Teams: Mounds View, Roseville, St. Paul Central, Stillwater, Tartan-North, White Bear Lake, Woodbury
- 2024 Section Champion: Woodbury – 414.5 pts
- 2024 Section Runner-up: Mounds view – 379 pts
Notable Graduates:
- Logan Riter (Woodbury) – 500 Free (8th Sections)
- Gunnar Seversen (Woodbury) – 200 Free (1st Sections/3rd State), 500 Free (1st Sections/3rd State)
- Theo Gafencu (Mounds View) – 50 Free (5th Sections), 100 Fly (4th Sections)
- Nathan Hare (Mounds View) – 100 Free (2nd Sections), 100 Breast (2nd Sections/13th State)
- Tyler Quattrin (Mounds View) – 200 IM (3rd Sections), 100 Fly (1st Sections)
- Isaac Ramel (Mounds View) – 200 IM (6th Sections), 100 Back (8th Sections)
- Wyatt Fredeen (Stillwater) – 200 IM (2nd Sections), 500 Free (4th Sections)
- Paul Hartman (Stillwater) – 100 Breast (6th Sections)
- Tate Sorensen (Stillwater) – Diving (1st Sections/9th State)
- Cameron Winters (Stillwater) – 100 Free (4th Sections)
- Dominick Ellerd (Central) – 200 Free (4th Sections), 100 Free (3rd Sections)
- Timothy Farwell (Central) – 100 Fly (2nd Sections), 100 Back (5th Sections)
- Walter Heinecke (Central) – 200 IM (8th Sections)
- AJ Hite (Central) – 50 Free (7th Sections), 100 Free (4th Sections)
- Henry Smith (Central) -100 Breast (8th Sections)
- Teddy McGuire (Roseville) – 100 Free (1st Sections/10th State), 100 Back (3rd Sections)
- Dylan Grudem (White Bear Lake) – 100 Fly (7th Sections)
- Brayden Kolb (White Bear Lake) – 100 Free (6th Sections), 100 Back (4th Sections)
Team Outlook
Woodbury will have to replace some graduation points, but we will still call them the favorite to repeat as section champions this year. The have a triad of seniors that should help lead the way for the Royals. Derek Stadheim placed 2nd in both the 200 and 500 Free in 2024 and went on to place 14th in the 500 at the state meet. Aiden Tsao was 3rd in both the 50 Free and 100 Fly at the section meet and will help to bolster some of the relays. Raymond Webb finished 2nd in the 50 Free and was section champion in the 100 Breast to round out the senior crew. Joining them is junior Ethan Lu, who placed 5th in the 200 IM and 7th in the 100 Breast last season and sophomore Andrew Qing, who finished 4th in the 50 Free and 3rd in the 100 Breast.
Other Notables
Mounds View will take a bit of a hit from graduation but still field some high caliber swimmers. Senior Danny Bai was section champion in the 50 Free and section runner up in the 100 Back and senior Luke Schmitzer finished 3rd in both the 200 Free and 500 Free in 2024. Junior Ben Lawrence will add some firepower to the lineup, looking to build on his 6th place finish in the 50 Free and 4th place finish in the 100 Breast last season. Mounds View also had a couple divers in the top 8 last year with freshman Micah Prindle placing 6th and sophomore Alex Olson finishing 8th. Both will have an opportunity to compete for a top 4 finish this season and a trip to the state meet.
Stillwater returns a nice nucleus of talent from their 2024 squad, led by senior Jackson Kogler. Kogler was section champion in both the 200 IM and 100 Back and placed 4th and 2nd in those events at the state meet. Sophomore Grady Flynn and senior diver Maccon Kubitschek placed 4th and 5th at the section meet last season and with the graduation of section champion Tate Sorensen, the Ponies could send the duo to the state meet this season. Junior Sam Loken will look to improve on his 7th place finishes in both the 100 Free and 200 Free from 2024 and sophomore Jackson Avery will look to do the same in the 200 and 500 Free where he placed 10th and 6th. Junior Zach Cody also will be a strong contributor to the section lineup. Cody placed 9th in the 200 Free and 7th in the 500 Free last year at the section meet.
St. Paul Central will be doing some rebuilding after a sizeable loss to graduation from last season. Senior Drew Hilsendager is the top returning performer with a 7th place finish in the 200 IM and 8th place finish in the 100 Fly in 2024.
On the swimming side, Roseville will be looking for some of the youngsters to take a step forward and crack into some top 8s at the section meet. On the diving side, senior Cormac Lee will look to qualify for state again after finishing 3rd last season and junior Logan Dam will look to move up from his 7th place finish.
White Bear Lake senior diver Anthony Parada Romero placed second at the section meet last season and will be the favorite to win the section title this year. On the swimming side, junior Benedict Hoefer is the top returning performer, placing 5th in both the 200 and 500 Free in 2024.
Tartan has combined with North St. Paul for this season which should help them add some depth to their roster. Junior Jonas Herrmann placed 4th in the 200 IM and 5th in the 100 Fly last season and senior Eugene Pedersen added 8th place finishes in the 50 and 100 Free.