Friday, November 21, 2008

New Olympic-sized pool near Kenosha

An Olympic-sized, 50-meter pool has been proposed in the village of Pleasant Prairie, near Kenosha. Details here:

http://www.wisconsinswimming.org/LakeViewRecPool.pdf

and here:

http://www.wisconsinswimming.org/LakeViewRecPoolPlans.pdf

A few thoughts:

-- This is certainly good news for swimming in general, as it provides only the second competitive indoor long-course pool in the state, along with the 30-year-old Walter Schroeder Aquatic Center in Brown Deer. It also could provide a venue for major high school meets, including the southeastern D1 and/or D2 sectionals now held in Kenosha and Cudahay.

-- Is it a candidate to host the state high school meet? Probably not; the proposed pool's seating capacity is listed at 1,000, or 500 fewer than the UW Natatorium, viewed by many as undersized for hosting the state swim meets.

-- The center of competitive swimming, at least when it comes to high-quality pools, continues to shift toward southeastern Wisconsin. SE Wisconsin a year from now will have the state's two competition-based Olympic-sized pools, plus the Waukesha South HS pool, one of the best short-course pools in the state. Madison is left with just the short-course Natatorium. Add in the first-rate pool at Carthage College in Kenosha, and SE Wisconsin has an abundace of first-place facilities for meets. The UW pool does have its assets; it's still a very fast pool, and the atmosphere for the state meet -- where the 1,500 fans that can fit in the place are literally sitting on top of each other -- is top-notch. But it still an undersized pool for a top-tier NCAA swim program, and talk at the recently held girls state meets hinted the UW was probably five years away from building a natatorium that is on par with the likes of those at the University of Minnesota.

(Thanks for Jon and Becky Duffey for the tip on the new Pleasant Prairie pool.)

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Girls season recap

Another girls high school season is in the books, with Hartland-Arrowhead (D1) and DeForest (D2) winning state titles. For HA, it was their sixth title in the past seven years; for the Norskies, it was their third title in a row.

Look for more of the same next year. If any two teams are poised to repeat their titles, it's HA and DeForest. HA returns nearly everyone who scored points at the state meet -- 139 points in individual races, all members of the team's three relays that scored 96 points, and two divers who contributed 14 points. HA is quite young -- two-time 100 fly state champ Emma Goral is only a sophomore, and HA got major contributions this season from freshmen Hailey Pietila, Kate Jones, and Stephanie Hein. That's an awfully strong foundation for at least two years to come.

Meanwhile, many of HA's chief rivals will be losing some significant swimmers. Madison East, state champs in 2007 and runner-up this year, returns most of its swimmers but graduates eight-time state champ Ruby Martin, who is headed to the University of Wisconsin. Madison Memorial returns two-time state champ Jackie Powell and a host of strong swimmers, but must replace veteran sprinters Kayla Smith and Mackenzie King, along with Kendra Loch and Kelsie Saxe. Waukesha South/Mukwonago, meanwhile, must replace sprinter Arriana Gorenc and several mainstays of its relays.

DeForest graduates state meet veterans Molly Anderson, Karmyn Vandewettering, and Lark Egen, but the team returns arguably its four best swimmers -- versatile junior Lindsey Verhulst, sophomore Casey Wolter (a top-five finisher at state in both the 200 and 500 frees) and freshmen Leah Winckler and Chelsea Statz, both of whom swam exceedingly well down the stretch of the season. The Norskies return 98.5 points from this year's state meets, and have the depth to fill spots on their relays filled this year by seniors.

Several D2 teams as well will graduate longtime state-meet stalwarts -- Grafton's Brianna Dietz, Sauk Prairie's Abby Diehl, Waukesha Catholic Memorial's Elle Meinholz and Ashley Majewski, Monona Grove's Hayley Martin, and Milton's Hailey Foss and Kaitlyn Kincaide. If any team can compete with DeForest next year, it might be Edgewood. The Crudaders graduate Beth Schramka, a four-time qualifier for the state meet, but return a strong corps of sprinters and a solid group of freshmen swimmers.

Look for two other topics to continue to percolate during the off-season -- the much-debated switch of the girls and boys swim seasons (see:

http://wiscswim.blogspot.com/2008/10/switching-seasons.html and

http://wiscswim.blogspot.com/2008/10/switching-seasons-chap-2.html

and the controversy over the use of fast suits (see:

http://wiscswim.blogspot.com/2008/11/fast-suits.html

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Anatomy of a start


The 50-yard freestyle is the rawest and most elemental of swimming events. It’s a quick race -- one trip up the lane, and another back – with a razor-thin margin of error. It’s maybe the most nerve-wracking of all events; some swimmers candidly admit in private to not liking it much. Success often hinges on executing three elements – the start, the turn, and the finish. A late start, a slip on the turn, a gliding finish – all can spell the difference between finishing first, or not.


