Woodbury boys swimming and diving: Royals finish fifth at season-opening conference relay

The Woodbury boys swimming and diving team opened the season with the annual Suburban East Conference relays on Thursday, Dec. 8, at Stillwater Junior High School.

In the first meet of the year, the Royals finished in fifth place overall with 84 points. Stillwater scored 114 points to win the meet, followed by Mounds View with 110 points.

In the nine-team, relay-only meet which acts as a decent early display of team depth, Woodbury finished in fourth place in six events.

The 400-yard medley relay team of sophomore Eric Westfall, senior Greg Norsten, junior David Khazanovich and senior Victor Lugg took fourth place with a time of 3:59.64.

The 200-yard freestyle relay team of seniors Scott Bolles, Garth Natwick, Matthew Kroening and junior Nate Henning earned fourth with a time of 1:39.92.

The 400-yard individual medley relay team of eighth-graders William Tostenson, Brady Bennett, Garrett Norsten and sophomore Eric Westfall placed fourth with a time of 4:17.98.

The diving relay team placed fourth with a score of 150.10. The 800-yard freestyle relay team and the 400-yard freestyle relay team of Greg Norsten, Tostenson, Lugg and Bennett took fourth with a time of 7:48.02 and 3:33.86, respectively.

Woodbury followed up the relay meet with a non-conference dual meet with superpower Edina on Friday, Dec. 9, at the Art Downey Aquatic Center at South View Middle School in Edina.

The Hornets proved too much for the Royals, beating Woodbury 102 to 82 in the meet.

Though Edina won six of 12 events and had more swimmers and divers in the top three places than the Royals, Woodbury’s Greg Norsten and Lugg showed how good they can be.

Norsten took first place in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:47.59, first place in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 54.30 and helped the boys 400-yard freestyle relay earn first place with a time of 3:30.19 and the 200-yard freestyle relay team finish first with a time of 1:36.23. Other swimmers on the 200 relay were Bennett, Lugg and Khazanovich, while Lugg, Bennett, Torstenson and Norsten teamed up for the 400 relay.

Lugg also touched the wall first in two individual events – the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 22.53 and in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 50.35.

“We competed very well against one of the better teams in the state,” Woodbury head coach Marty Hoven said. “Winning both of the freestyle relays which is a good sign and shows our depth in freestyle sprinting.”

Next, Woodbury takes on SEC rival Stillwater on Thursday, Dec. 15.

“Stillwater is always a big test for our team,” Hoven said. “It will be a good test to see where we are in our training before the winter break.”

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