Good week for swimmers, divers

• T.J. Baldini

Wildcat sophomore T.J. Baldini competes in the diving competition during the Cats’ dual meet at Hudson Thursday night. Baldini finished fourth with a score of 122.1. Bob Burrows photo

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Senior Tim Weller won an individual title in the 100 yard backstroke as the Wildcat boys’ swimming and diving team finished sixth in the 13-team Bronze Division at the prestigious Maroon and Gold Invitational at the University of Minnesota Aquatics Center Saturday.

Weller won the 100 backstroke with a time of 56.94 seconds, nearly a full second ahead of Randall Wempen of Mankato West, Minn.

River Falls finished with a total of 260.5 points to place sixth in the final team standings. Fergus Falls, Minn., took first with 617.5 followed by Mankato West with 495 and Farmington, Minn., with 428. Hibbing, Minn., was fourth with 288 while Andover, Minn., was fifth with 285.

Weller helped River Falls open the meet on a high note by swimming the first leg of the Cats’ third place 200 yard medley relay team. Weller, Dan Schraufnagel, Andy Yelken and Isaac Dzubay combined for a time of 1 minute, 45.63 seconds, to take third, just behind Farmington’s second place time of 1:45.47.

Schraufnagel added a fourth place time of 1:06.37 in the 100 yard breaststroke while Weller also took fifth in the 200 yard freestyle with a time of 1:57.49. The Cats’ 400 freestyle relay team of Yelken, Shay Maloney, Tom Ramquist and Weller also had a top-five finish with a time of 3:37.92.

Three Wildcats scored points in diving with Yelken placing eighth with a score of 128.4, Nate Washington ninth with 126.55 and T.J. Baldini 13th with 114.75. Yelken also boosted the Wildcats team score with a ninth place time of 23.94 seconds in the 50 yard freestyle, while Schraufnagel, Collin Nelson, Ramquist and Maloney combined for an 11th place time of 1:42.41 in the 200 freestyle relay.

Schraufnagel had the best Wildcat time in the 200 yard individual medley, placing 12th in 2:19.99, while Ramquist had the team’s best finish in the 100 yard butterfly with a 14th place time of 1:03.83. Heath Westberg finished 16th in the 500 freestyle in 6:04.74 and Maloney placed 17th in the 100 freestyle in 57.16 seconds.

Earlier in the week, Yelken won two events, Weller won one and the Cats posted two first place finishes in the relay events but came out on the short end of a 108-77 Big Rivers Conference dual at Hudson.

Yelken took first in diving with a score of 147.15 and won the 100 butterfly with a time of 59.68 seconds, while Weller took first in the 100 backstroke in 56.92 seconds.

Weller, Schraufnagel, Alex Haskins and Yelken combined for a first place time of 1:45.75 seconds in the 200 medley relay, while Weller, Maloney, Haskins and Yelken teamed up for a first place time of 1:36.56 in the 200 freestyle relay.

Next up for the Wildcats is a home meet Thursday night against Eau Claire North/Memorial, beginning at 6:30 p.m. at the high school pool. Saturday they will compete at the South St. Paul Invitational.

See more sports in this week's print edition of the River Falls Journal.

Tags: sports, prep, wildcats, swimming