In the recently concluded Division 2 state meet, Monona Grove’s Hayley Martin entered the final heat as the favorite in the 50 free. She’d been undefeated all season in the event, earned the top seed for the meet, and drew the coveted lane 4. Next to her in lane 5 was chief rival Maggie Smith of Whitefish Bay, who had finished second in the event last year. Martin ended up winning, with a time of 24.19, just ahead of Smith’s 24.35, and she essentially won the race with her start.


Here’s a look at the start of the 50 free final. Martin, in lane 4, is just about to enter the water. Smith, to her right in lane 5, also got off to a solid start, but was slightly behind Martin – a deficit she would never make up. To the left of Martin is Sturgeon Bay/Sevastopol’s Taylor Trelka, who finished T-7th, in part because of what her coach described to the Door County Advocate newspaper as an indifferent start: “"She got too high on her start and fell about a half-body length behind the leaders," said Mike McHugh. "She made up some ground, but that's a lot to overcome in a short race like that."
(Thanks to Chuck Martin, Hayley's father, for use of the photo.)


Monday, November 17, 2008

D1 state meet recap

Hartland-Arrowhead apparently likes its hardware. After its run of five straight state titles was snapped last year, HA reclaimed the first-place state trophy at the UW Natotorium Saturday afternooon. It won with a score of 256-240 over defending champs Madison East.

HA's win was similar to DeForest's D2 win the night before. HA won only one event -- Emma Goral in the 100 fly -- but combined terrific depth and top-four showings from all three of its relays for the win. HA's two divers also contributed 14 points to the win. In truth, HA swam well but not great -- the team scored 22 fewer points than its seed times -- but the team had swimmers in the final heat of all but one event, and that usually ensures a fair amount of points.

East came up just short in its bid to repeat, but, golly, it was fun to watch them try. East won six of the 12 events at the meet, set two state records in doing so (200/400 free relays), came close to state records in a few others, and swam better than any other team at the meet. East improved its position by 68 points, more than any other team in either divison of the state meet, but simply didn't have enough swimmers to get past HA. Ruby Martin and Aja Van Hout both won two individual events, with Van Hout setting a record in the 500 free (4:48.60) by more than five seconds. East's strong run was also fueled by Ivy Martin and Becca Soderholm, both of whom came from the second-to-last heat to garner top three finishes in individual events. East's medley relay also moved up eight places from its seeding.

In fact, the second-to-last heat of the opening swim event, the medley relay, showed what kind of night it would be for both East and Big Eight rival Madison Memorial. The two relays squared off in a great race, with Memorial winning the heat and improving its seed time by more than five seconds. It was the start of a terrific day of swimming by the Spartans as well, as they nearly equaled East's performance; Memorial improved 65 points over its seeding placement, and moved up from a 6th place based on seeding to finish 3rd overall. The Spartans were led by junior Jackie Powell, who concluded an outstanding season with wins in the 200 free and 100 back. In the 200 free, she became just the fourth swimmer in state history to break the 1:50 barrier, winning with a time of 1:49.21.

A few other observations:

-- Do Big Eight coaches know something the rest of the state does not? The top four Big Eight teams -- East, Memorial, Middleton and West -- all dramatically improved their performances at the state meet. Middleton ended up in 7th place overall, improving on its seeding by 48 points, while West finished 9th with a 38-point improvement. Coming out of sectionals, the top three teams based on seed times were HA, Waukesha South/Mukwonago, and Muskego, with East in 4th place and Wausau East in 5th. All but East dropped in points, with Waukesha South/Mukwonago having a particularly tough meet, dropping 69.5 points.

-- How fast were those East relays? For starters, their winning times broke records set by relays from probably the best team in state history, the 2005 Hartland Arrowhead squad (which won all but one swimming event that year, and set state records in all three relays). East also beat the HA records pretty handily -- by 1.53 seconds in the 200 free relay, and 1.14 seconds in the 400 free relay. In fact, East came within less than a second of the national record in the 200 free relay (1:33.63; 1:32.77 national record) and less than two seconds from the national record in the 400 free relay (3:24.80; 3:23.10 national).

-- One of the hardest doubles in swimming is the 500 free/200 free relay combination. One is a marathon, all about sustained pacing, and the other an all-out sprint with only a few breaths taken during the race. The two events fall back-to-back on the swim schedule, and because they are so dissimilar, only a handful of swimmers attempt it. Few do it well. That's what made Van Hout's times at the state meet all the more remarkable. After swimming the 500 free in a record time of 4:48.60, she quickly cooled down in the diving well of the Natatorium, lined up for the 200 free relay with her teammates, then anchored the winning East relay with a split of 22.62 -- the fastest split posted by any 200 free relay or medley anchor swimmer.

Saturday, November 15, 2008

D2 state meet recap

In what will be remembered as the fastest D2 state meet in history, two-time defending champ DeForest -- as expected -- won its third straight title without the aid of a single win in any event.

