Coming off the most successful swimming and diving season since winning back-to-back Class A state titles in 2003 and 2004, the Hutchinson Tigersharks have set their sights on higher goals.

Their expectations read like a checklist:
* Go undefeated in duels
* Win the conference meet
* Win the section meet
* Place in the top four at the state meet

“Our goals are set a lot higher this year. Going into last season, we were looking at winning the section title with Fergus Falls out of there. This year, we have the same goal. We want to repeat. But we also have new goals,” Tigersharks coach Rory Fairbanks said.

Repeating the success
Outside of the two state title seasons, last year may have gone down as the most successful season in the program.

The Tigersharks swept through conference duels with a 6-0 record — the first time a team coached by Fairbanks had done so.

That was just a start.

Hutchinson went on to win the Section 3A True Team Section Meet over Willmar and Marshall and the following weekend placed fifth at the True Team State Meet.

Three weeks later, Hutchinson captured the Section 3A title in the Willmar pool, qualifying at least one swimmer and one relay in each of the 11 events.

The team finished the incredible run with a seventh-place finish at state — the highest finish since 2005.
With only two swimmers gone from last year’s section team, Fairbanks hopes to top that performance this season at state.

“We’re looking at being top four in state, which we think is a realistic goal,” he said. “When you crack into the top four, you’re talking about being one place away from bringing home some hardware. We’d like to be in that top three, but it will be tough.”

Three-time defending champion Visitation returns its top two swimmers in Meghan Weiss (senior) and Olivia McNeely (freshman) as well as three swimmers that placed at state in multiple events.

Monticello, which placed a surprising third place, didn’t lose a single swimmer that placed at state. The Magic are led by freshman Caley Oquist, who finished third in the 200 individual medley and fourth in the 100-yard breaststroke.

Fergus Falls, a former Section 2A rival of Hutchinson, placed fourth at state a season ago, and also returns a lineup that is completely intact. Senior Kara Fisher (200 IM, 100 back) and sophomore Heidi Busack (50 free, 100 free) lead the Otters in the pool.

Other schools to watch are Hill-Murray (Heather and Stephanie Crandall), Breck School (Chandra Yueh and Taylor Foster) and Sartell-St. Stephen (Marissa Wood).

To read more about the Tigersharks, make sure to pick up a copy of the 12-page sports section in Thursday's print edition.

The Tigersharks host Northfield in the conference opener at 6 p.m. tonight.

Eric Kraushar is the sports editor at the Hutchinson Leader. He can be reached at sports@hutchinsonleader.com [2].