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Six River Falls High School boys swimmers competed in the 2021-22 WIAA Boys Division 2 State Meet at the Waukesha South High School on Friday, Feb. 18, and had athletes finish in places varying from fifth to 18th in the events.

According to River Falls boys swim and dive head coach Caitlin Brudzinski, the times that the River Falls swimmers posted at state included both personal-best, season- best scores and also one school record that they broke.

The Wildcats had six swimmers compete in a variety of events that included two relays and three individual events. Taylor Matter earned an eighth-place finish in the 200 Individual Medley (IM) and fifth in the 100 Butterfly with times of 2:04.44 and 53.29 respectively.

The 100 Butterfly was perhaps the most competitive of the entire event. Although it was a fifth-place finish for Matter, his time broke the school record, a time which he had set the previous week at the sectional tournament in Menomonie on Saturday, Feb. 12. The 100 Butterfly field was so competitive that the eventual champion, Adrian Bellido, a junior from Brookfield Academy, set the new state record with a time of 49.22 seconds.

As for the 200 Yard Medley Relay, River Falls posted an unofficial time of 1:43.48, a medley group that consisted of Alton Lesneski, Kai Hagen, Matter and Carns. It was the first of two medleys that the Wildcats competed in on Friday night.

River Falls freshman Daniel Carns posted a time of 1:03.33 in the 100 Yard Breaststroke, which gave him a 12th place finish out of 16 total swimmers in the event. As for the two relay events, which consisted of Matter, Carns, and the two River Falls seniors, Leo Griffey- Byram and Darin Derks, the relay competed in the 400 Freestyle and placed 16th en route to posting a season-best time of 3:34.42.

While competing on the biggest high school swimming stage in the state, the two aforementioned seniors, Griffey- Byram and Derks, posted their season-best times for their respective leg of the relay.

“It was a great experience and the best way for them to end their high school career,” coach Brudzinski said of the two senior swimmers. As a team, River Falls placed 18th out of 28 total teams at the state swim and dive meet on Friday night in Waukesha.

River Falls junior swimmer Taylor Matter stands on the podium in the fifth-place position after finishing fifth in the 100 Butterfly event at the state swim and dive meet in Waukesha on Friday, Feb. 18.__________________________ __________