St. Thomas Academy Swimmers Surge to Another Section Title

St. Thomas Academy added another piece of hardward to its trophy case with a 2011 Section 1A boys swimming and diving title Saturday.

Junior Luke Johanns won two events as the Cadets qualified all three relays and nine individuals for next weekend's state meet, set for March 3-5 at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center.

St. Thomas Academy easily won the 13-team Section 1A meet at Veterans Memorial Community Center in Inver Grove Heights with 511.5 points, followed by Simley with 278, Mankato West with 272.5, Red Wing with 272 and Mankato East/Loyola with 226.

Johanns took firsts in the 50-yard freestyle  (21.80) and the 100-yard backstroke (55.07).

Junior Sam Nields swam to a win in the 100-yard breaststroke in 59.59 and was fourth in the 200 yard IM.

Sam Johnson win the 200-yard IM in 2:05.14 and was fourth in the 100-yard backstroke (1:05.57).

"They had a solid performance," said St. Thomas Academy coach John Barnes. "We've got 18 swims in for next week.

"Matt Schreier, Jeremy Conners, Michael Conners,  a bunch of kids who weren't our main guys, really stepped up and swam really well," Barnes added. "This group has really come a long ways from the beginning of the year. I'm real happy with their progression."

St. Thomas Academy scored section crowns in the 200 medley relay (John Wallner, Nields, Danny Schaefer, Tim Anderson) in 1:41.85 and in the 200 freestyle relay (Johanns, Anderson, Schaefer, Luke Schneeman) in 1:29.74.

"I was happy with 200-free relay," said Schaefer. "Overall, 511 and a half points. Everyone swam well, everyone gave everything they had, put heart and soul into it and that's what St. Thomas swimming is about."

Michael Berg was second in the 500-yard freestyle in 5:01.99 and fourth in the 200-yard freestyle in 1:51.55, qualifying for state in both events.

St. Thomas Academy dominated the 50-yard freestyle. Johanns was first, Anderson was fourth (22.91), and Schneeman sixth in 23.03.

Emblematic of St. Thomas Academy's superior depth, Tyler Pavlick didn't qualify for the finals in either the 500 yard freestyle (5:04.05) or the 200-yard IM (2:13.35), yet qualified for the state meet in both events.

Paul Brunkhorst (fourth, 56.31) and Schaefer (sixth, 57.28) both qualifed for state in the 100-yard butterfly.

The Cadets went 1-3-4 in the 100-yard breaststroke with Nields (first, 59.59), Brunkhorst (third, 1:01.77)  and Johnson (fourth, 1:95.57) all qualifying for the state meet.

Jeremy Connors dropped his time by more than 10 seconds from the year, finishing fourth in the 500 freestyle and qualifying for state with a time of 5:09.8.

The 400-yard freestyle relay team of Johanns, Alex Curran, Schaefer and Brunkhorst was second in 3:21.13.

"We had so many big step ups by so many different people," said Curran. "It was just great overall."