HUDSON — A school record from Daniel Carns helped him make first team All-Conference at the Big Rivers Conference meet over the weekend, joining Ty Wise and the 200-yard relay team on conference teams to lift River Falls to a fourth-place finish as a team.

The Wildcats got it done both in the pool and on the diving board. Carns has been an unstoppable force all year long for River Falls, and there was no one better over the weekend, breaking his own school record in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 47.63 while also winning the 50-yard freestyle.

“Daniel definitely expected to [win], but you still have to get up and race, which he always does,” River Falls Head Coach Caitlin Brudzinski stated. “He earned the first team honors last year as well and I'm so happy that he was able to go back-to-back in earning those honors.”

Pressures that come with the postseason meets cause some swimmers to not post their best times, but not Carns.

“I'm not sure he feels pressure yet. He loves to get up and compete and will do whatever it takes to get his hand on the wall first,” Brudzinski said. “He won the 100 by over a second, which is a fairly large margin with the athletes he was competing against. He set that record at State last year, fully tapered and rested. The fact that he broke it on Friday, prior to any of that, says a lot for how he's been working throughout the season. Everything is building towards having a successful end of the season and I'm excited to see how it goes.”

Carns was not the only top performer in the pool as Ty Wise made honorable mention All-Conference for his third-place finish in the 50-yard freestyle. Wise also finished fifth in the 100-yard freestyle.

“He has his goal set on qualifying for State in the 50 and this was a great step towards that. He's worked really hard this year and it's great to see it paying off,” Brudzinski stated.

The 200-yard freestyle relay made second team All-Conference, taking second on the day. The relay team is another with high hopes of a State appearance.

“Our 200 Freestyle relay, Ty, Jake Weiss, Joe Hoffman, and Daniel, earned second team All-Conference,” Brudzinski stated. “In a conference like ours with two large, powerhouse teams in Hudson and Eau Claire, the fact that our relay got up, raced, and earned those second team honors is fantastic. That relay also has State aspirations and the 2 seconds they dropped on Friday is a great step towards making that happen.”

The 400 freestyle relay made up of the same four competitors took fourth. Other notable swimming finishes were Weiss taking eighth in the 200-yard freestyle and sixth in the 100-yard backstroke, Joe Hoffman finishing fifth in the 100-yard breaststroke and Andy Hoffman finishing eighth in the 100-yard backstroke.

“Swimmer-wise, they all worked hard. We had a couple out sick for the beginning part of last week. Jake Weiss was one of those and even when he was back at practice, he wasn't quite 100%,” Brudzinski stated. “He was still able to go out and swim season best times in both of his events. Andy Hoffman, who's been working hard figuring out butterfly all year, was able to drop time in both that and the 100 backstroke and Oscar Olle-LaJoie was able to put everything he's been working on towards a 6 second drop in his 100 backstroke. I can't wait to see how they finish the season at Sectionals this coming weekend.”

On the diving board, the Wildcats also had big days. Tristan Patz found the fifth-place spot and Gus Schmitt-Mischke wound up in seventh.

“Our divers did a great job. Tristan had a lifetime best high score and Gus had a season best, with only his last year Sectional score topping what he did on Friday,” Brudzinski stated.

Sectionals take place over the coming weekend in Ashwaubenon where the students will look to punch their ticket to State.