Dragswiek and Wharton compete at YMCA North Sections

On February 1 two local youth from the YMCA Northern swim team participated in the Northern Sectional swim meet hosted in Grand Rapids. Over 300 swimmers, ages 5 to 18, came together from Duluth, Superior, Grand Rapids, Brainerd, and Cook County to compete one last time in the hopes to advance to the Minnesota YMCA State Swim Meet.

When competing at the Sectional meet, the top three swimmers or relays in each race advance to the State meet at the University of Minnesota. Jake Dragswiek, age 8, and Mary June Wharton, age 12, represented Cook County. They had great swims and almost made the cut but came up short. The Minnesota State Swim League is made up of four sections. The fastest three swimmers in each race in each section advance to the state meet and then there are four “wild card” spots for the next four fastest kids from across the state.

Jack Dragswiek participated in the 25-yard freestyle. He scored 6th place with a time of 20.64. He also participated in the 25-yard backstroke and 50-yard freestyle.

Mary June swam the 50-yard freestyle, 50-yard backstroke (her specialty) and the 100-yard individual medley. She was part of a 200-yard freestyle relay team that placed 6th overall.

The Northern section, which includes defending state champions, Brainerd, is a fast section. Sometimes the 4th, 5th, 6th, and even 7th place swimmers advance. The coaches are eagerly waiting for the wild cards to be announced to see if either of the swimmers advanced on. The season will officially wrap up on February 13. “We are so proud of all of our swimmers,” says Executive Director Emily Marshall. “We had a really new and young team this year and they were just starting to get a feel for competitive swim meets. It’s our goal to have more home meets and send at least half our team to the sectional meet next year and hope to bring a crew to State.”

The Cook County YMCA 13-14 year old boys were state champions a few years back and the coaches are looking forward to building the next generation of champions both in and out of the pool.