Raiders blow past Park in SEC meet

There wasn’t a whole lot of doubt regarding the outcome of Thursday’s Suburban East Conference swimming meet between Hastings and Park.

Any doubt that did linger disappeared quickly.

Hastings coach Gerry Rupp split up his top two relay teams in the first event, the 200 medley relay, in the hopes that the two Hastings teams would find competition between themselves. That happened, with just a half-second separating the two teams. One Hastings team placed first, another placed second and, six seconds later, Park’s top team came in.

It was that kind of night. Hastings oftentimes took the top two spots, or the top three. The Raiders built a huge lead, going up 90-34 after the 200 freestyle relay. Rupp then had his swimmers swim exhibition only in the final few events so as to make the score look more respectable.

“We ended up having the boys race for bragging rights,” Rupp said. “By splitting those relays, it made for some close races.

The swimmer of the meet from Hastings was eighth-grader Patrick Clark.

“Among other things, Patrick dropped 20 seconds in his 500 freestyle,” Rupp said. “That was huge. He has been working hard in practice and is in better shape now than when he swam that race previously.”

Kenneth Benson dropped five seconds in the 200 individual medley, another highlight against the Wolfpack.

Alec Hagen dropped 10 seconds in the 100 butterfly.

Cole Tipler cut two seconds off his best 100 freestyle time.

Hastings plays host to Forest Lake at 6 p.m. Thursday for Parent’s Night.

The Raiders then cap off the SEC season with a meet Thursday, Feb. 9, at East Ridge. East Ridge and Hastings are tied for third place in the conference standings.

Results from the Park meet went like this:

200 medley relay — team of John Utecht, Thomas Everson, Hayden Schmitt and Cole Tipler, first, 1:49.30; team of Ken Benson, Colby Smith, Brandon Underwood and Elijah Reilly, second, 1:49.82.

200 freestyle – Hunter Sassor, first, 2:00.71; Michael Everson, third, 2:12.85; Bobby Moore, fourth, 2:13.47.

200 individual medley – Reilly, first, 2:19.22; Benson, third, 2:21.79; Cole Scully, fourth, 2:22.18.

50 freestyle – Smith, first, 23.13; Steven Kimmes, third, 26.37; Patrick Clark, 27.42.

100 butterfly – Thomas Everson, first, 56.05; Schmitt, second, 56.49; Underwood, third, 58.29.

100 freestyle – Utecht, first, 54.91; Tipler, second, 55.08; Scully, fifth, 57.11.

500 freestyle – Reilly, first, 5:39.84; Aaron McCullough, second, 5:51.62; Clark, fifth, 6:10.82.

200 freestyle relay – team of Smith, McCullough, Weldon and Everson, first, 1:38.82; team of Schmitt, Everson, Moore and Underwood, second, 1:39.69; team of Cal Gergen, Scully, Sassor and Clark, fourth, 1:48.20.

100 backstroke – Utecht, 1:02.63; Kimmes, 1:08.46; Benson, 1:13.58.

100 breaststroke – Tipler, 1:08.74; Sassor, 1:09.31; Moore, 1:19.09.

400 freestyle relay – team of Schmitt, Reilly, Everson and Smith, 3:35.91; team of Everson, Utecht, Clark and Underwood, 3:36.88; team of Kimmes, Jack Weldon, Tipler and Sassor, 3:51.10.

Junior varsity

Results from the junior varsity meet went like this:

200 medley relay – team of Christensen, Kimmes, Hagen and Logan Lauder, first, 2:17.27.

200 freestyle – Weldon, first, 2:14.18; Gergen, second, 2:19.20.

200 individual medley – Ethan Kimmes, first, 2:42.63.

50 freestyle – Lauder, second, 28.53; Scott Christensen, fourth, 29.66.

100 butterfly – Alec Hagen, first, 1:15.45; Lauder, second, 1:27.39.

100 freestyle – Michael Everson, first, 1:01.37; Gergen, second, 1:03.08; Erik Christensen, fourth, 1:09.08.

100 backstroke – Ethan Kimmes, first, 1:18.69; Scott Christensen, second, 1:20.89; Hagen, third, 1:24.69.

100 breaststroke – Weldon, first, 1:19.26; McCullough, third, 1:24.81.

400 freestyle relay – team of Hagen, Kimmes, Christensen and Christensen, first, 4:31.74.

Tags: raider swimming, sports, hastings, minnesota, spiral, prep