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.