Tuesday, December 29, 2009

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

Saturday, December 26, 2009

An update on Garrett Weber-Gale

Here's a good story by the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel's Gary D'Amato on Garrett Weber-Gale, arguably the most notable swimmer to come out of Wisconsin's high schools.

http://www.jsonline.com/sports/etc/80120667.html

Weber-Gale swam for Nicolet High School, and still holds state Div. 1 records in the 100 free (43.49) and back (49.73). He went on to swim at the University of Texas following his high school career. He swam a leg on the United States' famous winning 400-meter free relay at the 2008 Beijing Olympics that featured Michael Phelps; the photo of Weber-Gale and Phelps celebrating the come-from-behind victory is one of the more famous swimming photos of recent history.

Note to all aspiring swimmers out there -- Weber-Gale swam on "C" relays while a freshman at Nicolet.

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Big 8 tilt goes to Mad. Memorial

In a big early-season test for Madison Memorial, the Spartans easily handled Big 8 rival Verona in a tri-dual at Janesville Craig Friday night.

Memorial used its superior depth to outpoint the Wildcats 106-64. The teams split 10 of the 11 races in the meet, but Memoria's three relay wins, combined with plenty of 2nd-through-5th places, gave it the victory over Verona. Michael Drives was the lone individual winner for the Spartans, taking the 200 free (1:46.91) and the breaststroke (1:01.24). Verona's Derek Toomey continued his strong season with wins in both sprints (22.02 50 free; 48.74 100 free), and was joined as a double-winner for the Wildcats by junior Spencer Ritt (54.84 fly/58.62 back).

In the best race of the night, Verona senior Jacob Olandt just out-touched Memorial sophomore Patrick Franken in the 500 free, 4:55.98 to 4:55.99. If anyone is hankering for a spot in the D1 state meet this year, it's certainly Olandt. Two years ago, he came within three spots of qualifying for state. Last year, his sectional time of 5:00.31 was the 24th-fastest in the state, but he was knocked out of the state meet by a slower automatic sectional winner qualifier. His times so far indicate he's determined to take his place on the starting blocks this year in the 500.

One final note -- keep an eye on Janesville Craig junior Alex Loftus. His win in the 200 IM was the only one by a Craig swimmer at the meet, and his time -- 2:02.88 -- is one of the fastest posted in D1 this season.

Swim polls and top-30 times

As the boys season heads into the traditional mid-season holiday break from meets, it's worth a mention to encourage boys coaches to submit times to the WISCA coaches website, which compiles top-30 times for both D1 and D2 and uses those times to calculate its poll of the top 10 teams in the state.

The first poll is out (http://www.wisca.net/polls), and although (conflict alert -- my son swims for Monona Grove) I'd like to think Monona Grove has improved enough to rank 2nd in the state for D2, I'm objective enough to think that's not an accurate reflection of the pecking order in D2 this year.

As previously mentioned, the beauty of the WISCA poll -- as opposed to polls in other sports like football and basketball -- is that it's totally merit-driven, based solely on times. But the poll can only be accurate if a full complement of coaches are submitting their team's times. So coaches --if you have a few minutes during the holiday break -- submit those times!

Here's the first WISCA poll of the season:

D1

1 -- Arrowhead
2 -- Madison Memorial
3 -- Sauk Prairie-Wisconsin Heights
4 -- New Berlin West-Eisenhower
5 -- Madison West
6 -- Janesville Craig
7 -- Fond du Lac
8 -- DeForest-Sun Prairie
9 -- Waukesha North-Kettle Moraine

D2
1 -- McFarland
2 -- Monona Grove
3 -- Plymouth
4 -- Grafton
5 -- Medford

Wisconsin Valley Conference results

Kudos to the Wisconsin Valley Conference, which has an excellent website that posts results from lots of athletic contests, including swimming. Here's the conference website:

http://www.wvcstats.org/index.html

Click on the tab for "Boys Swimming," and then on "Schedule/Results" listed above the conference standings for a rundown on meets in the conference. Click on an individual meet to get results. They even have archived results of conference meets going back several years. Well done.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Barracuda Invite: Arrowhead tops Mad. Memorial

In one of the first big meets of the boys season, Hartland Arrowhead topped defending Div. 1 state champs Madison Memorial at the Barracuda Invitational at Brookfield East High School Wednesday night.

