D2--Midway through the season

While D1 looks like a three-way race for the state title, D2 looks like a logjam. DeForest and Baraboo have been impressive in winning some invitationals (DeForest -- Fond du Lac, Baraboo its own invitational), while Shorewood, Whitefish Bay and Whitnall have all looked solid coming out of the Milwaukee suburbs (all three schools have swimmers who are likely contenders for state titles -- Shorewood's duo of Clare Chamberlain and Elli Sellinger, Whitefish Bay's Maggie Smith, and Whitnall's Liz Boshop). Meanwhile, Sturgeon Bay/Sevastopol has been putting up some solid performances, including the highest finish of any D2 team at the D1-heavy Wisconsin Invitational held earlier this season at the UW Natatorium. Last year's third-place finisher, Monona Grove, is led by sprinter Hayley Martin, who has the state's leading D2 times this year in the 50 and 100 frees, and Milton has had a solid year led by state champion Jennah Haney and senior Hailey Foss. Meanwhile, both Plymouth and Grafton have strong swimmers poised by qualifying for the state meet, and an added weapon -- divers who will likely qualify and score team points at the state meet.

The difficulty with predicting D2 this year is that so many of the defending champions in individual events -- DeForest's Kelly Winckler, New Berlin West's Beckie Thompson, and Greendale's Jenna Lennertz won five of the eight invidual events last year -- graduated, leaving a void to be filled. Several D2 teams have swimmers ready to take the place on the winner's podium; the winning team in D2 is likely to emerge from a squad that can put together a few top finishers in individual events, and qualify three relays for state.