SPORTS WRAP
I understand home field advantage. The feel of the grass or turf. The lighting of a gym. The nuances of the boards in hockey or foul ground on a baseball or softball diamond. Apparently home pool advantage is measurable as well.
Owatonna High School junior Anna Hagenson is comfortable swimming at Owatonna Middle School most of all. “It’s not a new water that I’m not used to. To us, a lot of the different pools will feel different in the water. Our pool, I feel like I’m so used to it that I can swim good in it,” said Hagenson.
Senior Krin Eickhoff says, “Our pool is really loud which I do really appreciate. Some pools, when you’re swimming and you can’t hear the people, it can sometimes feel a little lonely. So, I appreciate that you can hear the noise… And it’s always fun to have a lot of people I recognize in the crowd.”
Add the support from teammates. “Our team has been cheering on each other a lot which is exciting. Makes the pool environment more fun which I think just makes me go faster,” said Eickhoff.
Eickhoff swims the 200 and 100 free. “I just hope to drop some more time in my 200 free. Hopefully, can get close to my best at sections. I need to take it out faster.”
Hagenson swims the medley relay, 4x100, 200 IM and the 500, “Since swim is an individual but team thing, I think the relays are more like a team driven together.
“I used to be a breast-stroker. I wasn’t originally a flyer. But then I started getting into it more and I liked it a lot more. I do the IM. So, I kind of swim everything. I’ve been swimming for a while. Being able to swim everything is fun,” said Hagenson.
Beverly Deranek shifted to sprints for her senior year. “I have moved away from the mid-distance events and I’ve been focusing more on my sprints lately. I think it’s been pretty fun because since seventh grade, I’ve been more focused on those longer events,” said Deranek.
She is generally competing in the 100 back stroke and 50 free.
Deranek and the other swimmers in this story are captains. “It’s very motivating to show up and give it my best. Knowing that there’s other girls on the team looking up to us captains as a role model,” she said.
Most fun season
Coach Isaiah Fuller – in his 15th year – says this is one of the most fun seasons he has had. “We have shown a lot of improvement throughout the season, and the girls are working hard.”
He says the team is, “Competing well and have had some really nice races in the pool. Our divers are very solid. So, that really helps out the team points… Even this week alone several of our divers have picked up more difficult dives.”
The Huskies are without two-time state meet qualifying diver Kate Karsten, who has been sidelined by foot problems since December. “Very frustrating that this happened my senior year. I get to watch the season with a new light. I’ve stepped into a role as I get to help the girls in a different way,” she said.
“(Diving coach) Kasey (Anderson) has been really great in letting me have this opportunity to also help them out. It’s a lot about positivity and helping the girls be confident with what they are doing,” said Karsten.
Karsten went to state her sophomore and junior years and plans to dive in college.
Getting better in the pool involves dryland workouts too, points out senior Anunda Buttera. “Weights a lot in the morning at the high school. We do them three times a week. They’ve been pretty good. I feel like they get girls to drop a lot of time.”
She swims the 200 medley, 50 and 100 free, and the 4x100, “I’m excited right now because I’m in the season and I get to talk to all these girls and I get to become friends with them. Being a senior opens things up.”
Like her teammates, Buttera wants to cut times and make it to the second day of sections. “We’re really good as teammates. I think we always build each other up. We’re always there for each other. We always support each other. We work together really well.”
Fuller says swimmers need to, “Focus on the little things, tight streamlines, quick starts, getting faster through the wall turns, work on transition kicks.”
There’s still time to support the Huskies with their home pool advantage at Owatonna Middle School on Tuesday, Oct. 20 against Northfield. OHS competes at Tri-City United in Montgomery on Thursday, Oct. 22.
The Big Nine Conference meet is Friday, Oct. 30 at Northfield Middle School and Saturday, Oct. 31 at Rochester Recreation Center. Section 1AA is staged at Century Middle School in Lakeville on Nov. 11-13.
Great, But No Records
It is said, records are made to be broken. That might not be the case regarding Owatonna High School football rushing records. That is because of Jason Williamson.
Senior Kade Hullopeter ran for 297 yards and five touchdowns in Friday’s 42-21 win over Northfield at Federated Field. Neither total is a record. And it’s not even close.
Williamson (Class of 2018) holds those marks with 477 yards against Northfield in 2018 and eight – count them eight – touchdowns against Rochester Mayo the same season.
This doesn’t take away from Hullopeter’s spectacular night. It illustrates the bar set by Williamson that I dare say will never be topped. (I would love to be proven wrong.) He ended his career with 7,009 yards; fourth most in Minnesota high school football history.
Before Williamson’s eight-touchdown night against the Spartans, Sam Hylle held the school record with seven touchdowns against Austin in a 2015 game.
Hullopeter joins an elite list of OHS running backs with five scores in a single game, including Ron Nelson, Brandon Hagen, Nick Gill, Derek Skala, Jesse Ebeling, Collin Wencl, Williamson and Aaron Peterson, who did it twice.
OwatonnaHuskies.com play-by-play
Wednesday, Oct. 14:
OHS football at Rochester Mayo
Tuesday, Oct. 20:
OHS volleyball vs. Northfield
Wednesday, Oct. 21:
OHS football at Apple Valley