Now the fun begins.
The Brainerd Warriors prepped one last time for the important part of their season by claiming a 96-82 Central Lakes Conference victory over Fergus Falls Thursday at Brainerd High School.
It was their final regular-season dual meet heading into the CLC championship, the Section 8-2A meet and hopefully the Class 2A state meet.
Brainerd looked in fine form as it built a large enough lead to exhibition the final four events.
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Warriors 96, Fergus Falls 82
- Key: Brainerd won all 11 swimming events
- Conf: Brd 6-1, FF 2-5
- Overall: Brd 6-1, FF 2-6
- Next: Brainerd in Central Lakes Conference championship at Sauk Rapids noon Feb. 11.
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Brainerd swept the relays with the first-time combination of Preston Owen, Michael Bylander, Griffin Blegen and Devan Liebeg posting a 1:34.64 in the 200-yard freestyle.
"The 200 medley we're really comfortable with that relay," Bylander said. "We're seeded second in the section right now and the top two teams go to state. We're just really excited about that. We're all getting really great splits.
"We just switched the 200 free relay. We started loading that with our fastest sprinters. We're hopeful that it will go well."
Bylander also won the 200 individual medley and, in the closest race of the night, he edged out Fergus' Aaron Erlandson in the backstroke. Bylander swam a 1:05.28 to Erlandson's 1:05.61.
"I just saw him come closing in and I knew I could beat him," Bylander said. "I just really pushed it as much as I could and eventually got it. The last stroke I really pushed it to out-touch him.
"In the 200 IM, we just got off a tough week of practice, so I really just wanted to do as much underwater dolphin kicking as I could to conserve energy. Then, by the time I got to my 50 free, I was just going to give what I had left and it ended up being the fastest 50 free split that I've gone all season."
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Connor Lund posted two life-time bests as he won the 200-yard free in 1:57.42 and the 500 free in 5:17.75.
Preston Owen won the 50 free followed by Liebeg and Blegen in second and third. Own also won the backstroke, while Liebeg edged Blegen again in the 100 free.
Gunnar Niemeyer rounded out the Warrior with a first-place 56.02 in the 100 butterfly. Niemeyer was also second in the 500 free.
"I saw a really nice 200 free relay," Brainerd head coach John Zemke said. "Those guys haven't swam the relay together this year. That was a very nice time. Bylander had a very nice time in the breaststroke and in his 200 IM and Connor Lund had a very nice 500. He's a freshman and he's swimming well."
The lone Otters victory came in diving where Caleb Neubauer threw up 231.85 points. Izaac Herrlich broke 200, however, with his second-place 202.00 for the Warriors.
"I'm really confident with where we have our kids in the lineup," said Zemke. "We've had a nice opportunity to experiment with our lineup quite a bit this year. I think we have our kids where we want them to be right now. We still have a few kids we're going to move around, but for the most part we're pleased and we'll just keep moving forward."
Zemke said he senses a growing confidence among the team during the homestretch. Bylander agreed.
"We're really confident going into sections," Bylander said. "Conferences will be fun. Sartell is always a nice team. Same with Alexandria. They'll be very competitive.
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"Right now we're swimming 5,000 plus-yard practices and doing some really fast interval training. We are kind of under pressure, but our coach does a great job of mentally prepping us before the races. We'll do mental prep each day during our taper and that just helps loosen us up and get us ready for the event."
Brainerd 96, Fergus Falls 82
200 medley relay: 1-Brainerd (Preston Owen, Michael Bylander, Gunnar Niemeyer, Devan Liebeg) 1:44.81; 3-Brainerd (Andy Dillon, Cody Evans, Jordan VanRissegghem, Riley Backstrom) 1:52.76
200 freestyle: 1-Connor Lund (Brd) 1:57.42, 2-Eric Rude (Brd) 2:02.64, 5-Charlie Rude (Brd) 2:07.37
200 individual medley: 1-Bylander 2:07.75, 3-VanRissegghem 2:22.84, 5-Dillon 2:24.91
50 freestyle: 1-Owen 23.46, 2-Liebeg 23.97, 3-Griffin Blegen (Brd) 24.26
Diving: 1-Caleb Neubauer (FF) 231.85, 2-Izaac Herrlich (Brd) 202.00, 4-Tim Whiteman (Brd) 183.4, 5-Cruz Lemmerhirt (Brd) 149.70
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100 butterfly: 1-Niemeyer 56.02, 4-Jordan VanRissegghem 1:02.62, 5-Michael Lyscio (Brd) 1:06.15
100 freestyle: 1-Liebeg 52.75, 2-Blegen 53.60, 4-Backstrom 56.40
500 freestyle: 1-Connor Lund 5:17.75, 2-Niemeyer 5:23.24, 4-Eric Rude 5:31.93
200 freestyle relay: 1-Brainerd (Owen, Bylander, Blegen, Liebeg) 1:34.64; 2-Brainerd (Pierce Solseth, Lyscio, Lund, Backstrom) 1:39.10, 4-Brainerd (David Kelm, Alex Vukelich, Jacob VanRisseghem, Tennyson Kelm) 1:49.32
100 backstroke: 1-Owen 58.83, 3-Dillon 1:04.54, 4-Dylan Paulson (Brd) 1:08.12
100 breaststroke: 1-Bylander 1:05.28, 4-Evans 1:11.73, 5-Jacob VanRisseghem 1:14.52
400 freestyle relay: 1-Brainerd (Niemeyer, Blegen, Lund, Eric Rude) 3:36.59; 3-Brainerd (Solseth, Jordan VanRissegham, Dillon, Lyscio) 3:45.84, 5-Brainerd (Oliver Knudson, Paulson, Charlie Rude, Cade Rosenwald) 4:01.44