Arrowhead swam to a 497-444 victory over the Spartans as the two teams dominated the six-team invite. Brookfield finished 3rd with 305.5 points, followed by Middleton (286.5), Marquette (274), and Brookfield Academy (143).

Arrowhead won the meet with a strong display of team depth (in a meet that counted only one relay for points, but allowed 30+ individual entries per team). Arrowhead also picked up 29 points in diving to to 14 for Memorial. Memorial won two relays to one for Arrowhead, and each team won three individual events. Arrowhead, 4th last year at the state meet after having won four state titles this decade, will certainly get a motivational boost from beating the defending state champs.

Leading the way for HA was senior Chris Jenkyns, who took the 500 (4:52.86), was 2nd in the back (54.51), and led off his team's winning medley relay. Also winning for HA: sophomore Jake Prodoehl in the very fast 200 free (1:46.48) and junior Brent Schreibel in the breaststroke (1:02.83 -- a commanding win by 1.4 seconds).

For Memorial, senior Michael Drives took the 200 IM in a state-leading 1:56.53 (his winning margin was more than six seconds) and the 100 free in 48.22. Sophomore Ben Anderson added a win in the 50 free (22.53) by a clear half-second -- a pretty big margin for the shortest race of the meet.

Other meet highlights:

-- As mentioned, the 200 free was a terrific race, with Prodoehl edging a solid field that saw five swimmers go under 1:51. Interestingly, the first three finishers in the race were sophomores -- Prodoehl was followed to the wall by Marquette's Lucas Kuriga (1:47.67) and Memorial's Patrick Franken (1:48.23).

-- The 500 free/200 free relay is always a tough double to pull off, as the events fall back-to-back on the swim schedule and differ so dramatically. But Franken, an emerging star for the Memorial Spartans, pulled it off with aplomb, as he finished second to Jenkyns in the 500 free (4:58.86), then turned around right away to anchor Memorial's winning 200 free relay (1:31.21).
The host Brookfield team squeezed in between Memorial and HA for 2nd-place in the 200 free relay with a time of 1:31.73.

-- Brookfield Academy's super twosome of juniors Jack Donovan and Jonathan Marks had solid performances -- Donovan won the fly (53.38) and added a 5th in the 200 free (1:50.87), while Marks garnered a 3rd in the breaststroke (1:05.51) and a 4th in the IM (2:06.18).

-- Marquette senior Michael Donofrio dominated the competition in diving, winning by more than 60 points with a score of 424.70. Donofrio led the state diving competition at one point during last year's meet before falling to 4th; he's one of the favorites to take the D1 state diving crown this year.

-- Watch out for Memorial's 400 free relay; the quartet of Franken, Michael Salerno, Anderson and Drives has the look of a very good relay, and their winning time of 3:17.08 (more than three seconds over runner-up HA) is solid for this time of the season. With a meet on the line and the outcome hanging on the 400 free relay, Drives isn't a bad guy to have anchoring.

(Thanks to Barracuda Invite meet manager Chad Knutson for forwarding results.)

UPDATE: Results here...
Barracuda Invite Meet Results

The Iowa pipeline continues

The University of Iowa continues to look to Wisconsin high schools for swim recruits. Iowa just announced this year's recruits, and they included four top Wisconsin high school swimmers:

-- Katelyn Baltes of Verona;
-- Abby Tuchscherer of Oshkosh West;
-- Elise Borja of Waukesha South/Mukwonago;
-- Tyler Lentz of Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights.

