon Krueger (Fridley) – Diving (4th Sections)
- Logan Tenzin Dolkar (Columbia Heights) – 50 Free (6th Sections)
- Adam Wyszynski (Edison) – 500 Free (6th Sections)
- Willy Coburn (North St. Paul) – 50 Free (1st Section 4AA), 100 Free (1st Section 4AA)
- Joe Gorton (St. Paul Johnson/Humbolt/Open World Learning) – 200 IM (8th Sections), 100 Fly (7th Sections)
Team Outlook
St. Thomas Academy graduated a slew of section points, but repeating as section champion seems likely. Two Rivers leaves the section to move up to Class AA and North St. Paul and St. Paul Harding move down from Class AA. For all the details of the section realignments, you can visit our previous article.
St. Thomas Academy has a returning squad of seniors and juniors that should help propel them to another section title this season. Senior Will Barth returns as section champion in the 200 Free and 500 Free. Barth finished 5th and 3rd in those events at the state meet. Junior Vincent Audette placed 7th in the 200 Free and 3rd in the 500 Free at sections, while fellow junior Dane Dow placed 3rd in the 200 IM and 2nd in the 5000 Free. Dow went on to place 13th in the 200 IM and 8th in the 500 Free at the state meet. Another junior, Sherman Holmstadt placed 6th in the 100 Free at sections and qualified for the state meet in the 100 Back and was section champion in that event. At state, he placed 11th. Sophomore Luke Mechtel had a phenomenal 2023 season, winning the section championship in both the 50 Free and 100 Breast. At the state meet, he placed 5th in the 50 Free and 3rd in the 100 Breast. St. Thomas Academy will also get more breaststroke help from sophomore Kayden Greely. Greely placed 5th in the 200 IM at sections and 4th in the 100 Breast. He went on to place 15th in the breaststroke at the state meet.
Other Notables
Chisago Lakes senior Vincent Adams finished 4th in the 50 Free and 100 Fly in 2023 and will look to move up in those events this season.
St. Paul Como Park had an outstanding campaign in 2023 and while losing some seniors, will have juniors Kyle Kosiak and Kai Sackreiter returning. Kosiak placed 4th in the 200 Free and 5th in the 100 Fly, while Sackreiter finished 2nd in the 50 Free and 4th in the 100 Free. Both competed at the state meet with Sackreiter placing top 16 in both sprint freestyles.
South St. Paul will be doing some rebuilding after graduating quite a few section points. Senior Noah Oeffling is the team’s top returner, placing 12th in the 50 Free and 8th in the 100 Breast in 2023.
Fridley sophomore Quinn Henrickson will be looking to crack into the top 8 in the 200 Free and 500 Free this season. Henrikson placed 9th in the 200 and 14th in the 500 last season.
Columbia Heights senior Isaac Gyurisin returns after finishing 3rd in the 100 Fly and 100 Back in 2023. Gyurisin finished just outside the top 16 in both at the state meet.
St. Paul Humbolt/Washington’s Donovan Timmerman placed 5th in diving and will be in contention for a state qualifying spot.
St. Paul Harding is new to the section and class and will have a young team to build on from 2023 and will fare better in Class A.
North St. Paul also joins a new section and class this year. They graduated most of their section points and dropping to Class A should provide a solid environment to rebuild. Senior Ben Brown placed 15th in the 100 Breast in Section 4AA last season.
St. Paul Johnson does not graduate anyone from their section team and should look to improve on their 2023 season.
Edison/Henry/North will have a small team but will hopefully continue to add new athletes this upcoming season.