Area youth swimmers with the High Tides Swim Club had success in the pool this winter, winning the Class A short course state championship March 7-10 at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center. It’s the swim club’s first title since 2014.

“I think it’s pretty cool,” head coach Tim Hroma said. “Almost every single swimmer contributed points to the program. Everybody pulled their weight. Everyone did an awesome job.”

The youth club team, which consists of boys and girls, had contributors from areas including Hutchinson, Litchfield, Glencoe and Mankato.

The High Tides had 19 individual qualifiers and 31 total swimmers for the state meet after a strong showing at the Chaska regional meet where they won that title as well.

“It’s almost more important to do well at regionals because that’s where kids qualify for the state meet,” Hroma said. “We had an amazing performance there too.”

Getting so many qualifiers to the U of M was a primary contributing factor to the club’s success, according to Hroma. With more qualifiers came more opportunities to score points, and the swimmers delivered.

“The last couple years, we’ve always had a really good top class of athletes. We had a lot of kids on the podium and things like that. That’s how we scored points,” Hroma said. “This year it was a little bit different. We had a lot of top-eight finishes, but we also had a ton of top-16 finishes from places that we don’t typically have.”

Seventeen of the 19 individual qualifiers placed 16th or higher to score points for the High Tides. They also qualified 19 relay teams and earned 15 medals for top-eight finishes.

Hailey Farrell was the team’s lone state champion, winning the 13-14 girls 200 individual medley title. She also earned top-five finishes in the 200 free, 500 free, 1000 free, 400 IM and 200 backstroke. Grace Hanson earned a pair of second-place finishes in the 50 free and 100 free in the girls 15 and over division.

Other top-eight finishers included Kasidy Brecht, Conner Hogan, Carter Johnson, Olivia Leonard, Jaiden Mezera, Clayton Moore, Graham O’Neill, Noah Tague, Madison Witte and Riley Yerks.

Hroma said that the swimmers combined to score more than 700 points, nearly doubling the second-place team’s point total. The fifth-year head coach said he sees a lot of potential in the team and hopes to replicate this year’s success in the future.

After taking a few weeks off to rest, swimmers are back to work preparing for the long course season. When the state championship commences for that season at the end of July, Hroma hopes to hang another flag in the pool rafters.

“I would like to continue, and in a way, start a legacy,” Hroma said. “I think that our program is a staple and starting to become more of a household name. I think that the next few years we’re going to compete to be the A state champions.”