East Ridge swimmers, Woodbury wrestlers make state noise

East Ridge swimmers shine at state

Did the recently completed boys' swimming and diving state meet signal a changing of the guard in the Suburban East Conference?

Conference champion East Ridge had six top-eight finishes to place sixth in the Class 2A standings, the best team performance in school history.

The Raptors' top individual efforts were a pair of fifth-place finishes — junior Sam Scholz in the 200 individual medley and sophomore Garrett Verhoeven in the 500 freestyle. Both also swam on the 200 freestyle relay team that finished fourth in a time of 1:27.39.

Five East Ridge swimmers took part in the meet and all will be back next year, including Kent Rabideaux (10), James Tidd (10) and Ryan Schiferl (11).

Stillwater, traditionally the conference pace-setter, finished 16th, its lowest finish in four years and second-lowest finish since 2000.

A quick recap of how Washington County wrestlers fared in the recently-completed Class 3A state tournament.

• Woodbury: The Royals' made the Class 3A field for the first time in school history, falling to Prior Lake in the quarterfinals and Moorhead in the consolation round.

Five Royals competed in the individual meet, with Justin Herold-Plakut taking third at 152 pounds and Ben Donnelly fourth at 132.

• Tartan: Junior T.J. O'Hara, who won the 152-pound crown in 2012, lost a close match in the 170-pound finals, falling 4-3 to St. Michael-Albertville's Jordan Joseph.

• Forest Lake: Senior Austin Boniface won his first two matches by pin, then lost twice and wound up taking fifth place at 160 pounds.

• East Ridge: The Raptors' only individual qualifier, Reid Lyden, lost twiceto Tanner Johnshoy of Prior Lake, and finished fourth in at 120 pounds.

• Park of Cottage Grove: Both Wolfpack wrestlers, 113-pounder Colin LaBrosse and 145-pounder David Giadyu, lost first-round matches.

JIM PAULSEN