A pair of runner-up finishes, some solid diving performances and a top 12 finish in a relay at the State meet capped off a strong season for the boys’ River Falls swimming and diving team over the weekend.

Senior Daniel Carns had been making statements on the road to State. He set the school’s 100-yard freestyle record for the third event in a row at State, finishing in 46.77 seconds for second place. He also took second in the 50-yard freestyle, coming in seeded second in both events. It has been a historic season for Carns, and he finished strong by improving on his State placements of the past.

Ty Wise, Jake Weiss, Joe Hoffman and Carns make up the 200-freestyle relay team that finished 12th on the weekend. Despite Weiss and Hoffman competing at State for the first time, everyone got into the pool and did their job to shave a second of their time from Sectionals.

“They all did a great job, with Jake and Joe having their best swims of the year and the relay as a whole dropped around a second from last week's best time,” Head Coach Caitlin Brudzinski said.

River Falls’ other two competitors came from the diving board, with Gus Schmitt-Mischke finishing 16th with a score of 244.80 and Tristan Patz finishing 14th with a score of 276.15.

“Competing at the state level is no small feat, and I'm proud of both of them for making it and representing our team against the best divers in the state,” Diving Coach Brady Sievers said.

With the events being quick and the travel being lengthy, the mental aspect of competing at State can be just as difficult as the physical. The team had plans in place for this including arriving a day early for the meet.

“The ability to travel down the day before, have dinner as a team on Thursday night and be well rested come Friday was huge,” Brudzinski said. “They leaned in, supported each other and performed well under the pressure of State competition, and the last competition for our seniors. I'm proud of what they were able to accomplish on such a large stage.”

This year’s senior trio has meant a lot to the program both through performances and as leaders.

“Daniel Carns, Ty Wise and Gus Schmitt-Mischke have given four years of amazing competition to this team,” Brudzinski said. “Daniel has been swimming at a high level for a long time and has contributed in many ways both in the pool and on deck. He's grown into a leader, not only as the best athlete on our team, but also as he encourages his teammates to be their best. Ty joined swimming as a freshman because his friend Daniel told him he should. He gave it a try, worked hard, and became one of the top sprinters in the conference as evident by earning All-Conference honors this year. He was always asking, what can I do better, how did that look, and earned his spot at State the last two years. Gus joined the team looking to be a diver in a year when we were struggling to find a diving coach. That meant he had to swim more than he wanted to, but he stuck with it, both diving and swimming, and has made great improvements in both. He was able to qualify for State the last two years, which shows how hard he's been working at his diving and he was always willing to swim a relay if the team needed him to. We are going to miss all three seniors so much next year.”

Sievers had nothing but good things to say about Schmitt-Mischke’s time as a Wildcat.

“Gus, our senior diver, has been a strong leader both in and out of the pool,” Sievers said. “His encouragement, sportsmanship, and work ethic set a great example for his teammates, and he’ll be greatly missed.”

Brudzinski is ready to see how the juniors can step up coming into their senior year next season and hopes the team will also add a few more athletes.

“I'm looking forward to growth,” Brudzinski said. “Hopefully in the numbers of the team, but for sure in the athletes. As we work to recruit others to join, we will look to those returning members of the team to both welcome new ones and lead the way.”

The reason for this year’s success was that no one had an ego. Everyone was willing to compete in whatever event was asked of them on any given day. Of eight individual swimming events, Brudzinski said the majority of the team competed in at least half of them.

“I think the willingness of everyone to do what was needed,” Brudzinski said. “There were several meets where we had athletes swimming events they weren't used to and everyone stepped up and gave it their all.”