Teams: Mounds View, Roseville, St. Paul Central, Stillwater, Tartan, White Bear Lake, Woodbury
- 2023 Section Champion: Mounds View – 424 pts
- 2023 Section Runner-up: Stillwater – 415 pts
Notable Graduates:
- Nathan Volkman (Mounds View) – 200 IM (6th Sections), 100 Back (4th Sections)
- Josh Wallin (Mounds View) – 50 Free (3rd Sections), 100 Back (1st Sections/3rd State)
- Justin Wang (Mounds View) – 50 Free (4th Sections), 100 Breast (2nd Sections/12th State)
- Steven Zhou (Mound View) – 100 Fly (3rd Sections), 100 Breast (5th Sections)
- Jaden Peterson (Stillwater) – 200 IM (2nd Sections/13th State), 100 Free (2nd Sections)
- Owen Dam (Roseville) – 200 IM (5th Sections), 100 Breast (1st Sections/14th State)
- Gabriel Rogers (Roseville) – 50 Free (2nd Sections/11th State), 100 Free (3rd Sections)
- Alexander Zurn (Roseville) – 100 Fly (1st Sections/10th State), 100 Back (3rd Sections/9th State)
- Campbell Wencel (Central) – 100 Fly (2nd Sections), 100 Breast (3rd Sections)
- Samuel Humes (Central) – 100 Fly (8th Sections)
- Jack Oakes (Central) – 100 Breast (8th Sections)
- Owen Younger (Tartan) – 200 Free (2nd Sections), 500 Free (2nd Sections)
- Amarre Zalazar (White Bear Lake) – 100 Free (6th Sections), 100 Back (5th Sections)
- Willy Coborn (North St. Paul) – 50 Free (1st Sections/10th State), 100 Fee (1st Sections/4th State)
Team Outlook
St. Paul Harding and North St. Paul exit the section for Section 4A and Woodbury slides over from Section 2AA. It was a tight battle in 2023 between Mounds View and Stillwater. Let’s look at how it’s shaping up this year. For all the details of the section realignments, you can visit our previous article.
Mounds View will have their hands full trying to repeat as section champions this season due to graduating a host of section points. Senior Nathan Hare returns from finishing 4th in the 100 Free and 100 Breast and will battle for the section championship in both this season. Sophomore Danny Bai placed 3rd in the 200 Free and 5th in the 100 Free and will be looking to make his first state meet appearance. Senior Theo Gafencu placed 5th in the 50 Free and 100 Fly last season and with the graduations before him, he may contend for the titles there.
Stillwater only loses one top performer to graduation and will look to claim the section title this year after a close second-place finish in 2023. The Ponies return the top two remaining finishers from the 200 IM, with junior Jackson Kogler returning as section champion and senior Wyatt Fredeen placing 3rd in 2023. Kogler also placed 2nd in the 100 Back, while Fredeen was also the section champion in the 500 Free. Kogler went on to place 4th at the state meet in both of his events. Stillwater also will feature senior Joey Reiner. Reiner placed 4th in the 200 Free and 4th in the 100 Fly last season. Senior Cameron Winters should move up from his 6th place and 7th place finishes in the 50 and 100 Free and bolster the Stillwater relays. Fellow senior Nathan Browning placed 6th in the 100 Breast and 7th in the 100 Fly in 2023. Stillwater also returns the top diver in the section in senior Tate Sorenson.
Other Notables
Central senior Dominick Ellerd returns as section champion in the 200 Free and placed 3rd in the 500 Free last season. Fellow senior Timothy Farwell placed 6th in the 100 Fly and 7th in the 100 Back.
Roseville will be led by senior Teddy McGuire, who placed 5th in the 200 Free and 8th in the 100 Free in 2023. Junior diver Cormac Lee returns as the runner-up from the section meet last year.
White Bear Lake sophomore Benedict Hoefer will look to improve on his 7th place finish in the 200 Free and 4th place finish in the 500 Free. Senior teammate Calvin Weier placed 9th in the 200 Free and 6th in the 500 Free in 2023.
Tartan junior Eugene Pedersen will be the top returning swimmer for the team. Pederson placed 8th in the 50 Free and 11th in the 100 Free last year.
Newcomer Woodbury has a very young team and will look to make an impression in their first season in 4AA. Junior Aiden Tsao placed 7th in the 100 Free and 10th in the 50 Free in Section 3AA last season and junior teammate Raymond Webb placed 7th in the 100 Breast and 12th in the 50 Free in that section.