As the Owatonna Boys Swim and Dive season comes to an end, the Huskies are excited to see how sections and state go. 

The section team is very excited and is still working hard. Eighth grader Logan Halverson said, “We have worked hard, and so I’m pretty excited for them (sections).” The section team which consists of mostly varsity athletes continue to practice. Sophomore Matthew Larson said, “I think we’ll do good at sections. We have a couple guys with a good chance at placing, if not going to state.” The swim and dive team have sections on Feb. 24 and 25. 

The team had a good season with three wins and five loses paired with a very strong mentality, improving from years past. Larson said, “Everyone kind of works together this year which makes it more fun and easier to swim.” Along with having a great mentality and a fun team, practices became more fun. The captains have put work into making sure everyone is included and having fun. Assistant coach Tara Lammers said, “The captains have built such a great team camaraderie and that is carrying over to our team’s success.”

The team also has a very strong base with many seventh and eighth graders stepping up. Not only into bigger events, but also in making sure they could and still can continue to compete. Around halfway through the season with most of the team out with sickness, the younger kids stepped up. Larson said, “They’ve stepped up. Especially when we were at Albert Lea we had a lot of the younger kids step up.” This year’s team was also full of seniors that were great leaders. Lammers said, “They work hard, are positive role models and great teachers to the younger kids. They have all been passionate about the sport since they started.”

The OHS Boys Swim and Dive team had a great year and with sections and state right around the corner, they are going to continue to work hard and hopefully see great results. The boys compete next at sections with diving on Thursday, Feb. 24 at 6 p.m. at Levi P. Dodge Middle School and swimming on Friday, Feb. 25 at noon at the Rochester Recreation Center.