Here's a rundown:

http://www.collegeswimming.com/news/2009/dec/15/iowa-women-sign-nine/

In the past two years, the Hawkeyes have lured state champs Tommy Ratdke of Cedarburg and Byron Butler of New Berlin to Iowa City. Look for even more recruiting trips by Iowa into Wisconsin in the coming years; it's hard to imagine this (http://www.recserv.uiowa.edu/geninfo/construction/eastcampus.htm)



won't continue to be a lure for Wisconsin swimmers, especially compared to this:



An emerging 500 swimmer -- Kiel/EL-G's Nic Halverson

Sometimes, a close miss can serve as a motivation. That appears to be the case with sophomore Nic Halverson of the Divison 2 Kiel/Elkhart Lake-Glenbeulah co-op swim team.

Last year as a freshman, Halverson just missed qualifying for the D2 state meet in the 500 free. His time of 5:12.44 fell less than 1.2 seconds away from making into the state meet -- not much in the longest event swum at the high school level.

Halverson's looking to make amends this year. So far he's swum two of the fastest 500 free times in the state for D2 swimmers -- a 5:05.34 in a tri-dual meet against Plymouth and West Bend, and then a 5:02.61 to capture 1st place at the Oshkosh West Invite. In the latter race, he outdueled Appleton North/East's Jake Iotte (himself one of the best young 500 free swimmers in the state; he was 5th last year at the D1 state meet in the event) by just under a second.

The D2 500 free is fairly deep this season -- 12 of the 16 state qualifiers from last year return this season. But Halverson's early-season times suggest he'll be a factor in the race come Feburary.

UPDATE: Some results from yesterday are posted in the comments section -- thanks!

Sunday, December 13, 2009

No mercy -- McFarland romps at Fort Invite

The British pop singer Duffy raced to the top of the music charts last year with her song "Mercy" that featured the refrain: "I'm begging you for mercy."

High school swimmers may want to add the song to their I-Pods/phones/touches when they go up against McFarland this year. Against a pretty good field of teams, the Spartans romped to victory at the Blackhawk Invite at Fort Atkinson HS Saturday. McFarland easily topped a solid Verona squad 452-380, with Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights (last year's D1 state runner-up) in 3rd (247), Madison Edgewood (T-4th last year at D2 state) in 4th (234.5) and the host Blackhawks in 5th (219). Even more impressive -- the Spartans routed the field without top sprinter Peter Grenzow, who took the meet off to take college-prep exams.

Looking sharp for McFarland were senior Brian Heiser and sophomore Ryan O'Donnell. Heiser looked like he's ready to defend his D2 state title in the 200 free with a 1.34-second win in the 200 free (1:46.62) over Edgewood senior Chase Stevens (1:47.96). O'Donnell won the 200 IM over Verona's Spencer Ritt in an impressive early-season time of 2:01.90. Owing in part to Grenzow's absence (a key member of McFarland's relays the past few years), the Spartans didn't win any relays, but (in a meet that allowed both A and B relays for scoring) utilized its great depth to earn top-8 finishes by both relays in each of the three relay events.

One indication of the Spartans' depth -- junior Geof Glover. Last year, McFarland was so deep Glover only swam one event at the sectional qualifying meet -- the 100 back, in which he qualified for state. This year he appears poised to add the 200 IM, as he raced to 3rd place at the meet with an impressive 2:08.08 -- a time that would've qualified for state last year in the event. He added a 4th-place finish in the backstroke.

Other meet highlights:

-- Verona's Derek Toomey won both sprint showdowns with Sauk's Matt Friede, winning the 50 free (21.55 to 21.81) and the 100 free (47.73 to 47.94). As someone said to me after the meet, it's not that the Purdue-bound Friede is swimming slow early in the season; it's that Toomey is razor-sharp early on. These two will see more of each other throughout the season, including the Madison West Invite in January and the Middleton sectionals.

