Spartan swimmers ‘taper and shave’ for WIAA sectional meet

The Superior High School boys swimming team wrapped up its regular season with a fourth-place finish at Saturday’s Hibbing Invitational.

Andrew Eisenmann led the Spartans with a first-place finish in the 100 freestyle and a second-place finish in the 50 freestyle.

He was also a member of the 200 and 400 freestyle relay teams, which finished third.

Joining Eisenmann on the 200 relay were Lukas Gall, Dustin Gilbertson and Logan Kittelson, while on the 400 relay were Gall, Kittelson and Aaron Christner.

Christner also finished third in the 200 individual medley.

Now bald and hyperactive, swimmers and divers from SHS are looking forward to competing in the WIAA sectional meet today and Saturday in Hudson. Divers compete at 5 p.m. today, and swimming commences at 1 p.m. Saturday.

“Their baldness results from the swimming tradition of shaving nearly the entire body to reduce friction with the water and expose nerve endings to increase the swimmers feel of the water,” SHS coach George Lehman said. “Hyperactivity is the result of cutting back on the distance covered in practice to let a swimmer’s muscles repair themselves. A body used to swimming miles a day displays a lot of nervous energy when the workload tapers off to half a mile or less.”

Eisenmann, a junior, is the top-ranked Superior swimmer. He has the No. 2 seed in the 100 freestyle and is seeded No. 3 in the 200 free. He recently moved into the No. 3 position on SHS’s all-time list in the 200, just ahead of John Lund (1999) and behind Mark Erikson (2003).

Fellow juniors, Morris (diving) and Christner (IM and breaststroke), are also hopeful of earning top eight podium spots, and Dustin Gilbertson and Gall, both seniors, along with Kittelson, a freshman, are slated to join Eisenmann and Christner on the 200 and 400 freestyle relays.

The winners of each event at Saturday’s sectional qualify for the WIAA State Meet Feb. 15-16 in Madison. Also qualifying for state are the next 18 fastest times or scores (not including sectional winner).

Hibbing Invitational

At Hibbing High School

Team Scores

1. Simley, 420; 2. Grand Rapids, 386; 3. Bloomington Jefferson, 348.5; 4. Superior, 257; 5. Richfield, 235; 6. Duluth, 190; 7. Bemidji, 184.5; 8. Hibbing, 184; 9. Virginia, 117.

Individuals

(Winner and Superior’s finishers)

200 medley relay — 1. Richfield, 1:43.91; 11. SHS A (Tyler Kiel, Cameron Gray, Aaron Christner, Dustin Gilbertson), 1:57.20; 13. SHS B (Matt Little, Morgan Moen, Tyler Bettschen, Eric Rasmussen), 2:00.23.

200 freestyle — 1. Pederson, Richfield, 1:48.93; 12. Lukas Gall, SHS, 2:06.04; 13. Logan Kittelson, SHS, 2:06.79; 21. Jacob McGraw, SHS, 2:12.59.

200 individual medley — 1. Petersen, Richfield, 2:01.93; 3. Christner, SHS, 2:16.82; 21. Moen, SHS, 2:45.88.

50 freestyle — 1. Isaac Erickson, Virginia, 22.31; 2. Andrew Eisenmann, SHS, 22.99; 12. D. Gilbertson, SHS, 25.05.

1-meter diving — 1. Sam Howard, Bemidji, 378.55; 6. Mason Morris, SHS, 251.40; 14. August Cadotte, SHS, 155.10.

100 butterfly — 1. Alec Kandt, Simley, 53.44; 8. Christner, SHS, 1:01.50; 16. D. Gilbertson, SHS, 1:06.51; 17. Bettschen, SHS, 1:08.16.

100 freestyle — 1. Eisenmann, SHS, 49.98; 13. Kittelson, SHS, 55.12; 24. Rasmussen, SHS, 1:00.19.

500 freestyle — 1. Michael Modica, Simley, 5:22.08; 5. Kiel, SHS, 5:43.20; 10. Jacob McGraw, SHS, 5:55.44; 19. Zach Grymala, SHS, 6:20.82.

200 freestyle relay — 1. Grand Rapids, 1:33.50; 3. SHS A (Gall, D. Gilbertson, Eisenmann, Kittelson), 1:37.23; 10. SHS B (Little, Gray, Morris, Rasmussen), 1:45.52; 21. SHS C (Moen, Dan Lewandowski, August Cadotte, Nicholas Gilbertson), 1:55.19.

100 backstroke — 1. Kandt, Simley, 54.18; 9. Kiel, SHS, 1:06.77; 14. Gray, SHS, 1:09.53; 23. Brody Gordon, SHS, 1:17.14.

100 breaststroke — 1. Dylan Peiffer, Hibbing, 1:04.15; 6. Little, SHS, 1:12.69; 16. Moen, SHS, 1:18.31; 21. Gray, SHS, 1:19.87.

400 freestyle relay — 1. Richfield, 3:21.39; 3. SHS A (Gall, Kittelson, Eisenmann, Christner), 3:33.80; 12. SHS B (Little, Bettschen, Grymala, Rasmussen), 3:56.40; 21. SHS C (Alan Dahl, N. Gilbertson, Morris, McGraw), 4:19.10.

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