Swimmers rebound with win over West

Published 12:00 am Friday, December 17, 1999

One week after getting blasted out of the pool by a stick of dynamite named Winona, the Austin boys swim team recovered with a 96-76 win over Mankato West at the Ellis Pool on Thursday.

Friday, December 17, 1999

One week after getting blasted out of the pool by a stick of dynamite named Winona, the Austin boys swim team recovered with a 96-76 win over Mankato West at the Ellis Pool on Thursday.

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Against the Winhawks, the Packers managed one win and one second-place finish. Against the Scarlets, the Packers dominated, winning 11 of 12 events.

Joe Bauer’s win in the 200-yard freestyle spoke volumes about how far the Austin swimmers have come in a week.

Bauer cruised to a win in 1 minute, 59.86 seconds – a time almost four second better than his swim in Winona.

Bauer, a sophomore, is like a lot of Austin’s swimmers. He’s young – there are no seniors on the team – and he’s learning.

He credited his dramatic drop in time to "hitting the walls harder on my turns."

"Coach (Lynn Gulbrandson) said I wasn’t going into the walls hard enough," Bauer said. "He stayed after practice with me and we worked on the ’em."

Bauer equated hitting the walls in swimming to throwing a tennis ball at a brick wall.

"The harder you throw it," Bauer said, "the faster it comes back."

Up and down the lineup, Austin’s swimmers – and divers – rose to the occasion.

Juniors Thomas Bjorlie and Tony McDermott each won a pair of individual events.

Diver Beau Webber broke the 200-point barrier – the first Austin diver to do so in five years.

Junior Adam Wradislavsky, whose third place finish in the 200 was greeted with a high-five from Bauer, spoke about the Packers’ rebound win, saying Ellis Pool made was the perfect remedy.

"This is our pool," he said. "We know we can do anything here. Most of us started our careers here, We practice here. We don’t want to disappoint here."

On Thursday, they didn’t. Instead, they shined.

Austin 96, Mankato West 76

200 medley relay: 1. Austin (Tony McDermott, Ben Petersen, Thomas Bjorlie, Ethan Simonson) 1:55.50; 2. West 2:03.59; 3. Austin (Adam Wradislavsky, Carl Bauer, Jeff Sanford, Beau Webber) 2:10.89.

200 freestyle: 1. Joe Bauer, Aus., 1:59.86; 2. Zac Eichmeyer, West, 2:08.58; 3. Adam Wradislavsky, Austin, 2:22.97.

200 individual medley: 1. Thomas Bjorlie, Aus., 2:18.60; 2. Josh Arnold, West, 2:31.14; 3. Ben Petersen, Aus., 2:31.71.

50 freestyle: 1. Levi Van Pelt, Aus., 0:25.32; 2. Sean Genter, West, 0:26.04; 3. Ethan Simonson, Aus., 0:26.52.

Diving: 1. Beau Webber, Aus., 202.80; 2. Ryan O’Leary, Aus., 112.15; 3. Steve Knutson, Aus., 100.55.

100 butterfly: 1. Thomas Bjorlie, Aus., 0:59.55; 2. Joe Bauer, Aus., 1:04.47; 3. Josh Arnold, West, 1:05.73.

100 freestyle: 1. Tony McDermott, Aus., 0:58.78; 2. Levi Van Pelt, Aus., 0:58.87; 3. Ethan Simonson, Aus., 0:59.49.

500 freestyle: 1. Zac Eichmeyer, West, 5:56.33; 2. Phil Jordan, Aus., 6:12.41; 3. Chris Budahn, Aus., 6:30.64.

200 free relay: 1. Austin (Joe Bauer, Levi Van Pelt, Ethan Simonson, Thomas Bjorlie) 1:42.11; 2. West 1:51.40; 3. Austin (Beau Webber, Jeff Sanford, Chris Budahn, Phil Jordan) 1:53.04.

100 backstroke: 1. Tony McDermott, Aus., 1:05.48; 2. Kyle Palmer, West, 1:12.39; 3. Doug Vose, West, 1:14.88.

100 breast stroke: 1. Ben Petersen, Aus., 1:13.47; 2. Carl Bauer, Aus., 1:19.13; 3. Chris McQuin, West, 1:19.61.

400 free relay: 1. Austin (Joe Bauer, Phil Jordan, Chris Budahn, Tony McDermott) 4:02.35; 2. West 4:08.29; 3. Austin (Levi Van Pelt, Carl Bauer, Jeff Sanford, Ben Petersen) 4:14.59.