Maple Grove boys swim and dive off to strong start
By Lori Fisher
The Maple Grove High School Boys Swim and Dive season is off to a strong start! The team won their first meet of the season at home on Dec. 15 against the Champlin Park Rebels.
The Varsity and Junior Varsity squads also won the Northwest Suburban Conference Relay meet against several schools in Anoka on Dec. 10.
Coach Matt Caron who teaches Orchestra at the High School, leads the swimming team made up of nearly 50 seventh through 12th graders. The team has two assistant coaches Linsi Jagger and Blake Maus.
Senior captain Gerrit Riekels is really looking forward to seeing the growth of the team as a whole this year. “We’ve gained some new swimmers in all levels and I’m excited to see how they grow and become a part of our very close swim family,” said Riekels.
Senior captain Logan Cyr, who took first place in two individual events against the Rebels believes this year’s team has a lot of depth. “Our team does not have a large group of swimmers that are significantly faster than the rest of the team. Everyone has someone to chase in practice and I think that’s great for the team. This also creates a friendly competition that pushes us to the next level of swimming,” said Cyr.
There’s a theme amongst the team captains and it comes down to being friends and supporting one another. Senior captain Mark Altman thinks that’s the team’s main strength. “I really want the team to be tight with one another. Everything works better when we are all friends. I do really like that all the swimmers and divers are supporting everyone at all ages and not just their own, “ said Altman.
This will be Mitch Raihle’s second year as head coach of the team. Raihle also coached the girls diving team this past fall. He said, “Diving is a balancing act between contradicting attributions. Athletes learn how to gracefully throw their bodies off of an aluminum board, to flip, twist, and contort their bodies in the air while landing in the water vertically with minimal splash. Senior Zach Johnson is this year’s team captain. He’ll be helping support senior Ian Cobb, sophomore Chris Osborne and first year diver freshman George Fisher. “
Coach Raihle says this year’s diving team is strong. He added, “A diver has to be extremely disciplined and willing to take criticism while letting things flow and having a fun attitude. When divers come into the sport with strong legs and a solid core, it opens a lot of opportunities for learning new dives.”
The team’s next meet is Jan. 5 at Osseo. Maple Grove’s future home meets are Jan. 12 against Andover and Jan. 19 against Anoka. All swim home meets are streamed on the MGSH Crimson Swim and Dive YouTube page @crimsonswimdive.
The season ends with the State Meet in early March.
More photos:
