For the second straight year, the Burnsville boys swimming team was denied any state spots.
But Mathias Wong came close for the Blaze — really close.
The senior finished sixth in the 100 backstroke in the Section 2AA finals Feb. 25 at the Eden Prairie Community Center with a time of 54.06. He missed the state cut time by a mere 1/100th of a second.
Wong swam a 54.05 in the prelims the day before and was fourth going into the finals. But swimmers who don’t finish in the top two in the individual events need to swim the state cut during the finals.
The winning relays automatically make state, along with the top four divers.
Wong was one of two Blaze individuals to make the finals from the prelims. The top 16 advance.
Wong was also 17th in the 100 freestyle (50.58), while senior Daniel Rojas finished 14th in the 100 butterfly (58.14).
The Blaze’s best relay finish was sixth from the 200 medley team of Wong, Rojas, junior Calvin Chhuoy and senior Ben Edwards.
The 200 freestyle team of seniors Jack Steglich and Harrison Keller, eighth-grader Oliver Dineen and Chhuoy took eighth (1:48.82), as did the 400 freestyle team of Rojas, Edwards, Steglich and Wong (3:31.97).
Ninth-grader Zander Boyko took 10th in diving for Burnsville with 267.30 points.
Other finishes for the Blaze included Edwards in the 200 individual medley (19th, 2:14.26), Rojas in the 50 freestyle (22nd, 24.24), Chhuoy in the 100 breaststroke (21st, 1:12.13) and Keller in the 200 freestyle (29th, 1:46.28).
Burnsville was eighth in the team standings with 92 points.
Minnetonka won the title (488), followed by Eden Prairie (412), Prior Lake (383), Chaska-Chanhassen (276), Waconia (183), Shakopee (152) and Bloomington Jefferson (95).
The Class AA state meet ends March 5 with the finals at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center.
In 2021, Burnsville had a diver competing. The Blaze have not had a swimmer or a relay there since 2017.