DeForest's depth overwhelmed the competition, as the Norskies scored 236.5 points to easily outdistance Grafton (180). DeForest's win was both impressive and somewhat underwhelming; the team scored nearly 30 points fewer than their seed times predicted (going into the meet, DeForest was seeded to score 263 points). The Norskies, who qualified 15 individual entries for the meet as well as all three relays, display a depth of talent that no D2 team can match. Several DeForest swimmers did improve their seed times, but their time drops weren't nearly at the level displayed by other swimmers at what was a very fast meet.

In the end, DeForest essentially won the state meet the week before, when they overwhelmed a very good Baraboo sectional and qualified nearly every swimmer they entered. There is more than one path to a state championship -- DeForest two years ago came from behind to win by having nearly every swimmer peak at state -- and the Norskies proved that loading up and swimming well the week before state is one way of doing it. Congratulations to the Norskies -- they graduated a lot of top-flight talent last year, but rallied around a strong returning corps of swimmers.

As for the rest of the D2 state meet:

-- It was fast and got faster as the night went on. A pretty good indication came in the 200 freestyle, when Brookfield Academy's Kelsey Hojan-Clark went 1:50.27 to win, just missing the all-time state D2 record by .33 seconds. She was followed closely by Shorewood's Elli Sellinger, who touched out in 1:50.87 -- both times were faster than any of the seed times for the D1 state meet in the 200 free.

-- Three all-time state records were broken: Monona Grove's 200 free relay (Kelsey Millin, Tess Becker, Elizabeth Emmerich, Hayley Martin, 1:38.95; 1:39.08 old record); Green Lake/Berlin's Siri Smits in the 100 backstroke (55.83; 56.48 old); and Plymouth freshman sensation Kate Criter in the 100 breaststroke (1:03.31; 1:05.54). The breaststroke was certainly the most impressive event of the night; Delavan-Darien's Emily McClellan broke the old state record swimming out of lane 5 in the first heat. Three other swimmers besides Kriter then topped the old record in the final heat. How fast was it? Two-time defending state champ Jennah Haney of Milton dropped more than two seconds off her seed time, beat the old state record by 1.8 seconds, and still finished runner-up to Criter. In addition, Shorewood's Clare Chamberlain came within .06 seconds of the all-time state record in the 200 IM (she swam a 2:03.95, cutting nearly seven seconds off her seed time), and Hojan-Clark just missed the state record in the 500 free with a time of 4:54.18 (.24 seconds off the record).

-- The night's most poignant moment came during the 100 free, won by Sauk Prairie's Abby Diehl. The 5th-seeded Diehl (who had an oustanding night) out-touched MG's Martin, who was coming off a win in the 50 free earlier in the meet and had dominated the 100 free all season long, by a mere four-hundreths of a second. Martin, initially disappointed in the loss, looked over to see who had beaten her, and then raced over to congratulate Diehl, like Martin a senior swimming in her last high school meet. The two have been competing against each other, at conference and sectional swim meets as well as state, for four years, and have developed a close friendship. After the race, as teams were gathering for the 200 free relay, Martin and Diehl sat off to the side, away from all of the other swimmers, chatting away. "She got a gold medal, and so do I," Martin said after the race. "I'm so proud of her." Both swimmers came away with a second gold medal, with Martin anchoring the winning MG 200 free relay, and Diehl splitting an anchor leg of 51.79 to lead her Sauk Prairie 400 free relay team to victory.

-- Why so fast? D2 swimming has gotten faster in the past several years, as qualifying times for state for the most part are lower than they were five years ago. It's pretty clear the benefits of year-round club swimming -- a staple of top D1 programs -- have filtered down to the D2 level, where most of the top swimmers come out of strong club programs. D2 has also benefitted from an influx of top-flight talent in the last two years; five of the eight individual events at the state meet this year were won by freshmen or sophomores. But it's also hard not to think the newly available fast suits don't have some role -- nearly all of the top finishers at the meet wore some version of the new suit technology, and the times posted (and the depth of fast times registered at the meet) leads one to conclude the suits do play a role in generating extra speed.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Fast suits

The Wisconsin State Journal has weighed in on the fast suit controversy; details here:

http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/sports/314156

A few thoughts:

-- The WIAA has been very clear about this; the Oct. 24 WIAA Bulletin addressed the issue. See this under "High-tech suits:" http://www.wiaawi.org/rules/swimming/swimrulesqa.pdf

-- DeForest did create a buzz in the Baraboo sectional crowd when they came out for warm-ups in the blueseventy nero wetsuit. But most of the buzz wasn't about their legality; it was how much it cost to outfit an entire team in the suits, which run at least $350 a piece. But DeForest wasn't the only team sporting the suits; two of Milton's best swimmers (Jennah Haney and Hailey Foss) sported them, as well.