-- Sauk's Iowa-bound Tyler Lentz and Edgewood junior Drew teDuits went up against each other twice, with each winning once. Lentz topped teDuits, one of the best juniors in the state, 52.18 to 53.19 in the fly, but teDuits came back to beat out Lentz in the backstroke, 52.50 to 52.80, with O'Donnell coming in 3rd at 53.90. It will be interesting the see where these two swimmers line up at sectionals; Lentz, who won the 200 IM at D1 state last year, was third at state in the back, and the other top-five finishers in the backstroke all graduated. teDuits, fresh off an appearance at the short-course nationals meet in Washington, will certainly swim the back as the defending D2 state champ. He's a very good flier, but also finished 2nd in the 50 free at D2 state (and last year's state champ graduated).

-- The three top teams battled it out in the meet's final event, and Friede helped Sauk pull out the win in the 400 free relay with a 46.99 anchor leg. Toomey's 46.53 anchor leg was not quite enough, as Sauk ended up winning with a 3:21.87 to Verona's 3:22.49. McFarland back-loaded its 400 free relay, and despite two sub-49-second splits from Heiser and O'Donnell, had to settle for third with a 3:22.97 -- all solid early-season times.

Friday, December 11, 2009

Arrowhead beats W. South/Cath. Memorial in early-season tilt

In a big early season match-up between two of the better Milwaukee-area D1 squads, Hartland Arrowhead beat Waukesha South/Catholic Memorial 104-79 Thursday night.

Arrowhead utilized its superior depth to capture the win between two squads expected to be among the top D1 teams come state meet time in February. Arrowhead took two of the three relays and went 1-2 in the diving to help capture the win.

It was a terrific meet with some very close races. In the 200 free, state meet veterans Ryan Finke of WS/CM and Jake Prodoehl of HA hooked up in the 200 free, with Finke just edging Prodoehl by a mere two-hundreths of a second (1:47.89 to 1:47.91). WS/CM's Collin Neitzel, a double-threat this year at the state meet in the 200 IM and 100 breaststroke, just beat out HA's Cody Roller in the 200 IM (2:03.58 to 2:03.95). Prodoehl came back in the 100 free to top WS/CM's Eric Oberst in the 100 free, 49.28 to 49.55. Brent Schreibel of HA pulled off a mild upset in the 100 breaststroke, topping Neitzel 1:03.16 to 1:03.53.

These two teams will cross paths again this season, including the Waukesha South sectional. Both showed Thursday they have a lot of swimmers likely to be making appearances at the UW Natatorium come February. (Thanks to Danni Caldwell for meet results.)

Plymouth tops Sheboygan North

It's almost always a good meet with D2 Plymouth goes up against its D1 neighbors to the east, Sheboygan North and South. Last night, Plymouth topped North 101-85 in a meet that saw the Panthers win 10 of 12 events, including all three relays. Junior Brian Linzmeyer set a new school record in the 100 backstroke with a time of 58.40. Results here from the Sheboygan Press (a paper others in the state much larger would do well to emulate in terms of covering high school swimming):

http://www.sheboyganpress.com/article/20091211/SHE020507/912110571/1089/SHE02

Speaking of Plymouth, here's a nice story on how local swim parents (are there any more dedicated parents in high school athletics?) raised more than $30,000 to buy a new timing and diving system for the high school pool, which annually hosts both girls and boys D2 sectional meets:

http://www.plymouth.k12.wi.us/news/120709pool.htm

SB/S's Savanna Townsend named Green Bay-area swimmer of the year

After leading her Sturgeon Bay/Sevastopol girls team to its first-ever Div. 2 state championship, it should come as no surprise that freshman Savanna Townsend has been named swimmer of the year by the Green Bay Press-Gazette.

Here's the full story:

http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/article/20091211/GPG020507/912110500/-1/varsity

Few freshman have made as big of an impact at the D2 state meet as Townsend did this past season, but it's always refreshing to hear these kind of "there's no I in team" comments come from someone of her ability: "I wouldn't consider myself the head of the team at all," she told the paper. "The team, the captains, they have a lot of responsibility and they do a great job. It's not just one person that takes the lead."

See this link for the rest of the Press-Gazette's all-area girls swim team:

http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/article/20091211/GPG020507/912110499/0/GPG020507/Girls-swimming-Press-Gazette-all-area-team

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Hunting for another title -- Milton's Jeff Maxwell

At first glance, Milton's Jeff Maxwell doesn't look like a championship swimmer. With a compact frame and sturdy build, he looks like he might fit in as a linebacker on his high school football team.

