Advertisement

The week ahead in high schools: St. Thomas Academy will try to make it 11-for-11

January 20, 2014 at 3:47AM
St. Thomas Academy senior captain Jeremy Conners is one of a set of triplets who swim for the Cadets or sister school Visitation. (Brian Wicker/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

There are streaks that boggle the mind, such as Edina's 17 consecutive girls' tennis state championships, but rarely is there a streak in which only one team has won a title in the history of the event.

Such will be the case Saturday, though, as the St. Thomas Academy swimming and diving team takes to the pool at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center in the boys' swimming and diving true team state meet. This will be the 10th year of the meet, which differs from the Minnesota State High School League state meet in that it rewards overall team depth over top-level individual talent. During that span, the Cadets have been fortunate enough to have both: great individual swimmers and plenty of really good ones.

As a result, the Section 1 champions are favored to win their 10th consecutive Class 1A true team state championship. That's 10 meets, 10 titles.

The Class 1A meet begins at 1:30 p.m. St. Thomas Academy will be joined by Breck/Blake, Sartell-St. Stephen, Spring Lake Park, Melrose/Sauk Centre, Mesabi East, Simley, Northfield, Mankato West, Austin, Monticello and Alexandria.

The Class 2A meet that follows at 6:30 p.m. traditionally has been more competitive, but for the last half-dozen years the title has rested with teams that currently comprise the Lake Conference. Eden Prairie will be in the hunt for a third consecutive title. The Eagles will have to contend with conference foes Minnetonka and Wayzata as well as Stillwater and Rochester Century, which recently won its 100th consecutive dual meet, for the title.

Other teams in the Class 2A field are Eagan, Prior Lake, Forest Lake, Brainerd, Edina, Lakeville South, Anoka and Maple Grove.

Elsewhere this week

THURSDAY

Boys' hockey: Hill- Murray at St. Thomas Academy, 7:30 p.m.

FRIDAY

Boys' basketball: Champlin Park at Armstrong, 7 p.m.

Advertisement
Advertisement

Girls' basketball: White Bear Lake at Roseville, 7 p.m.; Centennial at Park Center, 7 p.m.

SATURDAY

Boys' hockey: Benilde-St. Margaret's at Shattuck-St. Mary's, 2 p.m.

Boys' basketball: Minnesota/Wisconsin Border Battle. All games at Kaukauna, Wis. Rockford vs. Stevens Point (Wis.) Pacelli, 11 a.m.; Byron vs. Waupun (Wis.), 12:45 p.m.; Simley vs. Milwaukee Pius, 2:30 p.m.; Lakeville North vs. Stevens Point (Wis.) 4:15 p.m.; Blake vs. Seymour (Wis.) 6 p.m.; Centennial vs. Kaukauna (Wis.), 7:45 p.m.

Girls' hockey: Hopkins at Minnetonka, 7 p.m.

about the writer

about the writer

Jim Paulsen

Reporter

Jim Paulsen is a high school sports reporter for the Star Tribune. 

See Moreicon

More from Sports

See More
card image

The team has never lost a regular-season game yet has never won a championship. “God, it’s hard,” coach Jen Larrick said. “It’s really hard.”

card image
card image
Advertisement
Advertisement

To leave a comment, .

Advertisement