Back in the water with a letter for the Decorah boys’ swim team are (front, l-r) Davis Coppola, Max Grimstad, Keaton Vobr, Kyle Pattison, Will Robinson; (back) Oliver Brummel, Landyn Hook, Tommy Hammel, Ian Giddings, Reid Kuehner and Ethan Casper. (Photo courtesy of Tami Bohr)
It will be a senior-laden team for the Decorah swimmers this winter.
With 13 seniors on the squad and nine returning conference scorers, the Vikings look poised to do big things in the water this season.
Leading the squad for his third season is Head Coach Loran Storts.
Gaining experience
The Vikes of 2023-24 had a strong core of swimmers which included five athletes who had state experience. Leading the way were six seniors — Dominic Bigalk, Mason Cote, Dylan Hogan, Isaac Knaack, Simon Kutz and Nathaniel Roberts.
Using their experience to their advantage, the Vikes raced through the regular season posting strong times.
Everything came together in January when Decorah won its sixth straight North Central Swim Conference title.
At the district meet, the Vikings finished fourth in the team standings and had four events punch tickets to the state meet. Knaack was the lone individual qualifier as he earned a spot in the 100-yard backstroke on time. All three relays also qualified on time.
Getting a chance to swim at state in Iowa City, Knaack, Cote, Kutz and Hogan made some noise, breaking the school record in the 200-yard freestyle relay in 1:29.67, good for 16th. The same quartet posted a time of 1:40.88 in the 200-yard medley relay to finish 17th. Bigalk joined Knaack, Cote and Kutz in the 400-freestyle relay that shaved nearly four seconds off their qualifying time. The foursome finished 17th in 3:24.53.
Big numbers
The Decorah squad should be strong again this year, with the large number of senior and/or returning letter winners.
Topping coach Storts’ list of key returnees are Davis Coppola, Tommy Hammel, Reid Kuehner, Ian Giddings, Max Grimstad, Keaton Vobr, Ethan Casper, Will Robinson and Kyle Pattison – all of whom scored points for the Vikes at conference last season.
“Each of these swimmers will only get better and faster this season,” said coach Storts.
While experience will be a key contributor to how successful the Vikes will be this season, so are numbers.
“We have a large team this year with 33 swimmers. We will have to replace some big scorers for last year with team depth this season,” the Viking skipper noted.
Others back for the new season are seniors Oliver Brummel, Aitor Cuevas, Phuong Doan, Dalton Ellickson, Landyn Hook, Andrew Olson, Jack Sovern, Garrett Willie, Grant Zilka; juniors Oliver Bollinger, Ashton Saltou, Eli Sassaman, Mitchell Stemper; and sophomores Spencer Christensen, Esteban Fernandez and Kyan Oftendahl.
New to the team this season are Dane Burns, Weston Cote, Landon Humpal, Oak Pasche, Garrett See, Tyler Shaw, Jordan Snitker, Ethan Swizdor and Gavin Wilkins.
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