Warriors Athlete of Week: Swimmer will miss being a Warrior when he's done

On the other hand, if he does decide to swim in college, that collegiate program will be landing one talented individual.

Whatever the senior decides to do next year, he will miss a Warrior program of which he's been a member for six seasons. During that time he's participated in six events at the Class 2A state swim meet.

"It's been a blast," Owen said. "I've learned so much from past swimmers. And I keep learning from the ones up and coming. It seems like every day in practice we come across a new and better way to swim freestyle. I'm going to miss swimming with my teammates."

The Warriors will also miss him. Entering the Thursday, Jan. 11, meet at St. Cloud Tech, Owen leads the team in points scored (155.5) and in individual event (10) and relay (10) victories.

He's coming off a productive weekend at the Fargo South Invitational, where he won the 100-yard backstroke, 100 freestyle, was on the first-place 200 free relay and on the runner-up 200 medley relay. Brainerd won the 13-team invite by 65.5 points.

At Fargo South, Owen and his 200 medley relay teammates Michael Bylander, Gunnar Niemeyer and Griffin Blegen led off the meet with a runner-up finish. Bismarck Century clocked a 1:42.37 followed by Brainerd's 1:42.49.

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Preston Owen

• Sport: Swimming
• Events: 100 backstroke, 100 freestyle, 200 medley relay, 200 free relay
• Year: Senior
• Age: 18
• Height: 6-foot
• Career highlight: Breaking 100 backstroke school record last year at Section 8-2A meet
• Grade-point average: 3.8
• Favorite class: Jazz band
• Favorite food: Anything edible
• Favorite movies: "Star Wars" and "The Ghost and Mr. Chicken"
• Favorite TV show: "Friends"
• Hobbies: Playing piano and saxophone
• Favorite swimmers: His Warrior teammates
• Future plans: Attend college, major in film and music, possibly swim
• Parents: Mike and Bev Owen

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"We were really close with the other team the entire time," Owen said. "We got out-touched by less than half a second. It was an exciting race the whole time."

In the 100 free, Owen and Payton Gabel of Fargo North tied for first with identical 50.22 times.

"I was seeded second with a mid-49," Owen said. "The guy seeded first was a low-49. Seeing us touch the wall at the same exact time was pretty fun because we were keeping up with each other the entire race. Then we just stuck with it at the end."

One event before his backstroke victory, Owen, Bylander, Niemeyer and Blegen touched the wall first in the 200 free relay.

"After I got done, we had quite a bit of a lead," Owen said. "I don't think the other relays had quite as fast of freestylers as Brainerd does. We started out with the lead and ended with the lead. We posted some pretty fast times on that one."

Owen paced the backstroke with a time of 56.21, nipping top-seeded Zack Bueling of West Fargo Sheyenne by eight-hundredths of a second.

"From the beginning of it, I was in third place, up until the last flip turn," Owen said. "Once I pushed off the wall, I kicked it into gear and out-touched the guy next to me. I was pretty happy with that."

Brainerd head coach John Zemke said Owen hasn't swam the backstroke often this season since it's the event right after the 200 medley relay.

"He's only swam it a couple times because he hasn't had enough rest," Zemke said. "The Fargo South meet had a lot of participants and he had a lot of rest. His time was equal to any he did during the season, not counting section and state. It was a great swim.

"It was a great surprise. He was behind the whole race. The last 10 yards he pulled ahead. He had a good finish."

Zemke said Owen's career success is a combination of talent and technique.

"Obviously it's talent first," Zemke said, "but he's got excellent technique. He's such a great kid. He works hard. He thanks the coaches when he leaves practice every day no matter what practice was like. He's an all-around great kid.

"He's got a lot of talent but along with that talent he works very hard. Those two things have carried him through his career and certainly this year as well."

Owen usually leads off both relays he swims.

"We have him lead off because he usually gets us off to a little bit of a lead," Zemke said. "That helps the rest of the relay, gets them excited. In the 200 free relay, depending on if he's in the backstroke or not, we have him lead off. He's one of the fastest freestylers on the team."

Owen credits Cahil Collins, who formerly worked with the Brainerd YMCA swimming program, for helping him find a niche in the backstroke.

"My mom always likes to tell the story that coach Zemke was walking through the pool one day when I was doing swimming lessons," Owen said. "Cahil looked at him and said, 'This is your next backstroker.' It fell in line from there and here I am.

"The 100 free, that one surprised everyone because I used to swim the IM. That seemed to be kind of my thing. It was in eighth grade when I broke the middle school record. That was the domino that made 100 free my second event."

Other notable efforts:

• Jake Heikkenen, floor hockey, compiled 15 points as Warriors completed three-game season-opening sweep at Rochester.

• Gunnar Niemeyer, swimming, won two events and was on a winning relay vs. Alexandria.

• Nicole Schulz, girls hockey, made 12 saves in a shutout vs. River Lakes.

• Cody Vleck, floor hockey, scored a hat trick vs Rochester Century

• Lexi Roby, girls basketball, scored 21 points vs. Zimmerman.

• Chad Orsburn, Denny Busby, Kyle Patnode, Brad Patnode and Max Boran, wrestling, each won five of six matches in the two-day Rick Lee Invitational at Bemidji.