-- The cost issue is a bit of a red herring. Having spent time recently wandering around University Ridge golf course at the state golf tournament, there was a wide range of equipment used by tourney competitors. The issue is endemic whenever equipment (broadly defined) comes into play for a sport -- tennis (raquets), baseball (bats), basketball (shoes), hockey (sticks). Let's face it -- when parents (and/or booster clubs or even schools themselves) want their athletes to compete at the highest level of the sport, they are likely to seek (within legal means) any advantage they can, and that includes top-of-the-line equipment.

-- Do the suits make a difference? Probably -- the evidence is pretty clear that times this year at sectional meets in both divisions were faster than a year ago, before the new high-tech suits became widely available. Did it give DeForest (and others who wore them) an unfair advantage? Not likely. It's not as if DeForest came out of the blue with its performance; the team has won two state titles in a row -- and is favored for a third this week -- and the team is known for peaking (tapering, in swim lingo) at the very end of the season, when it matters most. The two Norskies who arguably swam the best at the Baraboo sectional -- freshmen Leah Winckler and Chelsea Statz -- did have eye-popping performances, based on their season performances, but it's not all that unusual for freshman in swimming (especially girls swimming) to dramatically improve toward the end of their first season.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Previewing the state D2 meet

Can anyone stop DeForest from winning its third straight state D2 title? Maybe, but it's going to take a Herculean effort.

Here's how the top six teams are seeded for the D2 meet:

1) DeForest -- 263 points
2) Grafton -- 176 points
3) Waukesha Catholic Memorial -- 174 points
4) Sturgeon Bay/Sevastopol -- 134 points
5) Monona Grove -- 133 points
6) Shorewood -- 132 points

It's hard to overstate how well DeForest swam at the Baraboo sectional. They won the meet going away, qualifying 15 of their 18 swimmers for state. This in a sectional which proved to be the deepest in the state, as Baraboo sectional swimmers make up 40 percent of the swimmers who qualified for the D2 meet. Add in: DeForest's usual depth in the distance events (they qualified seven swimmers combined in the 200 and 500 frees); their strength across the board (qualifying swimmers in each of the 11 swimming events); and the quality of their relay teams (seeded 4th or better in all three relays). Add it all up, and the Norskies certainly seemed poised to capture another title.

However, titles are won in the water, and not on paper. Here are some factors that might come into play:

-- Second-seeded Grafton is the only team competing for a state title that qualified divers -- three of them. A strong performance by the team's divers could give Grafton a boost going into the swimming portion of the meet.

-- A whopping 10 teams qualified all three of their relays for the state meet. DeForest leads the way with three relays seeded to finish 4th or better, but Grafton, Sturegon Bay/Sevastopol and Monona Grove all could move up in the standings with strong showings from their relays.

-- D2 state meet fans will be seeing a lot of Shorewood's Elli Sellinger, Monona Grove's Hayley Martin, Grafton's Sadie Nenning, Catholic Memorial's Elle Meinholz, and Milton's Jennah Haney. Sellinger (200 free/100 fly) and Martin (50/100 frees) own top seed times in two events, and swim on two relay teams that will be swimming in the final heats of those events. Nening (backstroke, where's she's the defending state champ) and Meinholz (100 breaststroke) own top seeds in their specialties, as well as top-three seeds in the fly (Nening) and IM (Meinholz). They, too, swim on relay teams that will be fighting it out in the last heat of those events. Haney is seeded third in the 100 breaststroke, where she's the defending state champ, and second in the 200 free. She, too, will be a featured performer on two of Milton's relay teams. Other individuals to keep an eye on are Brookfield Academy's Kelsey Hojan-Clark (seeded 1st in the 500 free and 3rd in the 200 free), Baraboo's Shannon Keeling (1st in the 200 IM, 5th in the fly), and Milton's Hailey Foss (seeded 2nd in both the 200 IM and 500 free).

Previewing the state D1 meet

State titles are won in the water, not on paper. But swimming, nearly unique among high school sports, allows fans to forecast the outcome of meets based on seed times of swimmers.

So here's how the top six teams are seeded for the state D1 meet this Saturday:

1) Hartland-Arrowhead -- 278 points
2) Waukesha South/Mukwonago -- 245
3) Muskego -- 189
4) Madison East -- 172
5) Wausau East -- 144
6) Madison Memorial -- 141

Observations:

-- There is little doubt the Waukesha South/Mukwonago sectional displaced the Middleton sectional as the fastest qualifying meet for D1. Last year, the top three teams coming into the state meet were Middleton, East and Memorial. This year, to the top three teams came out of the WS/M sectional. The majority (17 of 33) of the top-three seeds in each of the 11 events came out of the WS/M sectional.

