Rochester swimmers put high school rivalries aside as they compete among the state's best

ROCHESTER – It would be easy for Sophie Blixt, Madeline Gau and Julia Ogren to get caught up in an intra-city rivalry. After all, they suit up for three different high schools only minutes apart. The juniors are also considered to be some of Minnesota's individual championship favorites heading into next month's high school state tournament.

But for Blixt, Gau and Ogren, any competition they have with each other is superseded by a tight-knit bond forged by spending countless hours in the same pool during the offseason. The time spent training together has translated into a support system that has propelled the three swimmers to the top of their sport.

"People call us crosstown rivals," Blixt said. "I don't believe in that. We support each other no matter what."

At last year's Class 2A state meet, all three swimmers placed in the top four of their respective categories — with Blixt (Century High School) finishing third in the 100 breaststroke, Gau (Mayo High School) taking fourth in the 100 butterfly and Ogren (John Marshall High School) swimming to third in both the 100 freestyle and 200 freestyle.

As they prepare for this year's meet, all three swimmers are looking to raise the bar. And in a sport where tenths of a second can separate first and second place, they lean on each other for motivation.

"At the root of it, it's looked at as an individual sport but it's really not," Ogren said. "I wouldn't be swimming today if I didn't have such great people to swim with. And having that community pushes you to wake up early in the mornings and show up to eight practices a week, even though sometimes you don't want to."

Blixt, Gau and Ogren are the latest in a long line of college-bound student-athletes who have trained with the Rochester Swim Club, an organization that now boasts more than 300 swimmers from kindergartners to high school seniors.

In the past 15 years, the club estimates that close to 100 swimmers from its ranks have gone on to compete at the college level, with about 20 of them going Division 1, including Ogren's sister, Anna, a senior swimmer at the University of Alabama.

'You cheer for all of Rochester'

So, what's in the water down here? One secret may be a lack of alternatives.

"I know for a lot of people up in the Twin Cities, it's like, 'Oh, I am not having success with this, I am just going to leave,'" Blixt said. "And I think for us, it's so important that we stay with our club the whole time. … You make these relationships that you get to keep for life."

The level of camaraderie formed in club translates into support even when the stakes are the highest. It is not at all uncommon, the three swimmers said, for Rochester athletes who train together in the offseason to sit side-by-side during meets to cheer each other on — even when they are wearing different colors.

"When you get to state, you cheer for all of Rochester," said Blixt, whose Century team is on a 30-meet win streak. "And we kind of have this weird vibe but it's really fun."

After training together December through August, Blixt, Gau and Ogren go their separate ways in the fall once the high school season begins. The time away, they say, only plays toward their advantage.

"It's great because then we get to come back and kind of rehash everything we learned while we were separate," Gau said. "And it brings us even closer."

Tom Walsh, head coach of the Rochester Swim Club, said it's that approach — a willingness to be students of the sport and to put the extra time in — which stands out most about the three.

"To be at the pool at 5:30 in the morning multiple days a week and not seeing the results for three months or six months but knowing it's going to be there down the road is what really makes them special," Walsh said. "Their determination, their grit, their characteristics that define them — they would be successful in anything they did. I am just happy they chose swimming."