Breck/Blake juggernaut back for more at boys swimming and diving state meet

Breck and Blake, schools separated by four miles and accustomed to being bitter rivals, form a team this time of year.

It's a nearly unbeatable team.

The Breck/Blake boys swimming program is a heavy favorite to win its seventh consecutive Class 1A swimming and diving state championship Saturday at the Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center on the University of Minnesota campus. The meet begins Thursday, leading to finals Saturday.

"We completed a stellar undefeated dual meet season with victories over St. Thomas Academy, Edina, Eden Prairie, Chaska/Chanhassen and Wayzata," said Breck/Blake co-coach Brian Wright, who is joined by Michelle Carlson at the helm of the program.

St. Thomas Academy is the last team to top Breck/Blake as the Class 1A state champion; the Cadets won five consecutive titles from 2012-16. Edina has won four consecutive Class 2A championships.

"It has been another phenomenal year for our program, and we're enthusiastic about our team's potential heading into preliminaries," Wright said.

Breck/Blake has two defending individual champions in senior Charlie Egeland (200-yard freestyle) and sophomore Henry Webb (100 freestyle). Those two also had significant roles on three relay teams (200 medley and 200 and 400 freestyle), all state champions.

Egeland, who has committed to Yale for college, and Webb each have the state's fastest time in two events, Egeland in the 100 breaststroke and 200 individual medley and Webb in the 100 and 200 freestyle. Breck/Blake also has the state's top time in the 200 medley and 400 freestyle relays.

Three other seniors — Ivars Emerson (committed to Middlebury), Jack Schurtz-Ford (Colgate) and Nam Truong (VMI) — provide leadership while juniors Andrew Colgan, Cayden Liao and Josiah March add depth.

"We are certainly proud of our athletes' individual achievements, but the overall team's success is most important to us," Wright said.

Hutchinson junior Conner Hogan is another defending Class 1A champion, in the 100 butterfly.

In Class 2A, Duluth East senior Grant Wodny (200 and 500 freestyle), Eden Prairie senior Luke Logue (100 backstroke) and Rosemount sophomore Lucas Gerten (diving) return to defend individual championships.

At Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center

Thursday: diving preliminaries (Class 1A noon, Class 2A 6 p.m.)

Friday: swimming preliminaries (Class 1A noon, Class 2A 6 p.m.)

Saturday: swimming and diving finals (Class 1A noon, Class 2A 6 p.m.)