In what one observer called a "sprinting clinic," Sturgeon Bay/Sevastopol swept to the title at the Shorewood Invitational (otherwise known as Small School State) with a convincing 271-232 over the host team. SB/S's win, combined with its strong showing earlier this season at the Wisconsin Girls Invitational (where it finished ahead of three-time defending state champ DeForest), stamps the Clippers as a legitimate threat to unseat the Norskies from the state D2 throne.
Meet highlights:
-- SB/S won the medley and 200 free relays, the latter in a very quick 1:39.21, and got a win from freshman sensation Savanna Townsend in the 50 free. They also added a host of strong finishes in individual events, with Townsend picking up a 3rd in the 200 free, her sister Sierra a 3rd in the 200 IM and 2nd in the 100 free, and Michaela Rabas a 3rd in the 100 back. This is a well-balanced team -- the kind of team that's likely to qualify individuals in depth for state, and put together solid relays. That's usually the formula for doing well at state.
-- SB/S's Savanna Townsend continues to impress. In the 50 free, she beat Whitefish Bay's Maggie Smith -- the runner-up in this event the past two years at state -- by .64 seconds, a big margin in swimming's shortest event. Her winning time of 24.54 has not been bettered by anyone this year in D2, according to the state coach's top-30 listings. She also broke 2 minutes in the 200 free, and finished only behind state meet veterans Elli Sellinger of Shorewood and Chloe Bartuska of McFarland. Freshman of the year in D2? I'm not sure anyone else is in the running.
-- In a match-up between the top two finishers from last year's state meet in the 500 free, defending champion Kelsey Hojan-Clark (5:00.52) won easily over Shorewood's Clare Chamberlain (5:17.10). For good measure, Hojan-Clark -- a remarkably versatile swimmer who could probably have her pick of any two events for state qualifying and do well -- won the 100 butterfly in 58.74, easily topping Berlin/Green Lake's Siri Smits (1:00.25).
-- Sellinger and Chamberlain did have very solid meets for the host squad, with Sellinger taking both the 200 and 100 frees (1:55.63 and 53.73) and Chamberlain -- two-time state champ in the event -- taking the 200 IM (2:08.63) by nearly three seconds over Grafton senior Sadie Nenning. The pair also swam on Shorewood's winning 400 free relay, which won by more than three seconds over McFarland.
-- In a match-up between the top two finishers last year in the 100 back at D2 state, Smits beat Nenning quite easily, with a time of 57.47 to 58.93. Nenning swam a very good race, but Smits' time at this point of the season is outstanding. There's a reason Smits' winning time at state last year (55.83) would've won the Div. 1 state title last year; she's that good.
-- In perhaps the best race of the meet, Waukesha Catholic Memorial's Anna Meinholz beat defending state champ Kate Criter of Plymouth in the 100 breaststroke, with McFarland's Stirling Smith finishing 3rd -- the three swimmers were separated by only about half-a-second. All three swimmers finished in the top 4 last year at state, and all broke the previous state record in the event. All posted solid times, as well, with Meinholz finishing in 1:07.44.
(Note to organizers: If this meet is intended -- as it always has been in the past -- to showcase some of the state's top Div. 2 squads, it would be helpful to invite just Div. 2 squads. Waunakee, which finished 6th overall at the meet and had several top-6 finishes, has been a Div. 1 squad now for two years.)
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6 comments:
The folks running the meet had an number of technical and administrative "challenges" this weekend. The organizers need to do better in those areas if they want this to continue to be a premier event.
Wonder where Milton would have finished at this meet.
James:
A guess on my part, but an educated one: certainly 3rd, maybe 2nd, depending on how Milton arranged its lineup and esp. its relays.
Final team scores: Sturgeon Bay 271; Shorewood 232; McFarland 208; Edgewood 203; Grafton 190.
Sturgeon Bay really swam well at this meet; I'm not sure if Milton would've been able to match them. One reason is that this meet was really deep in the events Milton's Jennah Haney often swims in -- breaststroke, 200 IM and 200 free. So, the 40 points that one might expect to get out of Haney in a big invite like this would not have necessarily been a sure thing Saturday. Shorewood's Sellinger and Chamberlain are certainly a match for Haney, but my sense in looking at these results is that Milton has a bit more depth than Shorewood. It also would've been fun to see the top 4 finishers from last year's D2 meet in the breaststroke go at it again.
One close observor of D2 swimming I've talked to thinks D2 state may come down to Sturgeon Bay vs. Milton. If that's the case, it will be interesting in particular to see how those two teams line up their relays; Sturgeon Bay looks to be able to put together two really strong relays. I'm curious whether Milton will stack two relays with Haney, Stacey Kincaide, and the Holmquist twins, or try to spread their top six swimmers out among three relays.
What was Madison Edgewood's time in the 200 free relay because in the JS online it had them tying Sturgeon Bay?
EW swam the 200 free relay in 1:43.60 for 2nd place.
One of the things that made St. Bay's day impressive was the margin of victories in their two relays. They swam a 1:52.89 to win the medley over a Shorewood medley that swam a 1:54.41 and included both Sellinger and Chamberlain. And they won the 200 free relay by nearly 4-and-a-half seconds; that's an enormous margin in that relay -- more than a second per swimmer on average.
Whatever happened to Alexa Statz and Lexi Smith from Sturgeon Bay? I believe as freshmen they were both on the state podium and they should be seniors this year? With those two Sturgeon Bay would be unstoppable wouldn't they?
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