The Hastings boys swim and dive team had two duals this past week. First, they faced Farmington at home on December 13 in nonconference action, then the Raiders travelled to South St. Paul to face the Packers in the first conference dual of the season.

Against Farmington, the 200-medley relay gave Hastings the 8-6 lead for the first race and the Raiders never looked back. Farmington fought to get within one point of Hastings by the 50-freestyle, but did not have any divers, so Hastings jumped to an 11-point lead after diving and kept extending it from that point forward. The Raiders ultimately won 96-84.

“This was a great meet,” said head coach Katie McAlpin. “We had over 90% season or personal best times. The boys were great hosts and had a lot of fun. Swimmer of the meet was Taylor Schmaltz. Taylor had fantastic swims. He won the 200-freestyle, took second in the 100 free and was a part of both winning freestyle relays. Extra shoutouts from the Farmington meet go to Sammy Green and James Jensen. Sammy dropped 14 seconds in his 100 fly and James met his goal that he made the day before, to break a minute in the 100 free.”

At South St. Paul on Thursday, the meet started a little different for Hastings but finished strong. The Packers are a smaller team that is in a bit of a rebuilding period, but they have some very strong athletes. The Packers jumped out to the early 10-4 lead after the first race, but they had no swimmers for the next two events, so Hastings claimed 13 of the possible 16 points in two straight events.

Remember, the top five swimmers score in individual events, but no team can earn more than three places of points in those events. Relays are top three, and a team can only claim two spots.

With a 20-point lead after the third event, Hastings kept dominating the young Packer team. By the time the seventh event, the 100 Butterfly was complete, Hastings had a commanding lead 60-25. The 200-freestyle relay was the last race that Hastings earned points from, after that race, they held a 90-40 lead and South St. Paul was mathematically eliminated from winning. With Hastings racing the final two events in exhibition mode, the Packers closed the gap and Hastings won 90-74.

“Thursday, we had our first conference dual meet at South St. Paul,” said McAlpin. “I was able to mix up the lineup and put the boys in some of the events they don't swim as often. Swimmer of the meet was Russell Schalk. Russell had personal best times in both of his individual events. He cut two seconds in the 200 free and 47 seconds in the 500 free! Russell took second in the 200 and with a phenomenal finish, won the 500. Extra shout outs from the South St. Paul meet go to Cody Stewart and Sammy Green. Cody dropped 30 seconds off his best 500 time and Sammy cut almost 30 in his 200 and 500 free combined.”

Hastings had the most difficult meet of the season to date on Tuesday against the Simley Spartans. Simley, Hastings and St. Thomas Academy have been in a fight for the conference championship the last few years. Two seasons ago, the trio finished in a tie for first, so those duals are always exciting and a huge challenge. The results of Simley vs Hastings will be in next week’s edition!

The next chance to catch the Raiders is January 5 at John Glenn Junior High against Tartan at 6:00 p.m.

Oliver Gergen placed second in the 200 freestyle behind Raider teammate Taylor Schmaltz.Photo by Bruce Karnick