The Minnesota High School State Swimming tournament featured two South students this year: seniors Andres Alvarez and Diver David Buennke.

“It felt really great” said Alvarez “I ended the season the way I wanted to.”

But one does not prepare for the swimming tournament the way you might think. One common practice is tapering. “Tapering is where we reduce the intensity of our workouts and our yardage to conserve energy for the (state) meet,” explained Alvarez.

“I slept a lot,” Buenneke agreed,“but i had nerves too. I just had to keep reminding myself that I was ready”

Competition was tough. “Personally I did well, in overall I did pretty bad” confessed Alvarez. “It was liking driving a scooter on a highway”.

Alvarez has gone to state once before, only prevented from going last year by an illness. This was Buenneke’s first time. Buenneke and Alvarez both were thrilled to be there.

“It was huge accomplishment, we felt very successful.” Buenneke said.