Verona a force in the Big Eight?

Longtime swim power Verona is now a member of the Big Eight, one of the most competitive swim conferences in the state. The Wildcats showed they will be a strong addition to the conference as they came close to edging Madison Memorial in a dual meet Friday night at Verona, losing by just six, 88-82. The Wildcats won seven of the 11 races at the meet, including the medley and 400 free relays, traditionally a strong suit of Memorial. Looking particularly strong for Verona was junior Derek Toomey, who captured both the 50 (25.13 -- meters) and 100 (55.88) frees. Sophomore Spencer Ritt won his speciality, the 100 fly (1:02.70), and swam on both the team's winning relays.

Verona graduated several seniors, including Ian Girdley, arguably the team's best swimmer. But they return a strong group of swimmers, including state qualifiers Ritt and Jeff Peterson (breaststroke). They also have several swimmers -- Toomey, Jacob Olandt, and Kevin Misener -- who have experience swimming at the state meet in relays and just missed out on qualifying individually for the state meet. Look for them to be a force in the Big Eight this year.

In other notable Big Eight results, Middleton topped Madison West 97-73 behind senior Sam Niesen, who had wins in the 200 IM (2:00.87) and the 100 free (48.53). Over on the other side of town, Madison East topped Janesville Parker 116-54 behind junior Robert Miner, who had wins in the 200 IM (2:10.45) and the 100 fly (54.09), his specialty. Watch out for Miner this year in the fly; he has already gone below 54 in the fly this season, and during the fall club season, handily beat several of the state's top flyers, including Greenfield/Greendale's Jack Lennertz and New Berlin West/Eisenhower's Byron Butler.