It’s a cliché, but Park High divers made a splash Thursday.
Wolfpack junior Ethyn Schilling dove his way to state and all four Park divers finished in the top 12 in the boys Section 3AA swim and dive championships held at Two River High School in Mendota Heights Thursday through Saturday.
“I’m feeling incredible right now,” said Schilling. “I don’t even know what to say.”
Asked what made the difference this season, Schilling said, “For me, I would say the coaching and my other teammates on the team that really pushed me hard and just trying to lock in I guess.”
Schilling finished fourth with a score of 328.75. John Jaso was just behind, finishing fifth with a score of 302.50. Carter Darling was eighth with a 274.75 and Ethan Spade 12th with a 251.55.
After muffing his next to last dive in the competition, Schiling promptly followed that with his most satisfying dive of the meet.
“The dive I was happiest with was probably my front triple because after I failed my one and a half my front triple really came through,” Schilling said.
Schilling will now compete in the boys' state swimming and diving championships at the Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center at the University of Minnesota. The Class AA diving preliminaries are Thursday, starting at 6 p.m. with the diving finals starting at 6 p.m. Saturday.
All four of the Park divers had strong showings in the section meet.
“I think this season they were all about having fun but working hard,” said Park diving coach Patti Hagen. “And they kept pushing each other. They would make bets with each other. They would say I’ll try this if you try this. They do a gentleman’s handshake and then they just went for it. We learned so many new dives just from doing that and they had a blast.”
Asked about Schilling in particular, Hagen said. “I think the biggest thing was he let go of a lot of fears and he wanted to try everything. And he’d ask, can I try this and I said you guys know I’m never going to tell you no unless I feel its unsafe. He just wanted to go all the time and practice late and just keep going.”
Park senior Ethan Cole’s fourth-place finish in the 100-yard freestyle (48.92) and fifth-place finish in the 50-yard freestyle (22.89) led Park’s swim efforts.
Sophomore Paul Wallace took sixth in the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:05.49.
Damion Charpentier was 10th (2:13.65) and Tyle Cracauer 11th (2:14.19) in the 200-yard IM. Charpentier was 15th in the 100-yard butterfly (57.97). Parker Stueber was 15th in the 500-yard freestyle (5:29.81). Cracauer was 10th in the 100-yard backstroke (1:00.91).
In the relays, the Park team of Cole, Wallace, Charpentier and Lalee Yang finished fifth in the opening 200-yard medley relay in a time of 1:45.70. Park was eighth in the 200-yard freestyle relay with the foursome of Connor Racine, Cracauer, Zachary Wood and Wallace finishing in 1:40.54. The Wolfpack 400-yard freestyle relay team of Charpentier, Cracauer, Yang and Cole was eighth in a time of 3:35.60.
“Overall, these boys worked very hard,” said Park head coach Arachi O’Brien. “We dropped a lot of time as a team at prelims; they swam with everything they had at finals and I'm super proud.
“Ethyn Schilling is going to state for diving,” O’Brien added. “I've enjoyed watching him all season and I can’t wait to see how he does at state!”
Park finished seventh in the team race with 186 points but were just 10 points out of finishing fifth.
East Ridge won the team title with 441 points, followed by 2, Eagan, 369.5; 3, Eastview 304, 4, Rosemount 253.5, 5, Hastings 195, 6, Apple Valley 187, 7, Park 186, and 8, Two Rivers, 167.
