Mar. 3 marked the official end of an extremely successfully season for the Orono Mound-Westonka boys swim and dive team. The team was deemed Conference Champions, and had 18 swimmers move on to section finals.
Orono sent five boys to the state meet this year. Mitch Miller, Ben Hacker, Kelvin Hanson, Tyler Stanchfield, Spencer Cumming,” stated coach Pete Buecher.
During the regular season, the team only lost one meet and broke a variety of records. Cole Easely, team captain and Mound senior, broke the Mound 100 fly record, the 50 free pool record and the 200 free pool record. Along with Easely, Orono juniors Mitch Miller, Ryan Strother and Orono senior captain Ben Hacker broke the 200 free relay.
Mar. 2 was the first day the OMW swim and dive team headed down to the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities pool. The U of M pool is considered one of the nicest pools in the nation and world, and if the Olympics are to be held in Chicago, the swimming and diving will be at the U of M. Throughout the day, swimmers had an hour of free swim where they could get used to the pool and prepare for the next days events.
Following the practice swim, was eight rounds of diving. Tyler Jordahl, Mound junior, was the only member of OMW to participate in the diving events. Jordahl finished in fourth place.
Mar. 3 was the state preliminary competition. The team had all five participants move on in their respective events. The next day was opened with senior swimmer Tyler Stanchfield singing the national anthem. “I could barely enjoy him singing because I was crying! I am so proud of my son. He sang such a beautiful rendition,” said Deanne Stanchfield.
“I was still shaking after I sang, but I felt so proud of myself for taking this opportunity to do this and I got such nice complements from coaches and swimmers,” stated Tyler Stanchfield.
Even though their season had officially ended, Strother, Easely and Miller competed in an additional tournament. Through the Metro Marlins swim team, they signed up for the USA State Tournament. Miller was no. 32 in the back-stoke and no. 24 in the 500 free.
Coach Buecher is extremely proud of his team and their actions this season. “They’ve worked so hard. I am so proud to say that my team has been Conference Champions two years in a row,” said Buecher.
