Simley Swims to Second in Section 1A Meet

Senior Nate Briguet and sophomore Alec Kandt each qualified for two individual events at state, leading Simley High team to second place in the 2011 Section 1A boys swimming and diving meet Saturday at Inver Grove Heights.

St. Thomas Academy won the 13-team section meet at Veterans Memorial Community Center with 511.5 points, followed by Simley with 278, Mankato West with 272.5, Red Wing with 272 and Mankati East/Loyola with 226. It was the fourth consecutive runner-up section finish for the Spartans.

In addition to Briguet and Kandt, Simley's state qualifiers were the 200 freestyle and 400 freestyle relay teams, Alex Jurrens in the 50 freestyle and Carter Lange in diving.

"Everybody has worked so hard all season," said Kandt. "And we all believe in ourselves. We believe in everyone, not just ourselves, but in our whole team — that our team will succeed in anything we do."

Simley swimmers took away three section championships and four runner-up finishes.

"I was coming in to the whole section meet hoping for fifth or fourth place," said Simley coach Lynn Newton. "(It was) far beyond what I could have hoped for.

"We had a lot of swimming from the heart," Newton added. "They really went out there and raced and they fought for every one of those points."

A win by Simley in the final event, the 400-yard freestyle relay, was the cherry on top of the cake for the Spartans. Simley's team of seniors Briguet and Jurrens and sophomores Tim Luhr and Kandt clocked a 3:19.84, rallying to swim past St. Thomas Academy, which was second in 3:21.13.

Earlier the Simley team of Jurrens, Kandt, Luhr and Briguet finished second in the 200-yard freestyle relay in 1:30.41, qualifying for state in that event as well.

Kandt won the 100 butterfly in 54.17 and was second in the 100 breaststroke in 1:00.75. Briguet won the 100-yard freestyle in 49.72 and was third in the 50 freestyle in 22.75. Jurrens was second in the 50 freestyle in 22.06. Lange scored a 343.65 to finish second in the 1-meter diving.

"We did 10,000 times better than I thought we'd do," said Briguet. "We all did amazing. "

"Simley's heart," Jurrens said when asked what the key to the competition was for the Spartans. "We've grown up together, we swim together, we know what everybody does, we practice together, so I really think our heart really comes down to us being able to prevail over other teams."

The Minnesota state boys swimming and diving tournament will be March 3 - 5 at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center.