BRAINERD — With many of its past stars competing for the St. Cloud State University Huskies, the Brainerd Warriors will look to reload with a youth movement.
The Warriors are coming off a first-place Central Lakes Conference finish, a first-place Section 8-2A finish and a 16th-place finish in the Class 2A State Meet.
Only two swimmers return from state. They include senior Sam McCulley and junior Nathan Chaussee.
McCulley is one of six seniors on the Warriors roster, but was the anchor of the Warriors 200-yard medley relay that placed 10th at state with a 1:37.59. The relay was also section and conference champions.
McCulley was also part of Brainerd’s 200 freestyle relay
that placed 18th in the state prelims with a 1:29.9.
Individually, he was 11th in the 50 freestyle and eighth in the 100 freestyle at the section meet. He finished in those same spots for the conference meet.
Kelly Humphrey / Brainerd Dispatch
“We don’t have a lot of state experience coming back, which is different than past years,” Warrior head coach John Zemke said. “We have older kids who are experienced, but they maybe don’t have the experience of swimming at sections and state. It’s definitely a different team than we’ve had in different years, but it’s a team that has impressed us with work ethic and hustle and everything else. We’re looking pretty good.
“Sam was on a state relay for us last year. He’s one of two guys that swam at state. Sam had a tremendous summer and is a lot stronger. He spent a lot of time in the weight room. Sam is going to be counted on. He’s shown a lot of leadership in practice and we’re going to need him to step from where he swam last year, which was good, but we need to get to that next level and he’s looked good in practice.”
Other seniors include Spencer Porter, who finished 16th in the 200 individual medley at sections and 14th in the butterfly.
“He ended up having some very good times, but we’re leaning toward the 100 and 50 free with him and a couple of relays,” Zemke said. “We’re excited to see what he can do come section time.”
Atreyu Marcelo was another sprinter
who placed 18th in the 50 free and 12th in the 100 breaststroke at sections.
“Atreyu really kind of came out of nowhere at the section meet in the breaststroke,” Zemke said. “He wasn’t even seeded in the top 16 going into the meet, but placed 12th. He’s much stronger so we’re looking at him to definitely swim that breaststroke, but also the 50 free because he showed some speed last year.”
Brenden Brichacek placed 10th in the butterfly at last year’s section meet and also scored a sixth-place breaststroke in 1:09.08.
“Branden is a guy we can run in the fly and he also swims the breaststroke for us,” Zemke said. “His fly looks pretty solid right now. He’s there, Spencer is there. We have two other guys in there so we might need to move one of those guys into a different event if we have to plug some holes, but the fly looks pretty solid for us.”
Andrew Adamson and Jory Jackson round out the seniors.
“Andrew didn’t swim at sections last year, but he’s a lot bigger kid and his backstroke has looked really good,” Zemke said. “We’ve been working on some tempo stuff with him trying to get him to speed up his stroke speed. He’s looked very good so we’re going to have to count on him to score varsity points and do well at sections.
“Jory was in the water all summer. He swam all fall, too. We’re really working on his freestyle stroke and trying to lengthen that thing out. When swimmers get tired they tend to shorten up their stroke and we’re stressing to him to lengthen out his stroke because then you can catch more water.”
Chaussee highlights the returning juniors
as he led off Brainerd’s 200 medley relay at state. He finished ninth in last year’s section butterfly and just missed advancing to state individually in the backstroke. Chaussee swam a third-place 58.02.
“He spent a lot of time in the weight room and he swam this summer and it was one of the first summers we saw him consistently, which was great,” Zemke said. “He was in the pool every day and spent a lot of time in the weight room so we’re looking for big things out of Nathan. So far he’s looked great.”
Leading the returning divers are juniors David Herath, Sebastian Tisdell and Nash Gabrielson. All three dove in last year’s section meet behind the graduated Wyatt Gabrielson, who advanced to state.
Nash Gabrielson placed ninth with 324.75 points followed by Herath in 13th place and Tisdell in 14th. Of the divers ahead of Nash Gabrielson, five were seniors. Craig Coonen is another junior and another diver
“All our divers are juniors this year,” Zemke said. “They spent a lot of time on the diving board this summer. Anytime you’re able to spend time in the offseason on what you need to do it’s always a good thing. I’m sure (diving coach Owen) Trout will have them ready to go by Thursday.”