And although a hard worker in the pool, he's not necessarily a slave to the water; fall mornings in late November are just as likely to find him in out in the fields with his rifle (surely he's one of the few -- if not only -- top-tier high school swimmers in the Wisconsin to have his picture published in the local newspaper with his 14-point buck with a 20-inch spread -- this from 2007):


But Maxwell has been one of Division 2's top swimmers since his freshman year; in six individual swims at the state meet, he's never finished lower than 4th. He's also swum on six Milton relays that have qualified for state, including three that have earned top-six podium finishes.

This year, the senior swimmer has set off with one top goal in mind -- recapture his Division 2 title in the 500 free. Maxwell won the 500 free as a sophomore, edging Cedarburg's Tommy Radtke by less than .30 seconds to win in 4:42.72. He also finished 2nd to Radtke in the 200 free that year. Last year, despite improving his time in each event, he finished lower on the podium -- 4th in the 200 free, and second to McFarland senior Graham Thoresen in the 500 free by a mere .23 seconds in the 500 free. Now he's back for one last try at the 500, as well as working to help his Milton teammates defend the Badger South Conference title the Red Hawks won in their first year in the conference.

Name: Jeff Maxwell
School: Milton High School
Year: Senior
Favorite event to swim: 500 Free
Proudest accomplishment as a swimmer: Earning a college scholarship to UW- Milwaukee.
Favorite swimming memory: Sophomore year state championship in the 500 Free.
Favorite non-swimming activity: Hunting and Fishing
Favorite food: Chicken Alfredo
Music you listen to get psyched up for a meet: Depends on my mood, either rock or rap.
Role model: My parents
Favorite swimmer: Ryan Lochte
Family: Jeff (father), Monica (mother), Katie (sister)
Plans after high school: Attend college at UWM and graduate with a BS from the College of Health Sciences, then apply to a college of pharmacy
Career goal: Pharmacist

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

More results from last weekend

More highlights from last weekend:

-- New Berlin won the Comet Invitational at Delavan-Darien, with 435 points to 410 for runner-up Milton (410). Fort Atkinson (380), Lake Geneva Badger/Big Foot (267.5), and the host Comets (242) rounded out the top five finishers. NB won 8 of 11 events at the meet, taking all three relays quite easily. Jasen Johnson contributed two wins each along with two legs on the winning relays, while Alex Rodenkirk (200 IM -- 2:02.99) and Josh Solie (50 free -- 22.84) also contributed wins. Johnson's 1.01.14 in the 100 breaststroke set a meet record. Also setting a meet record was Milton distance ace Jeff Maxwell, who posted a 4:49.81 in the 500 free; Maxwell also took the 200 free (1:48.82). Earlier last week, Rodenkirk broke two NB pool records in a dual meet against Wauwatoa East/West, including a 1:45.36 200 free that broke a record that had stood for 33 years. Rodenkirk also broke the pool 100 free record at the meet with a 47.99, while Johnson topped the pool record in the 100 breaststroke. (Thanks to Faith Rodenkirk of New Berlin for information on the two meets.)

-- Hartford posted a win at its own Hartford Relays, winning 82 to 80 over Sheboygan South in the all-relay meet. In an interesting twist, Hartford and Sheboygan South had a showdown in the 10-by-50 free "Battle Royale" relay to determine the winner of the meet; Hartford won 4:03.84 to South's 4:05.35 to take first place in the meet.

-- Waukesha South/Catholic Memorial won the Compass Meet Friday night with 548 points, topping runner-up Watertown with 507 points. Waukesha West finished third with 458, followed by Waukesha North/Kettle Moraine 4th (411) and Appleton West/Kimberly 5th (266). Colin Neitzel was a double-winner for WS/CM in the 200 IM (2:04.55) and 100 breaststroke (1:03.20), as was Noah Potratz (500 free -- 4:47.42; 100 back -- 59.05). Ryan Finke (200 free -- 1:47.52) and Alex Swain (100 free -- 50.48) also contributed wins for the team. Watertown's Nick Wolhaupter was a double winner in the 50 free (22.12) and 100 fly (53.39).

