McFarland dominates terrific D2 meet

It was a McFarland night at the Div. 2 state swim meet Friday; the Spartans won all three relays, added three individual titles, and garnered six other top-five finishes from their very deep squad to capture the title 332-210 over Whitefish Bay.

The Spartans looked sharp all night long, and showed who was boss early in the meet when they easily won the 200 medley relay and then went 1-2 in the first two indivudal races of the night. From there it was just a matter of how large their margin of victory would be in front of the boisterous Spartan crowd that packed the UW Natatorium.

But McFarland's dominance didn't deter from what was a truly exciting meet, with some extremely close races, great finishes, and one awe-inspiring, record-breaking performance. Highlights:

-- As expected, the 200 free was one of the best races of the night, with four Badger Confernce foes (Brian Heiser and Graham Thoresen of the Spartans, Jeff Maxwell of Milton and Edgewood's Chase Stephens) battling it out in a back-and-forth race. Heiser, seeded 4th and swimming in lane 6, took command right before the turn for the final 25 yards and won by two-tenths of a second over his teammate, with Stephens third and Maxwell fourth, the four swimmers separated by less than a second. For three years, Heiser and Thoresen have formed a powerful twosome in this race, with Thoresen often leading his teammate. But Heiser, who was extremely sharp all night long, used his great closing speed to take the race.

-- McFarland's Brandon O'Donnell and Thoresen, two seniors looking for their first individual state titles, got them -- O'Donnell in the 200 IM and Thoresen in the 500 free. O'Donnell led his brother Ryan to a 1-2 finish, cheered by among others current UW swimmer Derrick O'Donnell. Brandon's time of 1:52.94 was fifth all-time in D2; his brother and former Olympian Neil Walker of Verona are among the three swimmers who have posted faster IM times in meet history. Thoresen, meanwhile, finally got his individual win in his last attempt, as he edged Maxwell 4:39.16 to 4:39.39 in a race that saw the two swimmers go at each other stroke for stroke for the entire race. The two pulled away from third-place finisher Stephens at about the 200-yard mark and waged an intense duel over the last 300 yards.

-- Two terrific finishes highlighted the 100 butterfly and the 100 backstroke. In the fly, Elkhorn's Dalton Anderson won the first boys state title in school history with a 50.69 win over Shorewood's Stephen Meyer (50.82) and Derrick O'Donnell (50.87). Anderson, who emerged mid-season as a real threat in this event, took control fron the onset and held off the late-surging challengers. Another five yards, and Anderson may very well have finished third. But he touched out in stride, and celebrated his win with a big fist pump. The 100 back was even closer, as Edgewood's Drew teDuits somehow managed to touch first in 50.96, with the snake-bitten Meyer in second in 50.98 and Ryan O'Donnell in third in 51.13. teDuits was third coming off the wall for the final 25 yards, but his tremendous reach and pull gave him a Michael-Phelps-like victory. He hit the wall perfectly with his final stroke, while Meyer was caught between strokes and tried to reach for the wall with his final stroke. Kudos to the announcer at the Nat for pronoucing the winner's name correctly; teDuits celebrated by donning a pair of sunglasses on the podium. Only Walker of Verona has swum a faster backstroke at the D2 state meet than teDuits' 50.96.

-- Alex Riegert of Delavan-Darien, with his father sporting a team-colors blue-and-yellow moustache, won the 100 breaststroke over close friend and teammate Nathaniel Johnson with a 57.93, fourth-fastest all-time in D2.

-- Rhinelander's Ben Lonsdorf came up just short in his bid for a state title, finishing second in the 100 freestyle for the second year in a row. River Falls' Eric Emerson won the title with a 47.73; Lonsdorf touched out in 47.96. The Rhinelander school district has tentatively announced plans to cut the boys swimming program due to budget constraints.

-- In the race for the runner-up trophy, Whitefish Bay swam very well all night long and captured some hardware. Ashwaubenon finished third with 169 points, with Edgewood and Shorewood tied for fourth with 167 points.

-- McFarland could not have put a more emphatic exclamation point on its third straight state title than with its performance in the 400 free relay. The Spartans dominated from the outset, with Brandon O'Donnell leading off with a 46.75 that the team increased swimmer by swimmer. Heiser (46.99), Ryan O'Donnell (46.47) and Thoresen (47.63) followed, as the Spartans smashed the all-time D2 state record in the race (3:07.84), breaking the previous record held by Sturgeon Bay/Southern Door by 2.6 seconds. The time was less than three-tenths of a second off the all-time state record in D1, held by Madison Memorial. It left Spartans head coach Nick Weiss awestruck. "I'm speechless," he told the Wisconsin State Journal. "These guys far exceeded my expectations. I knew they'd swim fast but I had no idea it was going to be this good."