He was 7AA's 'Swimmer of the Year,' but for the Anoka team he was much more

By Troy Misko
Sportsweek

This is it -- this weekend, right now -- for Daniel Jacobson's prep swimming career.  

This season represents the final opportunity for Jacobson, a senior at Anoka , to make his mark on the state's high school swimming scene.  

And he's ready.

Now in his sixth season swimming for the Tornadoes, Jacobson planned accordingly for his final hurrah. Last fall he gave up playing football, a sport he enjoyed and played in previous autumns at Anoka , to fully devote himself to training for the swimming and diving season and what he hoped would be a third consecutive trip to the AA boys' state swim meet.

Jacobson's move paid off. Not only did he qualify for the another trip to state with his performances at last weekend's 7AA meet, but he also was named the section's Swimmer of the Year for his efforts.

Jacobson won the 50-yard freestyle (22.13 seconds) and 100-yard butterfly (52.52) and swam the anchor legs of Anoka 's winning 200- and 400-yard freestyle relays to help lift the Tornadoes to the section team title for the third straight year.  

"This was probably the greatest sections [performance] of my career," he said.

Jacobson wasn't expecting to earn the Section 4AA Swimmer of the Year, even after his standout performances.

Not after last year when he witnessed then-teammate Tony Moe have a similarly successful section meet, only to be overlooked for the award.

"Winning the award was kind of a surprise after last year," Jacobson said. "It wouldn't have been a disappointment if I wouldn't have gotten it. It made it extra special definitely, but it wasn't something I was looking to do."

He was, however, looking to show an improvement over last year. It was then, as a junior, that he won the section 200-yard freestyle title, was part of two winning relays at sections and also qualified for state in the 100 butterfly.  

He went on to the state meet, where his best finishes were a 15th-place finish in the 100 butterfly and a 12th-place finish as part of Anoka 's 400 freestyle relay.

Jacobson knew not long after then that he likely wouldn't be satisfied with those kinds of finishes in his final prep season. He decided he would commit himself to swimming in ways he never had previously.
Football was an immediate casualty.

"I played football all the way up until my junior year," he said.  "This year I decided that I would [swim] all fall, go all out to see what I could do in swimming. I really liked football. I really enjoyed it. But I just wasn't going to go anywhere and I didn't think it was worth using up my fall being out of the pool. It was a sacrifice, I guess.

"The whole fall of swimming made a big difference. I would've expected improvement either way, but with the whole extra fall swimming it made a big difference."

It showed at the section meet, where Jacobson's efforts were only the most noticeable of many state-qualifying performances by Anoka athletes.

Other Tornadoes who earned state berths in individual events last weekend were: freshman Nick Hedman (100-yard breaststroke); seventh-grader Matt Hedman (500-yard freestyle); junior Kyle Herold (100-yard backstroke); and senior John Tellgren (diving).  

The team's 200 freestyle relay (junior Matt Pint and seniors Cody Mingo, John Quigley and Jacobson), 400 freestyle relay (Quigley, Mingo, senior Dean Parvi and Jacobson) and 200-yard medley relay (Herold, Nicholas Hedman, Parvi and Pint) also advanced to state.

Anoka 's performances at sections provided something of a reality check for Jacobson, who didn't taper his training for sections, instead opting to ensure he tapered later in order to be in prime condition for the March 4-6 state meet.  

It wasn't so long ago that the Anoka boys' swimming program was mired in a slump.  

Jacobson was just one of several middle school boys recruited to join the high school program.  Many of them stuck with swimming and eventually led the program to the resurgence the Tornadoes have enjoyed for the past three seasons.

"We weren't anything special as middle schoolers," Jacobson recalled. "We were just hoping that by the time we got to be juniors and seniors we could be something."

Now, they're three-time section champions and, for many of them, state tournament qualifiers.  They're also facing the conclusions of their long prep careers. That alone makes this year a bit different, Jacobson said.

"It has definitely been different than last year, but I don't think it has completely soaked in yet that it's going to be over in just a couple of days," he said.  

"The last month pretty much just flew by. I've really enjoyed these last couple of years. They've been pretty special from what we've come from."

Jacobson, who hopes to swim in college but is still undecided on where that might be, wants to enjoy the end of his senior season even more. He aims to make it even more special than it already has been.  If he can achieve his goal of turning in at least one top-eight performance at the state meet, he will have done just that.  

"We've got less than one more week left of just trying to see what I can do to get my best times at state and advance to hopefully the state finals," he said.  

"I really want to make the podium at state [which is a finish in the top eight]; I'm just hoping to make a statement. I'm going to try to move my way up a little bit more..."