We just returned from the ND High School Boys Swim Meet out in Mandan, ND. Wow, what a crazy couple of days. The State Meet is full of formality and tradition. Mandan does a great job with the production including the parade of athletes complete with disco and spot lights, very cool. Friday is the preliminary heats based on qualification times throughout the season. In short, Friday is setting the stage for the finals on Saturday.

On Saturday there are two heats of each event - 16 of the top times from the Friday preliminaries. Matt's goal was to make it to Saturday which he did in both events the 200 and 500 Freestyle so he was happy. I admire all of the swimmers and how much effort it takes to get to this stage.

Matt finished 14th overall in the 200 free and 9th in the 500 free. He also swam on the 400 freestyle relay in which Fargo North finished 8th. As a team, Fargo North finished 4th behind Minot, West Fargo and Mandan but was in front of a great rival Fargo South.

Ben did not qualify for state this season but improved greatly towards the end of the season and came very close at the EDC regional tournament last weekend. Ben has lots of time and will shoot for the big show next year.