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).