By Reagan Hoverman with information from Caitlin Brudzinski

On Thursday, Jan. 27, the River Falls boys swim and dive team finished its dual meet portion of the schedule with a 104-65 victory against Chippewa Falls. The Wildcats now begin preparation for the Big Rivers Conference meet on Saturday, Feb. 5, in Superior.

It was a high-quality showing for River Falls in all aspects of the team. According to head coach Caitlin Brudzinski, the Wildcats won eight of the 11 total events, including both 200 relay events.

“It was a good meet for us in the way of our races,” Brudzinski said. “Our guys were in the middle of a very difficult week of practice and yet still worked hard to win some close races.”

Some of the highlights for River Falls include Alton Lesneski winning the 200 Free and the 100 Backstroke events. It was a photo finish for Lesneski in the 200 Free, as he won the event by less than one second. Taylor Matter also had two victories, including the 200 IM and the 100 Fly. Daniel Carns won the 100 Free and Darin Derks won the 500 Free.

While victories occurred throughout the evening of swim and dive, perhaps the most impressive was the 100 Backstroke event. The Wildcats’ swimmers finished 1-2-3 with Nathaniel Fosler and Preston Conrad joining Lesneski in the top placements for the event.

The win propelled River Falls to a 4-2 record in Big Rivers Conference duals for the season, as well as an overall record in dual meets of 5-3. Moving forward, Brudzinski, the rest of the coaching staff and the athletes will prepare for the Big Rivers Conference meet on Saturday, Feb. 5 in Superior.