Arrowhead captures second big win

Hartland Arrowhead continued to stake a claim on being the top Div. 1 team in the state, coming away with a dominant win at the Metro Swim Officials Invite at Mequon Homestead HS Tuesday.

It's the second big invitational win for HA; earlier this month, they topped defending D1 champs Madison Memorial at the Barracuda Invite at Brookfield East.

Arrowhead captured the holiday-season meet at Homestead with 476 points, easily topping second-place Bayport (347). Lake Forest, a strong Chicago-area swim program which won this meet last year, finished 3rd (301), with D2 power Whitefish Bay (238) and Menomonee Falls/Hamilton/Germantown (220) rounding out the top 5.

HA, ranked #1 in the latest state coaches D1 poll, was led by junior breaststroker Brent Schreibel, an emerging force in the event, and backstroker Chris Jenkyns. In a meet that featured a mix of high school and college-level events, Schreibel took both the 100-yard and 200-yard breaststrokes, the latter by a mere three-tenths of a second over Homestead's Cody Burkard in one of the best races of the meet. Jenkyns added wins in the 100 back (54.49) and 200 back (2:00.89). Sophomore Jake Prodoehl contributed a win in the 500 free (4:58.75), and Jenkyns, Schreibel, and Prodoehl joined flyer Cody Roller to capture the 200 medley relay (1:41.60).

Arrowhead this year brought a lot of state-meet experience to the table, but needed to show its top swimmers could swim with the best in the state. Led by Schreibel and Jenkyns, HA looks like a top contender for the D1 state title in February.

Other highights of the meet:

-- Despite finishing second by more than 100 points, Bayport's runner-up finish should not be overlooked. The Pirates returned a strong core of swimmers this year that's been augmented by the return of senior Andrew Sumnicht, who skipped his junior year of high school swimming to focus on club swimming. Sumnicht, who qualified for the state meet as a sophomore, had a solid meet with a win in the 200 IM (2:00.74) over Greenfield/Greendale's Matt Jungers (2:00.88) in the best race of the day, along with a 3rd in the 400 IM. Bayport also got a win in the 50 free from junior James Killian (22.32), and a very good meet from senior Ryan Keuler, who had 2nd-place finishes in the 100 free (48.66) and 200 free (1:46.22). The three swimmers also joined senior Mitch King to win the 200 free relay (1:29.83) in a time that's faster than any posted on the WISCA top-30 list so far. Bayport certainly looks to be one of the favorites at the Neenah sectional, and could make some serious noise at the D1 state meet.

-- Greenfield/Greendale junior Jack Lennertz, second last year at the D1 state meet in the 100 fly, won both fly events at the meet -- a dominant, near-7-second win in the 200 fly (1:55.74) and the 100 fly (52.23). Lennertz is looking this year to add another state fly title to the family mantle; sister Jenna was a four-time D2 state champ in the 100 fly.

-- The match-up between D2 powers Whitefish Bay and Shorewood was a bit of a letdown, as both teams were missing top swimmers -- sprinter Chuckie Prestigiacomo for WB, and Kasmir Bohannon and Stephen Meyer for Shorewood. Without two of its best swimmers, Shorewood finished 8th at the meet with 143.5 points.

-- One of the most impressive wins of the night came from Brookfield Academy's Jack Donovan, who won the 100 free in 48.59. Donovan swam the 200 free last year at the D2 state meet, finishing 6th. With three of the top four finishers in the 200 free returning in D2, might Donovan opt for the 100 free, where three of the top four finishers last year graduated? We'll find out -- Donovan's winning 100 free time is faster than any time posted on the D2 top-30 list for the event so far.

UPDATE: Some very good photos of the meet here:

http://www.mequonnow.com/multimedia/photos/80352897.html

UPDATE 2: Results here...
2009 Metro Swim Officials Results Splits