-- It may be a tall order for WS/M to catch Arrowhead. The single best way to catch up to teams at the state meet is to improve the seed placing of relay teams, and hope the team ahead of you falters a bit, as relays are worth twice as many points. But WS/M already owns an eight-point advantage in terms of seeding over Arrowhead in the relays, and has two top-seeded relay teams (200/400 frees) -- in other words, WS/M can't go up much further. HA can, with its 200/400 free relays seeded 3rd and T-4th. Plus, HA qualified two divers for the state meet, while WS/M did not have any divers participate in the sectional meet. An early indication of the how the two teams will compete against each other will come in the 200 medley relay, where HA is seeded 1st and WS/M is seeded 5th.

-- HA's across-the-board strength is evident, and a key reason they are favored to win back the title they lost last year after five consecutive state meet wins. They are seeded to score in every single event, the only D1 team that can say that. WS/M has swimmers seeded to score in each of the 11 swim events; those swimmers will have to find a way to edge out their HA counterparts if they hope to catch and pass HA in the team race.

-- Madison East will have to get a big day out its relays if it hopes to catch either of the top two seeded teams. East won two relays last year on its way to garnering its first state title; their relays this year are seeded 2nd (both the 200 and 400 free relays) and 13th (medley). East at a minimum will also need sprinter Ruby Martin (seeded 1st in both the 50 and 100 frees) to hold her seed spots, and sophomore Aja Van Hout (defending state champ in the 200 IM and 500 free) to repeat last year's performance, to have a shot at defending.

-- Does Muskego have enough depth to edge their way past the top teams? The team had an outstanding sectional meet, led by 200/500 free swimmers Brittany Walsh and Jessica Wolf, and freshman backstroker Emma Szczupakiewicz. But the team qualified only two relays for state, missing out on the 200 free relay.

-- As for Madison Memorial, they will hope to repeat their performance from last year, when they improved their seed placements more than any other team at the state meet. The Spartans will have to make up a lot of ground, however. They did qualify all 18 swimmers for the meet -- a first for the venerable program -- and showed last year that swimmers coming out of the second and even first heats of the meet can move up dramatically at the meet.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Q & A with MG's Hayley Martin

Senior Hayley Martin will graduate from Monona Grove as the most decorated swimmer in the school's history. She holds six individual school records (50, 100, 200, and 500 frees, 100 back, 200 IM) and is a member of two school-record relay teams (200/400 free relays). She's won 10 sectional titles in individual events and relays, and enters this weekend's state Division 2 swim meet as the top seed in both the 50 and 100 freestyles.

Name: Hayley Kathryn Martin
School: Monona Grove High School
Year: Senior
Favorite event to swim: 100 free
Proudest accomplishment as a swimmer: I would say getting the Monona Grove girls swim team to the point where it is now. I'm proud to say I was a part of the team that finished a school-best 3rd place at the state meet, when just two years before we finished 17th. I'm also extremely proud to say I was a part of the team that has set 8 (hopefully soon to be 11) new team records.
Favorite swimming memory: That's a tough one. I guess I would say winning the 400 free relay at state last year. Katie Barta and I had been on four top-ranked relays and it felt so good to finally win one, especially to do it together...with the help of two really fast freshmen.
Favorite non-swimming activity: Going to movies...favorite movie currently in theaters is "Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa."
Favorite food: Pasta...I eat it just about every day.
Music you listen to get psyched up for a meet: Creedence Clearwater Revival but once I'm at the meet it's all Techno.
Role model: My uncle because at the age of 50 he was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. He then lost about 50 pounds and at the age of 52 ran the Chicago Marathon.
Favorite swimmer: Ian Thorpe...even though he retired, and Dara Torres because she retired but still swam in the Olympics.
Family: Sunshine (mom), Chuckles (dad), Hank (brother) a junior swimming for University of Wisconsin-Whitewater
Plans after high school: I plan to go to college and continue swimming.
Career goal: I don't know all the details yet, but I'm pretty sure it involves me getting filthy rich without really doing much at all. I plan to major either in journalism or history.

Go fast or go home -- sectional round-ups

Swimmers are usually a quiet lot -- they tend to be more reflective than boastful, more focused than animated. But they often make up for it with their T-shirts. "Go fast or go home" is a favorite.

That about sums up what it took to make it to state this year in both D1 and D2. Cut-off times were much faster than a year ago in nearly all races, and the depth of quality performances was evident throughout the six D1 and four D2 sectionals. In D1, for instance, the cutoff to qualify for the 100-yard breaststroke was nearly a second faster than a year ago. In D2, 10 swimmers qualified for the 100-yard butterfly with times under one minute, compared to three swimmers a year ago.

In D1, the Waukesha South/Mukwanago sectional featured a terrific contest between the hosts and Hartland-Arrowhead, with HA eventually prevailing 391-362. Arrowhead got all 18 of its entries through to state, including three divers. Muskego also made a strong showing at the sectional with some top finishes and finished in third place with 297 points. It was the fastest sectional in the state; of the top three seeds in the 11 swimming events (33 fastest seeded swimmers in the state meet), 17 came out of the WS/M sectional.

