Despite being moved up to Division 1 for the 2022-23 postseason, the River Falls boys’ swim and dive team still had five student-athletes qualify for and compete in the state championships in Waukesha on Saturday, Feb. 18.

For River Falls head coach Caitlin Brudzinski, watching her athletes compete on the biggest swimming and diving stage in the state against the best Division 1 programs in Wisconsin capped off what she could only describe as a phenomenal season.

“It was a phenomenal season and everyone had great improvements,” Brudzinski said. “To get moved to Division 1 from Division 2 is a rough thing come postseason and we were still able to send five athletes in six events, which is actually one more event than last year. Our regular season showed great improvement as well.”

River Falls senior swimmer Taylor Matter paced the Wildcats during the state meet on Saturday afternoon. After finishing 23rd in the 200-yard IM and narrowly missing out on breaking his own school record in the event, Matter re-broke his record in the 100-yard Butterfly with a time of 52.55 en route to an 18th-place finish.

Matter was also one of four Wildcats who competed in the 200-yard Freestyle Relay at the state meet. Matter, joined by senior Cooper Cernohous, junior Alton Lesneski and sophomore Daniel Carns finished 21st with a team time of 1:31.55.

For Coach Brudzinski, seeing Matter end his high school swimming career alongside teammates while breaking records on the biggest stage in the sport is a fitting end to one of the best careers in recent program memory.

“Taylor is absolutely one of the best athletes in our recent history,” Brudzinski said. “Breaking two school records and helping two relays get real close, as well as leading the team in scoring definitely makes him one of the top athletes. He only competed the last two years of his high school career, but even his shorter career was a great one.”

Carns wasn’t only in Waukesha as a part of the relay, he also individually qualified in the 50 and 100-yard Freestyle events. Carns finished 18th in the 50-yard with a time of 21.90 and 24th in the 100-yard, as he posted a time of 48.71.

Carns, Matter and the relay group all went to the state championships chasing podium finishes and school record-breaking times. Although Matter was the only Wildcat who set a new record, all of the individuals narrowly missed – some by less than half a second – making school history.

“Daniel was shooting for the 50 and 100yard Freestyle records and while he did come close again, less than a second away in both, he was just a bit short,” Brudzinski said. “Finally, our 200 Freestyle Relay was 0.18 seconds away from the school record. There were some really great performances, just not quite enough.”

River Falls junior Nolan Tody was the lone Wildcat diver that qualified for the state championships in Waukesha. Tody has quickly adapted to the sport, as the 2022-23 season is his first year diving competitively for River Falls.

Based on Tody’s state qualification performance at the Division 1 Sectional in Hudson last weekend, he was seeded 22nd out of 23 qualifiers going into the state championships. Once there, all 23 student-athletes performed a series of dives hoping to make the first round of cuts when the field was trimmed to just 20 competitors.

Tody made the cut and improved his position to 19th place before narrowly missing the second cut to be cemented as one of the top 16 divers in Division 1 competition. Brudzinski spoke about Tody’s performance and the overall diving process at state.

“In Division 1 there are two cuts during the state meet. One after three dives to 20 (competitors) and one after eight dives to the top 16,” Brudzinski said. “Nolan made it through that first cut and improved his placement to 19th, which was awesome. To jump up a couple of spots and make it through the first cut in his first year of diving is awesome. Qualifying for state is a huge accomplishment and the experience that he got competing will be valuable for his senior season next year.”

While Matter will get well-deserved attention as one of many outgoing seniors graduating in May, Nathaniel Fosler and the aforementioned Cernohous are the only two seniors on the roster who competed all four years at River Falls. They join Preston Conrad, Kevin Kolb and Max Goll as the six seniors on the roster.

“This group of seniors has been huge for our team,” Brudzinski said. “Nathaniel joined as a freshman with no competitive swimming background. In the last four years, he’s not only learned all four strokes but also become competitive in them as well. His goal this year was to compete in every single event and he was successful in doing that. He was also voted captain for the last two years. Cooper is our only other senior who competed all four years of high school. They both have been part of the sectional team every year and contributed on a varsity level as well.”

That senior group – in addition to some talented underclassmen – helped make 202223 a successful year. Throughout the season, the Wildcats narrowed the gap between themselves and some of the best programs in the conference and the state.

Compared to the 2021-22 season, River Falls cut its deficit against Eau Claire Memorial in the head-to-head dual in half. River Falls took second at the Cardinal Invite, third at the Tartan Invite and won their division in the Maroon and Gold Invite at the University of Minnesota – all improvements compared to the previous season.

The Wildcats finished third in the Big Rivers Conference for the second consecutive season but finished just 100 points behind Eau Claire Memorial instead of last year’s 300-point deficit. In total River Falls dropped 296 seconds in major events this season. Pick any event throughout the season – the Wildcats improved.

Moving forward, Brudzinksi will look to promising young talent on the roster to fill the inevitable holes left by graduation every May.

River Falls senior Cooper Cernohous competes in his leg of the boys’ 200-yard Freestyle Relay at the Division 1 Sectional in Hudson last week. Cernohous’ efforts helped River Falls qualify for the state championships in Waukesha on Saturday, Feb. 18. Photo by Reagan Hoverman