Sean Dwyer led the way for the Prior Lake boys swimming team in the Section 2AA pool.

The senior won two events, the 200 and 500 freestyle, and was part of two relays that qualified for state in the finals Feb. 22 at Pioneer Ridge Middle School in Chaska. The Lakers finished fifth in the team standings with 222 points.

Four ranked teams finished ahead of them — No. 2 Minnetonka (473), No. 6 Chaska/Chanhassen (401), No. 5 Eden Prairie (372) and No. 8 Shakopee (291). Bloomington Jefferson ended up sixth (181), followed by Bloomington Kennedy (86) and Burnsville (54).

The Class AA state meet starts Feb. 28 with the diving prelims at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center at 6 p.m. Senior Erik Thompson will be making his second appearance for Prior Lake after taking seventh last year.

The swimming prelims are March 1, while the finals, including diving, are March 2 at the Aquatic Center. The final two days also start at 6 p.m.

Dwyer is the defending state champion in the 500 freestyle and was runner-up in the 200 freestyle last year. He and Thompson were the only Lakers to qualify for state in an individual event.

Dwyer, juniors Owen Mattila and Jaden Chant and sophomore Tyler Buss qualified in the 400 freestyle relay, while Dwyer, Chant, Mattila and sophomore Gunnar Anderson made it in the 200 freestyle relay.

Dwyer won the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:40.13, which as less than two seconds off his school record (1:38.42). He also owns the school mark in the 500 freestyle (4:29.75), swimming a 4:38.17 to win sections.

The Lakers 200 freestyle relay team ended up fourth with a time of 1:29.06, qualifying for state by standard. The state cut is 1:30.03. The 400 freestyle team was also fourth (3:14.30), but was more than seconds better than the state cut (3:16.96).

Thompson ended up a 393.65 points in diving, which was roughly 21 points back of the winning score by Sam Wallace of Bloomington Jefferson (414.60). Thompson scored a 365.80 at state last year.

Buss nearly made the state field in the 100 breaststroke. He finished with a time of 1:00.65, which was .59 off the state cut. Buss was also seventh in the 200 individual medley (2:02.93).

Dwyer and Buss were the Lakers to make the finals (top eight) coming out of the section prelims the day before. The Lakers had multiple consolation swims (top 16).

Those finishes included: Mattila in the 200 freestyle (12th, 1:49.18) and the 100 freestyle (12th, 49.48), sophomore Connor Thayer in the 200 freesyle (16th, 1:51.34) and the 500 freestyle (14th, 5:00.95), sophomore Nicholas Archambault in the 200 individual medley (13th, 2:08.64) and the 100 backstroke (16th, 59.09), Chant in the 50 freestyle (14th, 22.86) and the 500 freestyle (11th, 4:56.49), Anderson in the 500 freestyle (16th, 23.46) and the 100 freestyle (15th, 51.38), sophomore, Jackson Mishuk in the 100 butterfly (12th, 56.65), sophomore Nathaniel Hawkins in the 100 butterfly (14th, 57.17), senior Bryce Beske in the 500 freestyle (16th, 5:16.08) and senior Trey Hirt in the 100 breaststroke (12th, 1:05.87).

In diving, eighth-grader Blake Wallen was 13th for the Lakers (263.25), while sophomore Ryan Hieptas took 14th (252.95) and junior James Haas ended up 15th (249.90).

Prior Lake's 200 medley relay team of Hawkins, Buss, Mishuk and Hirt finished sixth (1:44.02).