-- Marquette (174 points) won the Cougar Relays at Janesville Craig over Menomonee Falls/Hamilton/Germantown (160) in a meet that the MF/H/G co-op might have won save for a DQ on its first-place 400 IM relay that won by more than six seconds. Craig (142), Janesville Parker (122) and Monona Grove (110) rounded out the top five. The host Cougars set a meet record in the 300 breaststroke relay, as Spencer Mattox, Nick Strub and Alex Loftus teamed up to win in 3:16.75. Also setting meet records were the MF/H/G 4-by-100 IM relay and Marquette's backstroke relay. The best race of the day came in the 400 free relay, where two relays that qualified for the state meet last year -- D1 MF/H/G and D2 Monona Grove -- battled it out. In the end, MF/H/G star Sean Kimmitt held off MG's Aaron Pomeroy to give his relay a 3:29.98 to 3:30.11 win; the winning time also set a meet record.

-- Led by sophomore Josh Lefeber, Franklin won the Cudahy Packer Small School Invite with 299 points to 291 for runner-up Oak Creek. The host Packers finished 3rd with 192 points, followed by Beaver Dam Wayland Academy (192) and Fond du Lac (157). LeFeber set two meet records -- a 1:51.24 in the 200 free (beating a record that had been held by former state champ Michael Schultz of Martin Luther) and 1:05.26 in the 100 breaststroke. LeFeber also anchored Franklin's winning 200-yard free relay. (Thanks to Oak Creek's Marvin Vissers for results.)

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

D2 news -- Milton moved to Baraboo sectional

On the WIAA website, Milton -- which for most of the decade has swum at the Cudahy sectional with other southeastern Wisconsin D2 teams -- has been moved to the Baraboo sectional. The move was apparently precipitated by the inclusion of Milwaukee's Pius XI High School into the Cudahy sectional (previously a D1 school for swimming). Nicolet HS, whose enrollment dropped it down to D2 this year after being in D1, had already been placed in the Cudahy sectional, and the addition of Pius XI would've put 14 teams into that sectional.

Here's the sectional line-up:

http://www.wiaawi.org/swimmingboys/assignments.pdf

The move makes sense, as Milton's Badger Conference brethren all swim at the Baraboo sectional. But the addition of Milton to the Baraboo sectional will make an already strong sectional that much better, as Milton returns one of the state's best D2 swimmers -- Jeff Maxwell -- along with strong depth displayed at last week's Badger Conference Relays meet. The Baraboo sectional last year qualified 57 swimmers and relays for the state meet (second only to the Cudahy sectional with 62), and features three-time defending champ McFarland and a Madison Edgewood squad that finished tied for 4th last year at state.

A team on the rise -- Berlin/Green Lake

At last year's D2 boys state meet, one team that caught my eye was Berlin/Green Lake. It wasn't so much that the B/GL co-op did well -- they scored 37 points to finish 17th overall -- but that the team did it with all underclassmen, including two very good freshmen in Greg Hameister and Dylan Young.

This past weekend, the B/GL showed they are ready to make even more noise. The team finished second at the Oshkosh West Invite, trailing only traditional D1 Fox Valley power Neenah and beating out a very good Appleton North/East team for third. Plymouth, a solid D2 team returning most of its state swimmers from last year, finished well back of B/GL in 4th. See partial results here from the Oshkosh Northwestern:

http://www.thenorthwestern.com/article/20091206/OSH020507/91205066/1148/OSH02

Hameister led the way for B/GL, with a 2nd and 4th in his individual events and relay legs that helped produce two 2nd-place finishes in the 200 and 400 free relays. But several other B/GL swimmers garnered top-six finishes, an indication the team is adding depth to the four swimmers who took part in last year's state meet.

