By Jim Paulsen

One of the biggest boys' swimming dual meets of the season will take place at 5 p.m. Friday when Edina hosts Blake/Breck in a battle of defending state champs. Edina coach Art Downey said the meet was originally to be held at Breck, but he offered to host the meet at Edina instead while still using the small-school scoring method.

In other words, that gives Blake/Breck a real chance to pull off the upset. Small-school scoring means that only four lanes are scored per event -- each team getting two lanes. Smaller teams use that scoring during the regular season, whereas bigger schools usually use six-lane scoring. With only four lanes figuring in the scoring in each event, it negates some of Edina's depth and evens the playing field.

"They have some horses, we have some horses," Downey said. "I never think we might lose, but with four-lane scoring, it should be a good meet."