More results from last weekend

Catching up on results from last weekend -- some of the last big invites before conference and sectionals begin.

In the dog-bites-man category of swim news, Hartland-Arrowhead won another invite, this one at Highlander Invite at Mequon Homestead. In all seriousness, HA deserves credit for swimming very well against some of the top teams in the state, and winning easily. The team scored 417 points, with individual wins from freshman Julia Mikota (50 free), sophomore Kate Jones (100 back),junior Emma Goral (100 fly), and senior Caryn Knight (100 breaststroke). They also got wins from their medley and 200 free relays. The most surprising win came from Jones, who beat defending state champ Jackie Powell of Madison Memorial in the backstroke. Jones swam a 58.73, a tenth-of-a-second faster than she swam last year when she finished 6th in the event at state. She could certainly give Powell a run for the money in this event come state meet time.

And here's the other scary thing about HA -- the strength of this team is its underclassmen. Led by Mikota, HA has added several top freshman to go along with a group of swimmers that doesn't depend on too many seniors besides Knight to score the bulk of its points. In fact, some of the fiercest competition HA will likely face this season will be narrowing its squad down to the 16 or so picks for slots to swim at sectionals (HA had two underclassmen divers score at last year's state meet.)

"We knew we'd be up against really tough competition," Arrowhead coach Jennifer Leider told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel after the meet. "I stressed to the girls that this is the time to show me what you've got because they're going to be vying for spots at sectionals. They really performed well and I'm proud of them. Their times are right there. They know what's at stake. They know that everybody's gunning for them. They've been really focused and really working hard."

Memorial outswam a number of strong teams for second place, with 261.5 points, followed by Waukesha South/Mukwonago (212), Mequon Homestead (200), Burlington (189), Middleton (143), and Muskego (129). Memorial coach Jason Verhelst acknowledged the tough chore facing D1 teams this year going up against HA:

"Arrowhead right now in the state of Wisconsin for girls swimming is the measuring stick," he told the Milwaukee paper. "In the last couple of meets, (teams measure themselves) by how close they are to them in the final tally. For us, we've got to match that intensity and get as close to them as we can. (This meet) is a good indicator for the team, and it's a good indicator for individuals that want to make state. If you finish in the top 16 here, you've got a pretty good shot of making it to state."

Over at Fort Atkinson, defending D2 champ DeForest -- minus top senior swimmer Lindsey Verhulst -- won the Fort Invite pretty handily, with 355 points to 322 for runner-up Oregon. (Fort finished 3rd with 311.5 points, followed by Sauk Prairie -- 283; Badger-Big Foot-Williams Bay -- 282; and Monona Grove -- 273.5).

DeForest won despite its three relays finishing no higher than 3rd (400 free relay; both the medley and 200 free relays finished 5th). But distance ace Casey Wolter continued her strong season with wins in the 200 and 500 frees, and sophomore Leah Winckler added a win in the 200 IM. As usual, DeForest relied on depth not found on other D2 teams in the two longest freestyle races; the Norskies racked up 90 points in the 200 and 500 frees.

One of the best races of the day came in the 100 free, when Sauk Prairie junior Alison Meng (54.50) edged Oregon senior Rachel Walsh (54.57) and BBF's Maddie Clark, 8th in this event last year at D1 state (55.06). Meng has been having a solid season so far; with her win at the Fort Invite in the 100 free, it will be interesting to see whether she switches over to the event instead of the back and fly that she swam last year at sectionals and state.