WILLISTON - The Dickinson High boys swimming and diving team is very young, head coach Mike Sullivan said, so it’s important his team gets the experience it needs.
In a matchup of former co-op schools, Williston took on Dickinson in a dual and won 120-39 Friday.
“I don’t know how you would word it, but it was almost like an intrasquad meet,” Sullivan said. “It’s almost bittersweet. We’re happy for them and they’re happy for us. … You almost want to cheer for them as much as they’re cheering for you. To their credit, they’ve done really well thus far.”
While the team was short a few athletes due to conflicting events, Sullivan said he saw a few Midgets break personal records.
Legend Jankowski’s mark of 2 minutes, 6.65 seconds in the 200 freestyle and 5:36.32 mark in the 500 freestyle were both personal bests. Bailey Decker also set personal records in the same events with a 2:19.20 time in the 200 freestyle and a 6:12.28 time in the 500 freestyle.
Dickinson’s Steven Bratten was first in the 100 backstroke with a personal-best 1:05.10, and Jessie Avina also had a personal-best 1:15.09 in the same event.
Meanwhile, Liam Williams broke his personal record in the 100 breaststroke by finishing in 1:30.37. He also competed in diving for the first time and scored 116 points.
To Sullivan, the Midgets “swam out of their heads.” He hopes that the event was a good enough confidence booster so a few more of this athletes qualify for the state meet in future events.
“I think we’re in that building stage because we’re a relatively younger team,” Sullivan said. “Most of our guys that are scoring points are seventh, eighth, ninth grade. … We’ve got a young lineup of varsity guys, which is good, but it’s something to build on.”
Williston 120, Dickinson 39
50 freestyle: 1, Trevor White, W, 23.38. 4, Jessie Avina, D, 27.32. 5, Joe Frei, D, 30.19. 6, Garrett Brown, D, 31.29. 7, Karsky Austin, D, 38.25.
100 backstroke: 1, Steven Bratten, D, 1:05.10. 5, Avina, D, 1:15.09. Frei, D, 1:26.81.
100 breaststroke: 1, Rhys Enget, W, 1:11.23. 3, Liam Williams, D, 1:30.37.
100 butterfly: 1, White, W, 1:11.06.
100 freestyle: 1, Enget, W, 52.68. 3, Bratten, D, 55.20. 5, Brown, D, 1:19.11, 6, Austin, D, 1:26.44.
200 freestyle: 1, Jaxen Bratcher, W, 2:04.89. 2, Legend Jankowski, D, 2:06.65. 4, Bailey Decker, D, 2:19.20.
200 individual medley: 1, Christian Pfau, W, 2:25.13.
200 medley relay: 1, W (Nathan Jorgenson, Bratcher, Enget, Logan Senior), 1:53.54. 3, D, (Austin, Williams, Frei, Brown), 2:39.03.
500 freestyle: 1, Pfau, W, 5:35.21. 2, Jankowski, D, 5:36.32. 4, Decker, 6:12.28.
200 freestyle relay: 1, W (White, Parker Krom, Tanner Germundson, Enget), 1:38.68.
400 freestyle relay: 1, W (Senior, Brachter, White, Jorgenson), 3:49.30. 2, D (Bretten, Frei, Decker, Jankowski), 4:14.41. 4, D (Avina, Brown, Williams, Karsky), 5:04.56.
1-meter diving: 1, Matthew Jorgenson, W, 214.85. 2, Williams, D, 116.
