Winona High athletes compete at state swimming meet

Winona High athletes compete at state swimming meet

The Winona Swim Club attended the Minnesota Long Course State Meet this past weekend at the University of Minnesota.

Five current or former Winona Senior High School athletes attended: Griffin Wolner, Grant Wolner, Jack Herczeg, Alex Jorgenson and Tara Ziegeweid. As a team, Winona took 11th out of 31 scoring teams and won the Class A division for the first time in team history.

“What an incredible weekend,’ said Chris Mayer, who coaches the high school swim team. “I am very proud of our athletes and can’t wait to see them back in the pool, re-setting their goals, and working harder while striving for more.”

All of the teams that finished ahead of the Winona club are Class AAA, and anywhere from four to 10 times larger.

“This is an enormous accomplishment for our athletes,” Mayer said.

Grant Wolner placed fourth in the 100 breaststroke and achieved a Junior National cut with a time of 1:05.70. Achieving a Junior National cut puts Grant in roughly the top 2 percent of athletes nationwide for the event. 

His next step, according to Meyer, is hopefully an Olympic Trials cut, which is less than 2 seconds away. 

Grant Wolner also placed fifth in his 200 individual medley, 20th in the 200 breaststroke, 12th in the 100 butterfly and 21st in the 50 freestyle.
His brother, Griffin Wolner, placed eighth in the 100 freestyle, fourth in the 200 freestyle, 30th in the 100 butterfly, 35th in the 50 freestyle and fourth in the 200 butterfly. 

Herczeg, who recently received All-American status for a time he posted during the high school season, was third in the 100 freestyle, seventh in the 200 freestyle, fifth in the 50 freestyle. 

Jorgenson placed 28th in the 100 freestyle and 42nd in the 50 freestyle. 

Ziegeweid placed 34th in the mile swim.

The Wolners teamed up with Jorgenson and Herczeg to place 13th in the 200 medley relay, fifth in the 200 freestyle relay and third in the 400 freestyle relay.