Several Raptors, Royals swim way to State

• DIxon claims 4AA diving title

Woodbury senior Andy Dixon won the Section 4AA diving title to qualify for the State meet on Thursday. Submitted Photo.

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A number of members of the Woodbury and East Ridge boys swimming and diving teams qualified for their respective Class AA and A State meets this coming week with top performances in sectional competitions.

Woodbury sending three to Class AA meet

Royals sophomore Greg Norsten earned two event championships in the Section 4AA final on Saturday. Norsten took first in the 200-yard individual medley in a time of 1 minutes, 56.78 seconds, then also won the 100-yard butterfly in 52.96 seconds.

Joining Norsten atop the sectional awards podium was Andy Dixon, who won the 1-meter diving competition with a score of 337.10 — 50.6 points better than second-place finisher Andy Gibb of Stillwater.

Victor Lugg will accompany Norsten and Dixon at State after the sophomore placed second in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 49.92.

As a team, Woodbury took fourth with a score of 237, with the Ponies earning the 4AA title with 548.

East Ridge qualifies in eight events

The inaugural East Ridge pool squad will compete in eight total events after posting qualifying finishes in two relay and six individual races.

The Raptors are sending two relay teams to State, with the 200-yard medley relay team qualifying with a fourth-place sectional turn in 1:43.15 and the 4x400-yard freestyle relay earning a Class A trip after a third-place section result of 3:21.90.

In addition to the our East Ridge swimmers (Matthew Koken, Jacob Matenaer, Austin Davidson, Justin Kong) are heading to State individually to compete in six total events.

Koken placed second in the 200-yard freestyle (1:48.23) and 100 butterfly (54.52) to advance to State in both events, with Justin Kong's sixth-place result (1:05.66) in the 100-yard breaststroke punched his ticket to State as well.

Jacob Matenaer will also be in the State field in two events individually after placing second in the 200-individual medley (2:01.87) and third in the 100 freestyle (49.75). Davidson's seventh-place (2:09.38) turn in the 200 I.M. also earned him a trip to the top Class A meet.

State meets March 4-6

The Class A and AA State meets will both take place on March 4-6 at the University of Minnesota's Aquatics Center.

Class AA diving preliminaries are scheduled for 6 p.m. on Thursday, while preliminary swim competitions are set for Friday — Class A beginning at noon, Class AA at 6 p.m.

The start times are the same for Saturday's finals in both Class A and AA.

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