Gold gunners at Eden Prairie

Eden Prairie's swimmers and divers didn't think too much of themselves last year. Neither did anyone else. Then they beat out Edina to win the Maple Grove Invite.

"I remember they got on the bus and they were like, 'We are kind of a good team,'" coach Kelly Boston recalled. "And I'm like, 'Yeah, you guys are.'"

The Eagles eventually got to sections and learned even more about themselves after seeing the record board at the Art Downey Aquatic Center in Edina. It spans an entire wall.

"That's a pool you'd like to see your name up on the wall," Boston said.

Done.

Bryce Boston, Aaron Greenberg, Maverick Hovey and Michael Solfelt didn't just break the 200-yard medley relay pool record. They smashed it. Shortly after, they broke the 200-yard freestyle relay pool record as well, touching out the Hornets at their home pool.

The Eagles went on to finish second at the Class 2A meet, only 5.5 points behind champion Minnetonka, punctuating Eden Prairie's rise from a relative unknown to an up-and-coming powerhouse.

They are now ranked No. 1, fresh off a True Team state championship last Saturday. They stand as the favorites to win the Class 2A meet.

Eden Prairie returns almost all of its big guns. That includes its entire medley relay team, which set the Class 2A meet record last year in a time of 1:33.75 and just missed the all-time mark of 1:33.31 in 1991, set before any of these boys were even born.

Boston, Greenberg and Solfelt were sophomores and Hovey was a junior when they set the record. In terms of age and physical maturity, that is one remarkable feat. And Minnesota swimming fans get another chance to watch them this year.

To add even more intrigue, both Bryce Boston, the coach's son, and Hovey have rotated in the butterfly and backstroke slots. Two years ago, Boston swam the butterfly and Hovey the backstroke. Last year they swapped and cut three seconds off their time.

"It's kind of for fun, seeing which combination is the fastest," Bryce Boston said. "We're both very strong at each stroke."

"It's very rare," added the second-year head coach. "Sitting down and doing these lineups, you almost feel really bad for the kids that get pigeonholed into those same events over and over and over. I think the beauty of this team is kind of taking that burden off those kids and they're not going to get as stale. I don't think I will probably ever have a team that is as versatile as this team."

Boston still doesn't know how the lineup is going to roll into the state meet. She has a lot of options, including a trio of juniors ready to make their mark: Dmitry and Yevgeniy Foster and Jonathan Lieberman.

No doubt about it. The Eagles are no longer the underdogs, and they're relishing the moment.