St. Thomas Academy Tops Competition at Minnesota Men’s Class A Championships

MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota, March 21. BOLSTERED by two relay wins, the St. Thomas Academy men captured the Minnesota Class A title with 259 points. A battle ensued for second place as Northfield slightly overtook Hibbing. Northfield scored 193 points while Hibbing scored 192.5.

Luke Strumbell from Eveleth-Gilbert headlined the top performances of the meet with two wins and one state record. His 200 freestyle (1:42.21) swim eclipsed former Sauk Rapids-Rice swimmer Jason Timmer's 1:42.44 mark. Strumbell returned in the 500 freestyle, winning the event in a 4:46.75 time.

Zach Strumbell, who also hails from Eveleth-Gilbert, claimed victories in the other freestyle events. Strumbell edged out Joe Schulte from Hibbing in the 50 with a time of 21.57 and swam a quick back half in his 100 freestyle race, touching the wall in 46.96.

Matt Hoyland of St. Thomas Academy outswam the field in both of his individual events. Hoyland blew past the second-place finisher on the breaststroke leg in the 200 I.M. (1:57.48) and went nearly uncontested in the 100 breaststroke (57.05).

St. Thomas Academy's foursome of Nathan Pete, Hoyland, Peter Curran and Noah Winden pulled ahead at the conclusion of the breaststroke leg in the 200 medley relay and produced a large enough lead to edge the field in 1:38.22. Hoyland, Curran, Kyle Simonson and Colin Drake joined up in the 200 freestyle relay to win the event with a 1:28.55 time.

Kirby Mattocks from Mankato West won the diving competition with a 451.80 score. Wilson Robinson of Hibbing (406.10) and Danny Pogue of Chisholm (399.35) placed second and third, respectively.

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