There is a strong tradition of solid swimming for Berlin/Green Lake; the co-op won the D2 state title as recently as 2001. Early on this season, they certainly look to be one of the contenders for a sectional title at the Plymouth sectional in February.

Monday, December 7, 2009

Verona sprints to big win at Nicolet Invite

The newly formed Verona-Mount Horeb swim co-op (they're neighboring school districts) ventured over to the north suburbs of Milwaukee last Saturday for one of the first big meets of the season, and came away with an impressive win at the Nicolet Sprint Invitational. The Wildcats scored 336.5 points to win over D2 powers Whitefish Bay (318) and Shorewood (284.5). Middleton (279.5) and Madison East (186) rounded out the top five.

It's not surprising that a sprint invitational would be dominated by solid sprinters, and Verona/MH has a good one in senior Derek Toomey. He posted wins in the 50 free (21.55) by more than a second over Whitefish Bay's Chuckie Prestigiacomo, one of the better D2 sprinters in the state, and raced to a truly impressive four-second win in the 100 free in 47.30. That's not far off the time Toomey swam last year at the D1 state meet (47.17) to finish 5th. There are a bunch of top D1 sprinters back this year, but Toomey's performance Saturday certainly stamps him as a top contender in the two sprints come Februrary.

Toomey's contributions were augmented by a strong meet from junior Spencer Ritt, who won both the 100 and 200 IMs. The 200 IM was a particularly fun race to watch, as Ritt -- a very good flier and backstroker -- got off to a big lead during the first two strokes and then held off a hard-charging Jay Tomasiewicz of Shorewood. In the end, Ritt just held off Tomasiewicz 2:04.51 to 2:05.62. Verona also got a strong meet from senior Jacob Olandt, normally a 500-yard free swimmer who finished second in both the 100 and 200 frees. The Wildcats this year are a deep and veteran team, and with Toomey and Ritt have two top-tier swimmers. It will interesting to see them tangle -- frequently, as it turns out -- with defending D1 champs Madison Memorial this year. The two Big Eight schools will swim against each other in dual, conference and sectional meets this year, as well as some invites.

As for the rest of the meet:

-- The performance of Whitefish Bay and Shorewood should reinforce the notion that the Milwaukee suburban neighbors will be two of the better D2 squads in the state. Topping a very deep Middleton squad at Nicolet is no small feat. The two schools have a number of versatile swimmers, and enough depth to probably put together three state-qualifying relays. Whitefish Bay was particularly impressive in winning the 400 medley relay by nearly seven seconds; the Blue Dukes return all of the swimmers who swam on the team's 3rd-place 200 medley relay last year at state.

-- Madison East senior Robert Miner had a solid meet, with wins in the 200 free (1:48.66) and 50 fly (24.22). The UW-Green Bay recruit had two podium finishes at last year's state meet in the 200 free and 100 fly.

-- Looking for one of those breakout freshmen? Try Grafton 9th grader Al Nenning, whose sisters Sadie and Bailey have been stars for the Grafton girls team for several years. Nenning went up against state meet veterans Ritt and Jason Castillo of Whitefish Bay in the 100 IM and held his own, finishing third. He's already posted some solid times on the WISCA coaches top-30 list.

-- Monona Grove's divers had an impressive first meet, outscoring the field at Nicolet with 44 points behind first-place senior Trevor Sisson, a 4th-place from freshman Patrick Sisson, and a 9th place from junior Austin Anderson. Trevor Sisson, the top returning D2 diver from last year's state meet, won handily, topping Verona's Bill Reilly 407.20 to 362.20.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Submitting results

I'm keenly interested in seeing results from around the state, submitted by coaches, meet organizers, or anyone else for that matter. A couple of commentators said they were having trouble getting through my email address. Here it is:

wimcdade@tds.net

I hope it works; it's worked for others who have seen the blog and contacted me. And thanks for sending any and all results -- it's really appreciated!