Over at the always competitive Middleton sectional, Madison Memorial showed again that superior depth pays off. The Spartans racked up 375.5 points for an easy win over Middleton (315). Defending state champs Madison East finished third with 302 points. East won seven of the 11 events, led by Ruby Martin (50/100 free) and Aja Van Hout (200 IM/500 free), who also swam on the team's winning 200 and 400 free relays. But none of the Purgolders three relays earned top seeds at the state meet. For Memorial, coach Jason Verhelst achieved a first -- all 18 swimmers entered into the sectional meet qualified for state. The Spartans were led by junior Jackie Powell, who earned top-three seeds in the state meet in both the 200 free and the 100 back. But the news coming out of the Middleton sectional is that many of the swimmers who did qualify for state won't be seeded as high as they were at last year's state meet.

Also swimming well in the D1 sectionals was Wausau East, which won the Hudson sectional and sent all three relays to the final heat of the state meet. Other sectional winners were Neenah, Mequon Homestead, and Racine Case.

In D2, the big news was DeForest's dominant win at the very deep and fast Baraboo sectional. The Norskies, two-time defending state champs, won their fifth straight sectional title with 358 points, an 82-point margin over second-place Edgewood. DeForest qualified swimmers for state in every single event save for diving, and won two of the three relays (medley, 400 free). What made DeForest's showing all the more impressive was the quality of swimming at the Baraboo sectional; fully 40 percent of the qualifiers for the state D2 meet came out of Baraboo.

In Plymouth, a deep Sturgeon Bay-Sevastopol team held off Grafton, 319-296. Both teams qualified all three relays for the state meet, plus several individual qualifiers. In Cudahay, a surging Elkhorn team won the sectional with a 313-286 win over Whitnall. Elkhorn has been swimming extremely well as of late, and both of their freestyle relays ended up with top-three seeds for the state meet. Menomonie won the Stevens Point sectional, but doesn't look to be a big factor in the team race at the state D2 meet.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

D2 sectionals -- what to look for

Over in Division 2, two of the four sectionals stand out -- those at Baraboo and Plymouth.

Start with Baraboo. This should be an old-fashioned barn-burner. It features the defending state champs and top-ranked (latest coaches poll) DeForest, 2nd and 3rd-ranked Sauk Prairie and Milton, three other teams in the top 10 (Baraboo, 6th; Monona Grove, 9th; McFarland, 10th), plus an Edgewood squad (13th in the latest poll) that's been swimming very well of late. That's seven of the top 13 D2 teams in the state -- whew! DeForest, based on its win last week in the Badger Conference North swim meet (over Sauk, Baraboo and McFarland), appears on paper to be the favorite. But sectional meets -- unlike conference meets, where teams with lots of quality depth do well -- have much smaller numbers of entries, and thus teams with one or two dominant swimmers, combined with three high-placing relays, can do well. That might bode well for the likes of Sauk (freestyler Abby Diehl and butterfly/backstroker Alison Meng), Milton (breaststroke state champ Jennah Haney), and Monona Grove (freestyle sprinter Hayley Martin). It wouldn't be a shock if DeForest comes out on top, but look for a logjam of teams competing for the other top spots, as well.

In Plymouth, the top two teams from the Small State Invitational -- often a harbinger of the state D2 meet -- will square off again: champs Sturgeon Bay/Sevastopol and Grafton. Shorewood (with its terrific duo of Elli Sellinger and Clare Chamberlain), Whitefish Bay (with sprinter Maggie Smith) and Plymouth (with D2 freshman of the year Kate Criter) will also compete for the sectional title. Add in Berlin/Green Lake (Siri Smits) and Brookfield Academy (Kelsey Hojan-Clark), and the Plymouth meet probably features the best raw individual talent of any of the D2 sectionals. Who will emerge as sectional title winner is anyone's guess, but Sturgeon Bay has looked very good all season long.

The Cudahay sectional features some strong talent as well; look for Waukesha Catholic Memorial, Whitnall and Elkhorn to be among the top teams coming out of here. Up in Stevens Point, Colby Abbotsford recently entered the state coaches poll as the 18th ranked team in the state; they will likely battle New London and Shawano for top honors.

D1 sectionals -- what to look for

Sectional swim meets are this Saturday, Nov. 7. There is something both special and nerve-wracking about sectional swim meets. It is the only way swimmers can qualify for the state swim meet, so they can't have an off day. And given that swimmers can only automatically qualify for the state meet by winning an event, the day is prolonged by the wait for other results to pour in from around the state to find out who's qualified. In short, the intensity at sectional meet rises significantly over the regular season meets, and how a swimmer handles the one-and-done nature of sectional qualifying often determines whether they move on to the state meet.

