If you ask Tanner Alms, his initial success at the Class 1A swimming and diving state preliminaries on Friday was about 85 percent hard work and 15 percent hair.
As he touched the end of the pool and his name was announced as the first-place finisher in the 500-yard freestyle (4:50.78), a swarm of Red Wing swimmers -- resembling a bleached band of surfers -- shouted across the bleachers.
"Seeee!" teammate Alex Pearson crooned as he shook his head. "It's all about the hair! He dyes his hair and he drops three seconds."
It may seem like a strange thing to say after a solid finish. But for Red Wing's swimmers -- long- and short-haired, all of whom dyed their heads bleach blond -- the hue is more than a jolting sight, it's a respected tradition. Whenever the team makes it to the state meet, they go golden.
"It's just something to draw a little attention in school, to let it be known that you're on the team that has made it this far," said coach Gene Peterson, who swam at Red Wing and graduated in 2001, and who dyes his hair with the team. "I just look like a punk for three months out of the year."
And it seems his kids have all bought in to the idea.
"It definitely has something to do with it," said Alms, who also finished second in the 200 freestyle. "I mean ... it's good luck. It keeps the team going, and keeps us bonding."
Motivation paid off What was the difference between placing second in the breaststroke in last year's 2A state meet and breaking the all-time record in the preliminaries for Edina senior Max Cartwright (55.44)? Apparently, going to all the practices.
"I just wasn't that motivated," said Cartwright who dropped 2.3 seconds from his time last year. He took two years off from the sport from eighth to 10th grade to try cross-country but missed being in the pool, he said.
And now? "I'm serious now!" he said, grinning. "I don't do anything else but swim."
Cartwright also finished second in the 200 individual medley.
Slow suit, fast start With all the hype about the big three this year in 2A -- Minnetonka, Maple Grove and three-time defending champ Edina -- it may have come as a surprise to some how well Eden Prairie held its own, with 10 top-five finishes, including a first, second and third in the relays, which count the most in points.
"I feel like we're in it now," said junior Maverick Hovey, who finished first in the butterfly (50.34) wearing his "slow suit."
"I was surprised at how well we did today, actually."
Star in the water and out Fergus Falls' Mike Hurley finished first in the Class 1A 200 individual medley (1:57.17), an event he has won in each of his last three years at the state meet.
"I love that event," said the senior, who also finished second in the 100 freestyle. "I have a passion for it, I can't stop swimming it. You can do all strokes, in one event, I think it's fun."
As he spoke, two students from another school approached him and asked him to sign their programs. When asked if that was weird, he shook his head. "That happens periodically," he said. "It started my freshman year."
The competition One swimmer who was on the tail of Hurley in two events last year was sophomore Mitchell Foster of Breck-Blake -- last year's Class 1A champion -- who finished second in the 200 IM and first in the backstroke.
"I did have that in the way back of my head, but he's a great racer, he's phenomenal, so it's always fun to race him," Foster said.
More than a fair day for Fair Sophomore Paul Fair finished first in both the 1A butterfly and the 200 freestyle, and helped boost Monticello to the top in the 400 freestyle relay.
"I just really like the pool, so I try to go as fast as I can," he said. "There are so many good people that swim here, and it's more the environment of the pool that gets me pumped up. It's different from other pools."