Boys’ swimming wins division at invitational meet

Park continues strong start to the season

After boys’ swimming won the bronze division at the University of Minnesota invitational meet, coach Joe Yaeger said Park’s unwavering focus was a key factor in their win Jan. 7.

“The team swam hard,” Yaeger said. “They stayed engaged. They didn’t let anything get in the way of their swimming fast.”

Senior captain Miles Nordling said he was impressed with the results Park put up considering the magnitude of the meet and how early it was in the season. 

“I’m super proud of the team,” Nordling said. “It was great to see them show up at a bigger meet, especially since that’s only our second meet of the year. It was really good to see us come together as a team and outscore the other teams there.”

Sophomore Charlie Rostal said the team’s performance exceeded his expectations because of the important contributions everyone made at the meet. 

“My expectations were for us to get second place, but we won,” Rostal said. “Everyone on the team did their part, and they all scored points where they could.”

Nordling said Park’s win is a good sign for the rest of the season because they are set to face off against many of the other schools that participated in this meet later in the year.

“This is a really strong win,” Nordling said. “A lot of the teams that were there, we are going to swim against later this year, so it’s a great indicator of what the season is going to look like for us, which is good.”

According to Yaeger, other teams at the meet underestimated the talent of Park because of their low number of swimmers this season. 

“This is a smaller team this year,” Yaeger said. “Winning that size of a meet or invite means that other teams that may have looked at our size instead of our skill will have to give us a little bit more respect.”

Boys’ swimming’s next meet is against Bloomington Jefferson at 6 p.m. Jan. 12 at Park.