Eden Prairie Boys Swimmers Prepare for Section Finals

On Saturday, Feb. 23, the Eden Prairie High School boys swim team will compete with the best in the Lake Conference at the section 6AA tournament. And after winning the state meet last year, they have confidence behind their races.

The boys will enter the evening seeded first in the 200 yard medley relay, the 200 yard freestyle relay and the 400 yard freestyle relay.

When it comes to the individual events, the races belong to the seniors.

Senior Mike Sofelt will work to run down Edina senior Jackson Lindell in the 200 yard individual medley. Sofelt dropped three seconds from his seed time in his prelim swim on Feb. 21, but Lindell is seeded two seconds ahead of him.

The Eden Prairie Eagles have the 100 yard butterfly stacked with four swimmers in the final heat. Seniors Bryce Boston and Brandt Swanson are seeded first and second. Boston’s prelim time was only a second off the pool record, which he set in 2012. Kyle Harjes and Jenia Foster are seeded fourth and fifth in the heat.

Senior Aaron Greenburg will look to defend his 100 yard freestyle section championship, though he touched the wall second to Minnetonka’s Noah Busch in prelims.

In the longest event of the night, distance swimmer and senior Jonathan Lieberman will race with top seed Erick Huft from Edina. Ninth-grader Spencer Sathre is seeded third behind Lieberman.

Last year, the Eagles won the state meet with 314 points, almost 100 points more than any other team.