Faribault’s Sadergaski State Champion in Two Swim Events

Senior Paul Sadergaski capped off his stellar career in the Faribault High School swimming program with two state championships Saturday at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center.

All of the Falcon swimmers came home with some hardware. The Falcon team placed ninth with just four swimmers competing and no divers in the competition.

Sadergaski repeated as the 100 butterfly titlist and won the 50 free where he placed fifth last year, so he is All-State in those events.

His time in the butterfly was 49.45 (the only Class A swimmer to break 50 seconds) and he wasn't too far from a state record (49.35). The national record is 45.52. The senior swam the 50 free in 21 seconds flat. The state record is 20.61 and the national record 19.43.

The Falcon 200 medley relay placed 10th, which garners them Honorable Mention All-State status. Orono set a new state record in the event of 1:34.09, eclipsing the previous St. Thomas Academy record from 2015. Faribault members of the 200 medley relay are junior Carter Howell, junior Adam Rechtzigel, senior Paul Sadergaski and junior Derek Bokelman. Those same guys were in the 200 free relay and placed ninth for Honorable Mention All-State accolades.

Rechtzigel also picked up All-State Honorable Mention in the 50 free by finishing ninth and the 100 breaststroke where he placed 11th.

The Big Nine Conference had seven teams finish in the top 20 in the Class A competition.

In addition to Faribault's ninth-place finish, Winona and Mankato West tied for fifth, Mankato East was eighth, Red Wing 13th, Northfield 16th and Austin 17th.

Northfield diver Jack Cuddy went into Saturday's finals in first place and finished second by a very slim margin. Cuddy was bested by Ebenezer Ojo, a senior from Simley with a point total of 436.45. The Northfield senior tallied 431.70.

Freshman Riley Norton of Austin was ninth.

Northfield earned Honorable Mention All-State in the 400 relay, finishing 12th. Members of the relay are sophomores Andrew Becker and Josh Beumer and seniors Haakon Larsen and Erik Lundstrom. The same guys swam to a 13th place and All-State Honorable Mention in the 200 free relay.

Erik Lundstrom finished 14th in the 500 free and sophomore Ethan Schaffer was 15th in the 200 IM for Honorable Mention All-State honors.