In D1, the two big sectionals to watch will be at Middleton and Waukesha South/Mukwonago. Middleton boasts the deepest talent pool, with defending state champs Madison East (ranked 1st in the latest state coaches poll), Madison Memorial (3rd), Middleton (5th), Madison West (6th), and Oregon (7th). Last year saw Middleton edge out Memorial by just three points via a win in the last event, the 400 free relay. Of course, that was also the sectional that saw third-place East win six of the 11 swim races and emerge as a real threat for a state title, which they won a week later. Those three teams will battle it out again this Saturday, with Madison West (coming off a solid runner-up finish in the Big Eight Conference meet) and possibly Oregon also in the mix. The meet will also features several solid swimmers such Janesville Craig's Hailey Schneider, Verona's Katelyn Baltes, and Madison LaFollette's Britney Hilgendorf. Look for swimmers and relays finishing in 6th and 7th place still having a good shot at qualifying for state from this sectional.

At the Waukesha South/Mukwonago sectional, Hartland-Arrowhead and the host team will battle it out for top honors. HA defeated WS/M at the Classic 8 conference meet last week, and will be looking to qualify all of its relays and a number of swimmers for the state meet. HA is a real threat for the D1 state title, but the team has some young swimmers who will be under the pressure-cooker of sectional qualifying for the first time. Expect Brookfield Central and Muskego to round out the contenders here.

As for the other sectionals, look for:

-- Wausau East (9th in the latest coaches poll) to contend for the Hudson sectional title, and Wisconsin Rapids Becca Weiland to do well in the freestyle sprints;

-- Oshkosh West and Neenah to battle it out in the Neenah sectional.

-- Homestead and Cedarburg to lock up in the Cedarburg sectional; and

-- Badger Big Foot and Racine Case to contend for the sectional title at Kenosha Bradford.

Conference round-ups

Conference swim meets wrapped up this past weekend; here's a brief summary of the big ones:

-- As expected, Madison Memorial swept to a big win in the Big Eight Conference, garnering 555 points to win by nearly 200 points. Madison West (365), Middleton (355) and Madison East (349) duked it out all day long at the UW Natatorium for the next three spots. Memorial can probably "out-depth" any team in the state; the talent pool there is extraordinarily deep. The Spartans also got a strong showing from junior Jackie Powell (winner of the 200 free and 100 back), and received a win from its 400 free relay. East continued to look very sharp as it prepares to defend its D1 state title; the Purgolders won six of the 11 events, setting conference records in all of them (200 medley and free relays, Aja Van Hout in the 200 IM and 500 free, and Ruby Martin in the 50 and 100 free sprints). Considering some of those records were held by the likes of outstanding Memorial swimmers such as Jane Evans and Michelle Jesperson, it was a pretty impressive showing by East's small squad. Full results here:
http://www.spartanswimmingdiving.com/files/conference_meet/2008/2008_Conference_Meet_Results.pdf


-- Hartland-Arrowhead won the Classic 8 conference meet quite easily over a solid Waukesha South/Mukwanago squad, 678-540.5. Arrowhead won 9 of the 12 events at the meet, including the dive meet. Interestingly, one of Arrowhead's best swimmers -- sophomore Emma Goral, the defending state champ in the 100 fly -- only swam that event at the conference meet. Instead of a second individual event, she swam on all three winning relays -- perhaps a sign of Arrowhead's strategy for the state D1 meet, where it figures to be a strong contender.

-- Brookfield Central defeated neighborhood rival Brookfield East in the Greater Metro meet, led by junior Katie Schroeder's wins in the 200 IM and 100 fly.

-- D1 Mequon Homestead won the North Shore meet quite easily over D2 Whitefish Bay and Grafton, despite winning only one event. Whitefish Bay, which edged Grafton by just six points for second place, was led by junior sprinter Maggie Smith, who won the 50 (25.22) and 100 (55.33) frees. Grafton got a terrific meet from junior Sadie Nenning, who won the 200 IM in a very fast 2:08.81 (second-fastest time posted this year in D2) and contributed two strong legs on winning relay teams.

-- D2 teams Shorewood and Whitnall hooked up for a real shoot-out at the Woodland Conference meet, winning all of the events between them. Whitnall took six event, but Shorewood's five wins and an edge in depth proved the difference, as they won 443-402. Whitnall was led by state meet veteran Liz Bishop, who posted a very fast 1:06.31 in winning the 100 breaststroke, and swam legs on two winning relays. Shorewood's Clare Chamberlain and Elli Sellinger continued to be one of the stronger duos swimming this year, winning three conference titles and combining for a win on the team's 400-yard freestyle relay.

-- D2 Elkhorn won the Southern Lakes Conference meet by just nine points over D1 Badger-Big Foot, and showed they could make some noise at the D2 state meet. The Elkhorn squad was led by freshman Rachel Johnson, who won conference titles by completing the rare 50/500 free double. The team also won the 200 and 400 free relays with times that ranked 2nd (200) and 4th (400) fastest in the state this year.

