Saint Thomas Academy Swimmers Sink Simley

Saint Thomas Academy gained a large measure of revenge for last year’s conference loss to Simley High School by swamping the host Spartans 115-71 in boys swimming and diving at Inver Grove Heights Thursday.

The Cadets, who lost 54-48 to Simley last season in a Classic Suburban Conference showdown, simply had too much depth and experience for the Spartans this time around.

Winners of the last seven Minnesota True Team Championships, Saint Thomas Academy used 1-2, or 1-2-3 finishes in four events to easily outdistance Simley.

STA won 12 of 15 events, yielding only the diving, 200 freestyle and 400 freestyle relays to Simley. STA piled up big point margins in the 200 medley relay, 100 butterfly, 500 freestyle and 100 backstroke.

Michael Berg won both the 200 freestyle (1:52.25) and the 500 freestyle (5:03.84), while Luke Johanns finished first in the 50 freestyle (22.30) and 100 backstroke (55.36) to pace the Cadets.

“It was a nice win,” said head coach John Barnes. “I was happy the scoreboard wasn’t working because I told the team, I didn’t care about times. Tonight was about racing.”

The 50 freestyle was one of the premier events of the meet as Johanns swam past Simley sprinter Nate Briguet 22.30 to 22.80 to finish first.

 “I was happy with the 50 free,” said Johanns. “I dropped some time and came up with a big win. They also have some good freestylers.

The Cadets came into the meet eager to show that last year’s loss to Simley wouldn’t be repeated.

“They definitely were up after what happened last year,” said Barnes. “It’s been burning in their guts a little bit.”

“I was happy with our performance,” said Matthew Schreier, who was fourth in the 200 freestyle and fifth in the 500 freestyle. “Our younger swimmers swam with passion and our other swimming had some big time drops. It was a really good meet.”

Other STA winners Thursday were the team of Sam Nields, Johanns, Berg and Tim Anderson in the 200 medley relay (1:44.10) and Paul Brunkhorst in the 100 butterfly (58.25).

“This is something for them to build off of,” said Barnes. “They’re getting better every week. But we’ve still got a long way to go.”  

That road starts next week when Saint Thomas Academy returns to the Inver Grove Heights for the conference meet Thursday, Feb. 10, in a meet starting at 6:30 p.m.

“I think this was a big stepping stone for us in making it to sectionals and state,” said Schreier.

“It’s a big confidence builder,” agreed Johanns.