Kelly Humphrey / Brainerd Dispatch
Kyler Carlson and Payton Haglin are two junior swimmers who return. Carlson placed ninth in the individual medley at sections and was 11th in the breaststroke.
Haglin was 19th in the backstroke at sections
“Kyler was a finalist from last year in the breaststroke and IM,” Zemke said. “Payton can swim the fly and backstroke and probably look for him to be one of our four flyers and also the backstroke.”
Sophomore Logan Kuepers returns and will man the distance events again. He placed 10th in the 200 freestyle and eighth in the 500 freestyle at sections. Twin brother Alex Kuepers placed 11th in the backstroke, which was one spot ahead of fellow sophomore Weston Thiesse who was 12th in the event. Thiesse was also 17th in the 100 free at sections.
“We’re looking for big things out of Logan,” Zemke said. “He just about broke five minutes last year. Hopefully, he can get under five minutes and make the qualifying time. One of the difficult things we have in our section this year is we have nine teams. Bringing in a team like Sauk Rapids, who was top five in Class 1A last year, is difficult. They have a very good 500 swimmer so we’re bringing that person into the mix, but Logan is going to lead our 200 and 500 crew.
“Alex is a backstroker and freestyler. Our Fly and backstroke have really nice crews, which is a good problem to have. Alex is a taller kid and is stronger this year. We’ll need him to step up.
“Weston was a backstroker and we swam him in the 100 free, He’s been very consistent for us and he’s a smart, smart kid. He’s going to bring it this year for our team and his backstroke is looking good in practice.”
As an eighth-grader, Drew Haglin finished eighth in the butterfly and was 13th in the individual medley. Fellow freshman Brooks Brichacek placed 14th in the 200 freestyle and 15th in the 500 free in the section meet
“Drew is part of that fly group and he’s going to be one of the top guys there,” Zemke said. “Brooks is just a freshman, but he’s a tall, tall young man. He’s got to be 6-foot-4. He put on some weight, too. He’s not just tall, but he’s heavier, too, so that should bode well for him.”
JEREMY MILLSOP may be reached at 218-855-5856 or jeremy.millsop@brainerddispatch.com. Follow on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jeremymillsop.
Head coach: John Zemke, 27th as head coach, 32nd season (assistant at St. Cloud Tech)
Career record: 176-25-1 (.871)
2022-23 record: CLC 7-0, overall 8-0,
1st in CLC
, 1st in Section 8-2A, 16th in Class 2A State meet
Returning state meet participants: Nathan Chaussee, Sam McCulley
Captains:
Assistant coaches: Carl Schirmer, Owen Trout (diving), Josh McKeag
Seniors: Sam McCulley, Spencer Porter, Andrew Adamson, Jory Jackson, Atreyu Marcelo, Brenden Brichacek
Juniors: Nathan Chaussee, Sebastian Tisdell, Craig Coonen, David Herath, Nash Gabrielson, Kyler Carlson, Payton Haglin
Sophomores: Logan Kuepers, Alex Kuepers, Weston Thiesse
Freshmen: Drew Haglin, Henry McCulley, Brooks Brichacek, Grady Sumption, Tristan Raimann, Carter Dickes
Thursday, Dec. 7, hosts Bemidji, 6 p.m.
Dec. 14, hosts Sauk Rapids, 6 p.m.
Dec. 19, at Sartell, 6 p.m.
Dec. 28, hosts Brainerd Invite, 10 a.m.
Jan. 4, hosts St. Cloud Tech/Rocori, 6 p.m.
Jan. 11, at St. Cloud Apollo, 6 p.m.
Jan. 13, Section 8-2A True Team at Brainerd, 9 a.m.
Jan. 18, hosts Fergus Falls, 6 p.m.
Jan. 26, at Willmar, 6 p.m.
Feb. 1, at Alexandria, 6 p.m.
Feb. 10, Central Lakes Conference Championship at Brainerd, 10 a.m.
Feb. 23, Section 8-2A prelims at Brainerd, 4 p.m.
Feb. 24, Section 8-2A finals at Brainerd, 9 a.m.
