State rankings

The latest state rankings are out from the WISCA (state high school coaches) website. The rankings are devised by assinging points to teams who have swimmers and relays in the top 30 time list compiled by WISCA (diving not included in the poll rankings). Here they are...

D1:

1) Madison Memorial; 2) Madison East; 3) Hartland-Arrowhead; 4) Waukesha South-Mukwanago; 5) Middleton; 6) Oregon; 7) Oshkosh West; 8) Appleton East; 9) Wauseu East; 10) Madison West.

No surprises here; Memorial, defending state champs East, and H-A have been the top teams all season long. The only mild surprise is Oregon, which swims against mainly D2 competition in the Badger South Conference but is D1 for state qualifying. The Panthers have a very good group of swimmers, and are the favorites for the conference title later this month. But their Middleton sectional is brutally difficult -- Memorial, East, West, Middleton and Verona all swim in the same sectional along with Oregon. The key for Oregon may be their relays -- they have the talent depth to qualify three relays for state. There is a good chance all five teams ranked ahead of them will qualify all three of their relay teams for state.

D2:

1) DeForest; 2) Milton; 3) Shorewood; 4) Baraboo; 5) Sauk Prairie; 6) Monona Grove; 7) Plymouth; 8) McFarland; 9) Waukesha Catholic Memorial; 10) Whitefish Bay.

The WISCA poll, based on top-30 times, heavily weights teams with considerable depth, and that's DeForest's strength. Few teams in D2 can boast the kind of depth that the Norskies can. Plus, the Norskies return a bevy of swimmers who have considerable experience at the state meet. The question for DeForest -- can their swimmers put up the top finishes needed at state to put them in the running for a third straight title? Right now, only one DeForest swimmer -- sophomore Casey Wolter in the 500 free -- has a top-five time in the statewide top-30 list. Meanwhile, Shorewood, Milton, Plymouth and Monona Grove all have swimmers with times in the top three of individual events.

One thing's for sure -- the Baraboo D2 sectional promises to be a barn-burner. Six of the top eight teams in the latest state poll swim there, plus an Edgewood team that finished 5th last year at state. It wouldn't be surprising to see individuals and relays placing 7th or even 8th at the sectional qualifying for state.

One more note -- the D2 poll probably understates the strength of Plymouth and unranked Grafton. Both teams will qualify some strong individuals and -- unlike most of the teams ranked ahead of them -- place some divers at the state meet.