JHS earns best-ever WDA finish

The Jamestown Blue Jay boys swimming and diving team made program history on Saturday, earning its highest finish ever at the West Region meet in Minot.

Jamestown rolled up 234 points, which was good enough for a third-place finish with the state meet looming this weekend in Bismarck.

“It was a really fun meet. It was the highest we’ve placed in the WDA, girls or boys, since we moved over to the West,” JHS coach Ben Smith said. “That is a great accomplish, so we’re super ecstatic about that.”

Jamestown is taking 12 members of its team to state, which starts on Friday at Bismarck State College Aquatic and Wellness Center, and one of those athletes will be senior captain Brandon Hart.

Hart punched his ticket to state with a time of 57.06 in the 100-yard freestyle on Saturday.

“That was something really special,” Smith said. “That was the first time qualifying for state for him.”

Andy Oslund, Colt Rasmussen and Riley Thom once again performed well at the West Region meet. Oslund finished second in the 100 freestyle with at time of 50.95, just off Minot’s Jared Kramer’s first-place run of 50.58. Oslund also took fifth in the 50 free (23.40).

Thom scored a fourth-place finish in the diving competition (353.30), while Rasmussen took fifth in the 200 free (1:56.07) and fourth in the 500 free (5:23.68).

Oslund and Thom, both juniors, and Rassmussen, a sophomore, all earned WDA All-Conference Team honors.

“It takes a lot of hard work over the season to be successful,” Smith said. “Pretty much everyone on the team contributed points-wise, so it was a whole team effort.”

The team of Rasmussen, Braydon Love, Cayden Hare and Oslund picked up a pair of fourth-place finishes in the 200 free relay (1:37.35) and the 400 free relay (3:33.81).

Smith is hoping for more strong results this weekend at state.

“We’re just going to keep working hard this week,” Smith said. “Not everyone was rested for the WDA meet this weekend, but our team will be fully rested for the state meet and it will be fun to see how we’ll compete.”

West Region meet

Saturday

at Magic City Campus, Minot

Team scores: 1. Minot High 585; 2. Century 504; 3. Jamestown 234; 4. Williston 226; 5. Mandan 225; 6. Bismarck 190.

Individual results (Top 6 only)

50 freestyle: 1. Luke Heilman, Min, 22.49; 2. Zach Grosz, C, 22.90; 3. Parker Scott, Min, 23.15; 4. Matthew Poppe, Man, 23.17; 5. Andy Oslund, J, 23.40; 6. Kyle Pletan, W, 23.54.

100 freestyle: 1. Jared Kramer, Min, 50.58; 2. Oslund, J, 50.95; 3. Grosz, C, 50.96; 4. Lee Keller, Min, 51.16; 5. Jacob Anderson, W, 51.19; 6. Pletan, W, 51.64.

200 freestyle: 1. Dylan Sether, C, 1:48.14; 2. Ethan Bahl, Min, 1:51.76; 3. Jacob Anderson, W, 1:53.58; 4. Austin Teunissen, B, 1:53.91; 5. Colt Rasmussen, J, 1:56.07; 6. Kramer, Min, 1:56.36.

500 freestyle: 1. Loren Sether, C, 4:58.60; 2. Gerald Brown, Min, 5:08.65; 3. Teunissen, B, 5:09.72; 4. Rasmussen, J, 5:23.68; 5. Kyler Alme, C, 5:25.33; 6. Taylor Hedge, C, 5:27.44.

100 backstroke: 1. Nich Buch, Min, 57.26; 2. Austin Schmidt, B, 57.83; 3. Brown, Min, 59.70; 4. Ethan Porter, C, 59.78; 5. Quentin Hogue, C, 1:01.15; 6. Eric Bergeson, C, 1:01.84.

100 breaststroke: 1. Bahl, Min, 1:00.55; 2. Collin Kemmesat, C, 1:02.08; 3. Kevin McGlaughlin, Min, 1:05.03; 4. Cataldo DiDonna, C, 1:05.76; 5. Mason Bahl, Min, 1:07.14; 6. Jeremy Evans, Min, 1:07.51.

100 butterfly: 1. Dylan Sether, C, 53.92; 2. Zdenek Skalicky, Min, 56.24; 3. Hogue, C, 57.50; 4. Scott, Min, 58.05; 5. Taylor Crothers, C, 58.07; 6. Buch, Min, 58.26.

200 individual medley: 1. Loren Sether, C, 2:04.55; 2. Skalicky, Min, 2:05.59; 3. Collin Kemmesat, C, 2:07.45; 4. Keller, Min, 2:08.00; 5. Schmidt, B, 2:10.42; 6. Crothers, C, 2:11.39.

200 medley relay: 1. Min (Buch, Ethan Bahl, Skalicky, Heilman), 1:39.23; 2. C, 1:41.00; 3. B, 1:49.78; 4. Man, 1:52.26; 5. W, 1:54.76; 6. J, 1:55.27.

200 freestyle relay: 1. Min (Heilman, Scott, Ryan Swartwout, Ethan Bahl), 1:31.31; 2. C, 1:35.09; 3. W, 1:35.28; 4. J, 1:37.35; 5. Man, 1:39.24; 6. B, 1:46.07.

400 freestyle relay: 1. Min (Skalicky, Swartwout, Keller, Kramer), 3:23.09; 2. C, 3:23.81; 3. W, 3:30.65; 4. J, 3:31.81; 5. Man, 3:37.71; 6. B, 3:38.85.

1-meter diving: 1. Nathan Berger, Man, 395.90; 2. Jeremy Fix, Min, 381.60; 3. Adam Berglund, C, 376.80; 4. Riley Thom, J, 353.30; 5. Kailan Horne, Min, 318.05; 6. Mason Bahl, Min, 317.55.

All-conference

Century: Loren Sether, Dylan Sether, Zach Grosz, Collin Kemmesat, Ethan Porter, Taylor Crothers, Adam Berglund. Minot: Ethan Bahl, Zdenek Skalicky, Jared Kramer, Gerald Brown, Nich Buch, Luke Heilman, Parker Scott, Lee Keller, Kevin McGlaughlin, Jeremy Fix. Jamestown: Andy Oslund, Colt Rasmussen, Riley Thom. Bismarck: Austin Schmidt, Austin Teunissen. Williston: Jacob Anderson

Senior athlete of the year: Dylan Sether, Century.

Co-coaches of the year: Dennis Kemmesat, Century, and Thomas Wheeling, Williston.

Tags: sports, swimming, jays