The Minnesota AA Boys Championships started off with quite the fireworks show in the 200 medley relay.
Eden Prairie and Minnetonka traded leads twice going into the free leg, and juniors Jordan Greenberg (19.93) of Eden Prairie and Sam Schilling (19.75) of Minnetonka each split 19’s on anchor duty. Greenberg’s split was just barely enough for the win, as Eden Prairie touched first at 1:30.70 by the slimmest of margins over Minnetonka (1:30.71). Both relays flew under the ‘AA’ and all-time (including both A and AA times) state record of 1:32.18 set by Eden Prairie in 2013.
After that win, Eden Prairie would go on to take the team title, scoring 335 points.
Minnetonka’s Schilling returned to blast a 1:37.75 to take the AA title in the 200 free, the junior just .44 off of the AA and all-time MN record. Greenberg, meanwhile, swam a 20.42 in the individual 50 free to take that event.
In the 100 free, Greenberg faced teammate Griffin Back, who split a 24.95 on Eden Prairie’s medley relay swimming the breaststroke leg, along with Lakeville North freshman Andrew Trepanier, who finished 2nd in the 50 free behind Greenberg. Greenberg led at the 50 mark, but Back (44.80) and Trepanier (44.98) closed hard to edge out ahead of Greenberg (45.01).
Back came through big-time for Eden Prairie, also winning the 200 IM (1:47.79, just tenths off of the all-time MN record) and leading off their 3rd-place 400 free relay in a 44.74 which set a new AA and all-time MN record. This broke his 44.80 record which was set just before in the individual 100 free.
In that final relay, Schilling of Minnetonka also blasted a 44.83 to lead off– this came after he won the 500 free (4:29.55), making him a double winner along with his 200 free victory. Eagan ended up winning that last relay, touching in 3:05.64 ahead of Minnetonka and Eden Prairie.
Eden Prairie’s Josh Withers, a sophomore, also broke the AA record in his 100 fly victory, touching at 48.56. The other AA record broken was the 100 breast,done by Minnetonka junior Corey Lau (54.90).
Final Team Scores
- Eden Prairie 335
- Minnetonka 262.5
- Eagan 255
- Prior Lake 133.5
- Chanhassen 131
