Teams: Champlin Park, Irondale, Maple Grove, Osseo, Park Center, Robbinsdale Armstrong, Spring Lake Park, Wayzata
- 2023 Section Champion: Wayzata – 571 pts
- 2023 Runner-up: Maple Grove – 375 pts
Notable Graduates:
- Caden Hou (Wayzata) – 50 Free (6th Sections), 100 Free (6th Sections)
- Adam Liu (Wayzata) – 100 Free (4th Sections), 100 Breast (6th Sections)
- Daniel Vaynberg (Wayzata) – 500 Free (4th Sections)
- Henry Ross (Wayzata) – Diving (1st Sections/7th State)
- Logan Cyr (Maple Grove) – 200 Free (1st Sections/11th State), 500 Free (1st Sections/8th State)
- Gerrit De Looze (Maple Grove) – 200 IM (8th Sections), 100 Breast (5th Sections)
- Sam Clark (Spring Lake Park) – 200 IM (1st Sections/16th State), 100 Back (4th Sections)
- Carson Holmquist (Spring Lake Park) – 50 Free (8th Sections)
- Braden Ripken (Spring Lake Park) – 50 Free (1st Sections/1st State), 100 Breast (1st Sections/5th State)
- Nikos Mandravelis (Armstrong) – 200 Free (6th Sections), 500 Free (5th Sections)
- Nathaniel Nelson (Armstrong) – 200 IM (6th Sections), 100 Back (8th Sections)
- Justin Rowles (Armstrong) – 50 Free (3rd Sections/9th State), 100 Free (2nd Sections/10th State)
- Emmett Botten (Irondale) – 100 Fly (2nd Sections/15th State), 100 Breast (2nd Sections/13th State)
- Brendan Collins (Osseo) – 100 Fly (4th Sections)
- Alain Pham (Champlin Park) – 200 IM (4th Sections)
Team Outlook
No changes in Section 5AA this season so it will come down to who made the most improvements over the last year. For all the details of the section realignments you can visit our previous article.
While the Wayzata Trojans do graduate some points from the section meet, it does not appear that it will dampen their chances to repeat as section champion in 2024. They finished a nearly insurmountable 200 points above runner-up Maple Grove in 2023. Seniors Gray Sisco and William Kieven finished 2nd and 3rd in the 200 Free last year. Kieven will push for the section championship in the 500 Free and Sisco will look to be a top 5 finisher in the 100 Fly for their second events. Freshman Jerry Lou placed 3rd in the 200 IM last year and 7th in the 100 Fly and will push toward the top this season. Junior sprinter John Kirchner placed 2nd in the 50 Free and was section champion in the 100 Free in 2023. Kirchner placed 7th and 8th respectively in those events at the state meet. Sophomore Nathan Carr returns as section champion in the 100 Fly and 100 Back in which he placed 4th and 7th at the state meet. Sprinters Leo Kenigsberg and Nikola Momtchev both placed in the top 8 at sections in the 50 Free last season and Kenigsberg also had a top 8 finish in the 100 Free. Junior Max Carter was the 3rd place finisher in the 100 Fly and section runner up in the 100 Back and will be looking to partner with Carr to go 1-2 in those events in 2024. Sophomore diver Kasper Fang qualified for the state meet in 2023 with a 4th place section finish.
Other Notables
Maple Grove senior Thomas Botkin returns after a 7th place finish in the 200 Free and a 5th place finish in the 100 Free. Freshman Lucas Bakker placed 5th in the 200 IM and 6th in the 100 Back last season. Junior Rodrigo Rodriquez placed 7th in the 200 IM and 100 Free.
Spring Lake Park will be doing some rebuilding after graduating some top swimmers from 2023. Senior Isaiah Frei placed 5th in the 100 Fly and 100 Back in 2023 and junior diver Sebastian Santiago will look to improve on his 3rd place finish from last year.
Robbinsdale Armstrong will also be looking to reload after graduating most of their top 8 section performers. Senior diver Will Francis is the lone top 8 returning performer from 2023, finishing 2nd last season.
Irondale sophomore Lucas Megahan placed 4th in the 200 Free and 3rd in the 100 Free and will be looking to challenge for the section title in both this year. Junior Henry Botten placed 2nd and was section runner-up in the 200 IM and 4th in the 100 Breast in 2023 and will also be challenging for section titles. Isaac Botten made a splash as a freshman last year with a 6th place finish in the 500 Free.
Osseo will be led by junior Alex Kosel who showed off his range last year by placing 5th in the 50 Free and 3rd in the 500 Free last year at the section meet. Sophomore Mason Krings placed 6th in the 100 Fly and 7th in the 100 Brest in 2023.
Keep an eye on Champlin Park 8th grader Kip Helmrick. Helmrick placed 10th in the 100 back last season and will look to make the jump into the top 8 this year.
Park Center returns most of their team from 2023 and will look to start populating some top 16 spots in events this season.