ROCHESTER – Austin High School’s Beau Webber, demonstrating the consistency that has marked his season, captured second place in the one-meter diving in Section 1AA.

Monday, February 26, 2001

ROCHESTER – Austin High School’s Beau Webber, demonstrating the consistency that has marked his season, captured second place in the one-meter diving in Section 1AA. Webber will compete at state this weekend at the University of Minnesota.

The AHS sophomore diver came into the finals in second place and maintained his standing. Webber built his semifinal point total of 276.80 to 397.65 in the finals and he widened his lead over third place Kevin Sharpe of Lakeville by more than nine points. Faribault’s Joe Sterling claimed the Sectional championship with a score of 415.55.

Freshman Ryan O’Leary finished in eighth place with 300.75 points, indicating a bright future for him. Freshman Steve Knutson was also in the finals and took 16th place with 235.20 points.

While the top four divers move on to state, only the top two swimmers advance. The Packers’ Thomas Bjorlie and Joe Bauer narrowly missed a state birth. Bjorlie was third in a time of :56.12 and Bauer was fourth with a time of :56.92 in the 100-yard butterfly. Both swimmers knocked time off their preliminary marks.

In the same event, freshman Erik Sherman was 14th in a time of 1:02.45.

Bjorlie – an AHS senior – took seventh in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:00.46. Tony McDermott also made the finals and finished 14th in 1:05.84, faster than his preliminary time.

Junior Joe Bauer swam to an eighth place finish in the 200-yard freestyle in a time of 1:55.44. Freshman Carl Bauer knocked almost three seconds off his preliminary time to take 13th in 1:57.95.

Carl Bauer also took ninth in the 500-yard freestyle, slicing more than eight seconds off his preliminary time to finish in 5:21.20.

Ethan Simonson, a sophomore, took 15th in the 100-yard freestyle finals with a time of :54.01.

Austin’s 400-yard freestyle relay team was fifth in 3:31.18; the Packers were also fifth in the 200-yard freestyle relay in 1:35.67. AHS was seventh in the 200-yard medley relay in a time of 1:53.04.

As a team, Austin took sixth in an eight-team field with 184 points. Swimming power Lakeville captured the Section title with 551 points.

Omitted in Friday’s Austin Daily Herald: Phil Jordan swam a personal best of 5:51.22 in the 500-yard freestyle to take 20th in the preliminary competition.