St. Cloud Apollo Joins Tech’s Co-Op Swim Team to Boost Numbers and Competitiveness

(KNSI) – St. Cloud Apollo will join Tech High School’s co-op boys’ swimming and diving team under the Crush name, the school board approved Wednesday night.

The merger addresses declining participation, with each school having fewer than ten swimmers returning for the 2025-26 season. Tech already operates a cooperative program with Becker, Cathedral High School, and Rocori, and all three schools have agreed to continue with the expanded partnership.

Apollo Athletic Director Karl Heine told the board that larger numbers are essential for competitive success against other programs. “You go into a lot of duels. You’re traveling to Fergus Falls, Brainerd, to even Sartell, and it’s challenging to compete in any of those duels,” Heine said. “We’re winning some individual heats, but not necessarily those big-time duels.”

The schools now face several implementation steps. They need to fill the head coaching position and complete the remainder of the coaching staff. Heine also outlined plans to use area pools strategically and develop a stronger feeder system. “Then we bring our competition schedule together, our practice facilities, and kind of balancing the two facilities between Apollo and Tech, and then, again, the development of that middle level spring program, swim program, will give us the opportunity to say, hey, now we can see real feeder numbers,” Heine explained.

This approach would reduce the program’s reliance on community education swim lessons and other external development programs to build their team roster.

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