(Original post now corrected; thanks for the help!)

http://wiscswim.blogspot.com/2009/12/boys-season-gets-underway.html

Friday, December 4, 2009

Hojan-Clark swims a sub-4:48 500 free

I'm normally reluctant to highlight non-high school season activities, as the primary focus of the blog is high school swimming.

But this bears mentioning. At the Short Course National Championships being held in Federal Way, Wash., Elmbrook Swim Club's Kelsey Hojan-Clark (a junior at Brookfield Academy) yesterday swam a 4:47.96 in the 500 free to finish 14th in the event. That's under the all-time 500 free time swum by a Wisconsin high schooler (4:48.60, swum by Madison East's Aja Van Hout last year at the D1 state meet).

Hojan-Clark, who smashed the D2 state record in the 500 free last month with a time of 4:50.19, swam a 4:49.07 in the short-couse meet prelims, then came back to cut more than a second off that time. You can watch the race here; Hojan-Clark is in Lane 8 at the top of the picture:

http://www.swimnetwork.com/videos/v/20091203/women_s_500yd_free_b_final-17427.html

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Neenah's Spaay named Fox Valley swimmer of the year

Neenah's Amy Spaay, 3rd this year at the D1 state meet in the breaststroke, has been named all-area swimmer of the year by the Appleton Post-Crescent. See story here:

http://www.postcrescent.com/article/20091128/APC020507/911280641/-1/varsity

The rest of the Post-Crescent all-area girls swim team can be found here:

http://www.postcrescent.com/article/20091128/APC020507/911280629/0/varsity

Congrats to Amy for a well-deserved recognition and a fine high school career.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Spartans look sharp

The defending D2 champs, McFarland, took to the water for the first time this season at the Badger Conference (North and South combined) Relays Tuesday night at a crowded Waunakee pool, and had no trouble coming away with a win.

The Spartans easily topped the 11-team field with 166 points, 48 more than runner-up (and defending Badger Conference South champs) Milton. It was close for the next few spots, as Fort Atkinson (106), Edgewood (104) and Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights (104) all finished within two points of each other.

McFarland won four of the 10 events at the all-relay meet, and never finished lower than 4th in any of the relays. Of all things, the Spartans stacked their 4 X 25-yard free relay, which led to the interesting site of defending state champ Brian Heiser (200 free) doing an in-water start ala an 8-year-old for his 25-yard anchor leg.

Sauk won the opening and closing events -- the 400 medley and the 400 free relay -- with lineups that may look very familiar come sectional and state meet time. In the medley, it was backstroker Stephen Hanko leading off, followed by Paul Ballweg (breaststroke), Tyler Lentz (fly) and Matt Friede (free). The relay won by nearly seven seconds over an Edgewood relay that included stars Drew teDuits and Chase Stephens; don't be surprised to see that same Sauk line-up in the regular 200 medley relay toward season's end. The same four swimmers for Sauk then clocked in a respectable 3:23.94 to win the 400 free relay.

UPDATE: Results here...

2009 Badger Conf Relay Results

In other D2 swim news, Ashwaubenon traveled to the Door County Y and beat Sturgeon Bay/Southern Door 106-75 in a non-conference matchup between two traditionally strong D2 programs. Full story here from the Door County Advocate:

http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/article/20091202/ADV02/912020527/0/adv&theme=ADVSPORTS

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Boys season gets underway

With Thanksgiving behind us, it's time for the boys swim season to move into full swing. A number of conferences around the state have their season-opening swim meets tonight (many of them relay-only meets). There is also a good dual meet tonight "Up North," as Ashwaubenon travels to Sturgeon Bay in a match-up that features two teams that finished in the top 10 last year at the D2 state meet. Both teams lost some solid swimmers to graduation, so it will be a good test to see how these two traditional D2 powers look early in the season.

This weekend will see meets and inviationals at Oshkosh West, Cudahy, Nicolet and Janesville Craig, among others. We'll report on them as we get results.

A note (plea?) to coaches, parents, and other interested parties -- feel free to send results (in any format, but PDFs appreciated) to the email at: wimcdade@tds.net or simply post meet scores in the comments section. Thanks for your help in supporting the blog!