West-Memorial rivalry

There's a lot of history when Madison Memorial and Madison West take to the pool, as they did last week in their Big Eight Conference opener. Between the two west-side schools, they have collected 29 state titles. The competitors swim against each other all the time -- in dual meets, conference and sectional meets, and at state. Rivals during the high school season often are teammates during the winter, spring and summer club seasons.

Of late, Memorial has had the edge in the rivalry, and last week was no different, with the Spartans coming out on top in the dual meet, 112-58. Similar to Madison East's win the same night against Middleton, Memorial won 10 of the 11 events against the Regents, with only West's Abby Mundt winning the 100 free. Memorial's usual strengths were on display at the meet, showcasing lots of depth, versatility, and the ability to win races against solid competition.

Since both Memorial and Madison East won the same 10 events on the same night, here's a side-by-side comparison of the winning times from each team:

-- 200 medley relay: East (Chelsea Soderholm, Maddie King, Becca Soderholm, Ivy Martin), 1:52.81; Memorial (Jackie Powell, Kendra Loch, Kelseie Saxe, Mackenzie King), 1:52.25.
-- 200 free: East, Aja Van Hout, 1:52.69; Memorial, Powell, 1:56.10.
-- 200 IM: East, B. Soderholem, 2:12.68; Memorial, Saxe, 2:15.02.
-- 50 free: East, Ruby Martin, 23.75; Memorial, Kayla Smith, 25.01.
-- 100 fly: East, B. Soderholm, 59.95; Memorial, Saxe, 1:00.50.
-- 500 free: East, Van Hout, 4:54.65; Memorial, Dana Johnson, 5:24.81.
-- 200 free relay: East (R. Martin, I. Martin, C. Soderholm, Van Hout), 1:38.35; Memorial (Alissa Endres, Loch, Saxe, Smith), 1:41.49.
-- 100 back: East, R. Martin, 57.83; Memorial, Powell, 1:00.00.
-- 100 breast: East, King, 1:12.25; Memorial, Loch, 1:10.61.
-- 400 free relay: East (R. Martin, B. Sonderholm, C. Soderholm Van Hout) 3:33.63; Memorial (Powell, Endres, Johnson, Smith), 3:42.28.