So far, pretty fast

Times are starting to trickle in to the Wisconsin state swim coaches website, which tracks top-30 times reported by coaches (see http://www.wisca.net/top30). Some of the more notable times I've seen:

-- Wisconsin Rapids' Becca Weiland with a time of 23.38 in the 50 free. That's faster than any seed time for last year's D1 state meet in the 50 free by more than half-a-second. To put that in context, Weiland's 50 time is faster than all but one of the past five winning D1 50 free times at state -- only Madison East's Ruby Martin with a 23.10 last year (swum with the now banned blue70 suit) has gone faster.

-- Sturgeon Bay's 200 free relay -- sisters Sierra and Savanna Townsend, McKenzie Trelka and Erin Hogan -- with a time of 1:39.36. That's less than half-a-second off the state D2 record in that event, set last year by Monona Grove's winning 200 free relay. Few D2 teams in the history of the state have gone under 1:40 for the 200 free relay.

-- Hartland-Arrowhead's Emma Goral with a 56.84 in the 100 butterfly. Goral may be the strongest favorite in any single D1 race this year; the junior has won state titles in the fly her first two years, each by more than a second.

-- Hartland-Arrowhead's 200 medley relay has posted a 1:48.66, fast enough for All-American status, according to the WISCA website. HA has several versatile swimmers it can place on this relay; who swims on it at sectionals and (presumably) state will depend on how HA arranges its other two strong relays. But pencil in Goral for the butterfly leg; she's the key to the potential success of this relay.

-- Badger-Big Foot's Emily Russart with a 1:04.15 in the 100 breaststroke; like Goral, Russart is a two-time defending champion in the event. Only Russart herself swam faster at last year's D1 state meet.

With the season about halfway done, swim teams will start to gear up for conference and sectional meets, and face each other in some of the bigger invitationals of the season. Look for more fast times as the season progresses.