It used to be a rare event when someone broke the 5 minute barrier in the girls 500 free.
In Div. 2, it's been accomplished six times by the event winner -- in 1995, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2005, and last year by Brookfield Academy's Kelsey Hojan-Clark, who just missed the state record of 4:53.94 when she swam a 4:54.18.
In Div. 1, it's been even more rare -- once in 1992, twice by Middleton's Courtney Veerman in 2005 and 2006, and then by Madison East's Aja Van Hout in 2007. That is, until last year. 2008 was a breakthrough year in the 500 free in D1, as four swimmers broke the magical 5-minute mark, led by Van Hout's record-setting 4:48.60. The others: Muskego's duo of Brittany Walsh (4:52.87) and Jessica Wolf (4:57.78) and Middleton's Katie Delaney (4:54.65). Waukesha South/Mukwonago's Courtney Sheehan came close in finishing 5th with a time of 5:00.85.
It could be even faster this year in Div. 1. Last night, Madison West junior Ilsa Feierabend ripped off a 5:04.95 500 in a dual meet against Sun Prairie in the dungeon that is the Madison West pool. That's faster than Feierabend went last year at state, when she swam a 5:05.70 to place 8th. Earlier this year, Brookfield East's Sara Brzozowski - 19th last year at state -- swam a 5:06 in a dual meet, more than 11 seconds faster than what she swam at state. Several other swimmers this year have gone under 5:10, according to the state coaches top-30 time list, and it's not unusual for swimmers to drop up to 10 seconds or more as they taper for the end of the season.
Could we see a final-heat 500 free in Div. 1 this year with everyone going under 5 minutes? It may not be a stretch -- the D1 500 free is loaded this year, with the top eight finishers from last year's state meet, as well as 16 of the top 17 finishers, returning. In all, 20 of the 24 qualifiers for last year's D1 500 free return.
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It wasn't that long ago that high school girls still did the 100 IM, the 200was considered too long. Part of the drop in 500 times could be the influx of true distance swimmers, especially year around distance swimmers into the high school ranks. Even now, high school swimmng favors freestyle sprints. A lot of times you had a strong swimmer, who was really training for sprinting, trying to hang on for a 500. Now you have swimmers who swim the 1650 and 1500 at younger ages. They specialize in distance before they even get to high school. For many the 500 is already their "short" event by the time they are freshman.
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