Saturday, November 1, 2008

Clipping along -- Sturgeon Bay's D2 prospects

Since the start of the season, the Sturgeon Bay-Sevastopol girls swim co-op has been impressive. The Clippers may not get the publicity of other teams statewide, since they are far outside the orbit of the Madison/Milwaukee-area girls swimming arena that has dominated recent state meets. Part of what makes SB/S hard to evaluate is that they rarely swim against top-notch competition -- the Bay Conference simply can't compete with the likes of the Badger North and South conferences, or the various suburban Milwaukee conferences, for depth of talent.

But SB/S has been sharp when it's gone up against the higher-profile programs in the state. It was the top-finishing D2 squad in the D1-heavy Wisconsin Invitational, held earlier this season at the UW Natatorium, and the Clippers won the Small State Invitational last month in Shorewood that included all but a small handful of the state's top D2 programs.

What's impressive about the Clippers is their ability to swim times in line with the best in D2 against competition that's not that strong. Take their Bay Conference meet Thursday night, which SB/S won by more than 200 points. Their winning 200 medley (1:54.55) and 400 free (3:43.9) relays swam times competitive with the best swum so far this season in D2. Swimmers Cassidy Smith, Sierra Townsend, and sisters Taylor and Mackenzie Trelka also swam times at the conference meet that are certainly competitive with anything swum in the final heats of recent D2 state meets.

The Clippers will get a strong dose of competition in their sectional. The WIAA, rather than placing SB/S among its northern neighbors in the Stevens Point sectional, has placed the team in the Plymouth sectional, a much more competitive meet. There they will match up against the likes of Grafton (who they edged out for the Small State Invitational title), Shorewood, Plymouth and Whitefish Bay. With the talent also brought to that sectional by teams such as Berlin-Green Lake and Brookfield Academy, the Plymouth sectional ranks alongside Baraboo as the toughest D2 sectional. Don't be surprised to see the Clippers come out of the sectional with a bevy of state qualifiers.

Badger Conference swim meets

As expected, Oregon and DeForest won their respective conference swim meets Halloween night -- both had gone through their duel-meet seasons undefeated, so their wins at the conference swim meets were no surprise.

For DeForest, it was business as usual -- they beat Baraboo by 60 points (493-433) with their usual mix of superior depth and top-flight distance swimmers (sweeping the top three spots in the 500 free and 2nd and 3rd places in the 200 free). The Norskies won only two of the 11 events at the meet -- Casey Wolter in the 500 free and the 200 free relay, which has been strong all season. The shorter of the two freestyle relays was the best event of the night, with DeForest edging Baraboo by .12 seconds (1:43.04 winning time), and 3rd-place Sauk Prairie only .41 seconds behind the Norskies.

For Sauk Prairie and McFarland (third and fourth in the meet, with 356 and 298 points respectively), the meet showcased why the two teams will still be strong factors at sectionals. Sauk got two wins from senior Abby Diehl (200 free -- 1:57.33; 100 free -- 54.64) and a win in the meet-ending 400 free relay with a strong time of 3:43.48 (trumping DeForest by more than a second.) Along with sophomores Alison Meng (who won the 100 fly and was 2nd in the 100 back) and Kelsey Kohlbeck (3rd in the fly), Sauk has some strong contenders for top finishes at the sectional meet. McFarland was led by Stirling Smith (winner of the 100 breaststroke, 2nd in the IM) and its winning medley relay team.

Over at Monona Grove, host of the Badger South meet, Div. 1 Oregon won the first conference title in years by a team not named Verona (now moved to the Big Eight). Maddie Schwartz won two events for the Penthers (500 free/100 back) and the team won both the medley and 400 free relays, along with a second-place finish in the 200 free relay. The Panthers garnered 495 points to easily win over Edgewood (392), which grabbed second place in the meet (without benefit of a win in any event) through some impressive swims by the Crusader's strong freshmen class.

Milton (363 points) and the host Silver Eagles (348) battled all night long for third place, and featured the meet's two most impressive swimmers. Milton's Jennah Haney won the 200 free with a time (1:54.66) that's only one-tenth of a second behind the fastest D2 time posted this year. She came back to win the 100 breaststroke (where she's the two-time defending D2 state champ) in a time of 1:06.45, a new conference record. MG's Hayley Martin continued to dominate in the freestyle sprints, winning the 50 free in 24.56 (missing the conference record by .02 seconds) and the 100 free in 53.19, bettering her state-best posted time by .03 seconds. She also anchored the Silver Eagle's winning 200 free relay, which swam a D2 season-best time of 1:42.30.

Most of the Badger Conference teams, North and South, will meet Nov. 7 at the D2 Baraboo sectionals in what should be a terrific meet -- the latest state coaches poll has 7 of the top 11 teams in D2 swimming at the sectional, including the top three ranked teams (DeForest, Milton, Sauk Prairie). Look for lots of 5th, 6th, 7th and maybe even 8th-place finishers to qualify for the state meet out of this sectional.