Not hard to spot Rosemount's silly swimmers

With hordes of high school kids and coaches screaming and jam-packed together around one pool, it can be tough to identify teams at big swim meets. Not Rosemount.

"Easy to spot those Irish," coach Patti Wenger said.

Rosemount is an exciting group to watch, in and out of the water.

They can be a squirrely bunch. They've been known to dance. They like to walk across the pool underwater. And they have an obsession with Edina coach Art Downey, in which the seniors try to get near him every chance they get. One unnamed swimmer pretended to stretch right next to Downey and accidentally punched the legendary coach in the face.

He scurried away immediately.

"I talked to Art earlier this season and he remembered that incident and I told him that my guys would probably try and do that again," Wenger said. "So Art said he would be ready to smack our guys first if they got close to him."

There is a method to the Irish madness. Not to intimidate opponents -- or even coaches -- but to stay loose.

"I like to goof around because it calms me down," Conor Manning said. "If I focus on my meet, I get nervous. I don't like to do that. I think we just have fun, relax and go out and swim. I think that's when we do our best --when we're having fun."

Teammate Jacob Stern agreed.

"We just like to have fun at the meets," Stern said. "We're not just all work. We like to work hard but we like to have fun, too."

Does any of that come from the coach?

"Maybe. I might be a little bit of a practical jokester," said Wenger, in her eighth year at the helm.

It must be working because fans, opponents and officials not only notice Rosemount's poolside antics, but its strong presence on the scoreboard as well. The Irish finished seventh at the Class 2A state meet one year ago and return a core group of 10 seniors hungry for more.

Leading the way is the 200-yard medley relay team of Braden McCormack, Stern, Luke Dowell and Manning. This group returns fully intact after finishing second in the event last year to Eden Prairie.

It should come down to these two foursomes once again.

"It's going to be close between us and them. Definitely at the end of the season hopefully we can really give them a run for their money," Wenger said.

Stern added a 13th-place finish in the 200-yard individual medley and was runner-up in the 100-yard breastroke behind Edina's Max Cartwright, who broke the state meet record as a senior. Manning, a key sprinter, is the Irish's relay anchor. Dowell will look to crack the championship heat this year after posting a 10th-place finish at state in the 100-yard butterfly.

McCormack was disqualified in the 100-yard backstroke at the section finals last year. The Irish hope he'll add some firepower. Junior Sheldon Hatlen has been flying below the radar. He is posting impressive times in the 200-yard individual medley and 100-yard breastroke.

Andrew Urness and Tyler Lawson also return as state qualifiers, giving Rosemount both depth and some high-end talent. People have taken notice. The Irish were ranked No. 4 in a recent Class 2A poll, as voted on by the coaches association.

For Downey and the rest of Rosemount's competition, more Irish times and antics are ahead.