The Bayport express keeps rolling along, as the team from the Green Bay suburbs of Howard and Suamico ran up another impressive victory at the Appleton North/East Lightning Invitational Friday.
The Div. 1 Pirates won 9 of 11 events at the meet, sweeping all three relays in the process. They racked up 528 points to finish well ahead of Div. 2 Whitefish Bay, 528-381. The host North/East co-op finished third (322), followed by Sturgeon Bay/Southern Door (221), Brown Deer/University School (200), and Ashwaubenon (195.5).
What makes Bayport a tough team to match up against is their abundance of freestyle sprinters. High school swimming is weighted toward short freestyle races, and the Pirates have a bunch of good ones, evidenced by the team's sweep of the top three spots in the 100 free. Ryan Keuler (48.74) led the way, followed by teammates James Killian (49.91) and Mitch King (50.62). Killian (22.21) and King (23.60) led a 1-3 finish for the team in the 50 free, with Killian easily topping University of Wisconsin recruit Chuckie Prestigiacomo of Whitefish Bay by more than seven-tenths of a second. Keuler added a win in the 200 free (1:46.24) with a four-second win over Appleton North/East's Jake Iotte (1:50.31).
Of course, with an abundance of free sprinters, you're bound to have good free relays, and Bayport has some of the best in the state. Its winning 200 free relay Friday night (Killian, King, Keuler and Andrew Sumnicht) posted a 1:29.32, topping its previous best time this season by nearly half-a-second; only Madison Memorial (1:29.21) has swum a faster 200 free relay time this season among D1 squads according to the lastest state coaches top-30 list. The 400 free relay of King, Sumnicht, Max Van Egeren and Teddy Stackman posted a 3:18.03, more than two seconds faster than its previous best time and 4th-fastest in the state this year among D1 relays, according to the top-30 list. For good measure, the Pirates' medley relay of Keuler on back, Stackman on breaststroke, Van Egeren on fly and Killian on free posted a near-five-second win in the event with a time of 1:40.03, second-fastest in the state and once again topping their previous season best. Sumnicht added a double win in the 200 IM (2:01.91) and 500 free (4:55.25), while Van Egeren cruised to an easy win in the 100 fly with a time of 54 seconds flat.
So far, much of the speculation around the best Div. 1 teams in the state has centered on defending state champs Madison Memorial, #1 ranked Hartland Arrowhead, and a surging Waukesha South/Catholic Memorial squad. It's probably time to add Bayport to that list.
As for the runners-up, Whitefish Bay continued to post a number of impressive swims, particularly its relays. Its relays finished 3rd (medley), 2nd (200 free) and 3rd (400 free) at the meet. Its 200 free relay time of 1:31.18 is faster by more than a second than any other 200 free relay posted yet this year among D2 squads, and its 400 free relay went 3:23.62 -- its fastest of the year, and second-fastest among D2 relays this year. Chris Fink picked up a win in the 100 back (55.89) for the Blue Dukes.
UPDATE: Full results here....
Lightning Invite Results 011510
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4 comments:
I noticed that SB finished a strong 4th amidst a pretty tough field of D1 and D2 schools. Considering they seem to have a group of low profile swimmers they must be swimming pretty strong? Obviously they can't compete with the likes of McFarland, WFB and SH but might they have a decent year and get a few swimmers and relays to state?
From the results Friday, SB/SD looks like they have a decent shot at getting three relays through -- I think in particular their medley is pretty solid, with Zane Smith on back and foreign exchange student Moe Alber on breaststroke. Danny Stawicki has also been pretty solid in the distance freestyles, and Smith (along with Zane Statz) was a state qualifier last year. Those swimmers look like pretty good shots at getting out.
I think there is going to be a pretty big scramble for the 4th-through-10th slots at D2 state this year, with the big three of McF., WBay and Shorewood holding down the top three spots.
I'm trying to get a better picture of Steven's Point sectional and am wondering if there are any times or opinions out there for any of the following schools: Lakeland, Medford Area, Menominee, Rhinelander, Rice Lake, River Falls and Tomahawk. Seems like that part of the state doesn't get mentioned too often. I've seen where SB and Shawano are positioned but don't have a clue on the others.
The very good Wisconsin Valley Conference website (for all sports) has results from conference dual meets; see this:
http://www.wvcstats.org/boysswim/schedule.html
and click on individual dual meets to get results for Lakeland, Tomahawk and Rhinelander.
Lakeland has junior Andrew Nielsen, who qualified for state last year in both the 200 free (9th) and back (11th). He's a pretty good bet to get to state again in two events. Whether he can help get any of their relays out -- not sure. Lakeland's medley was real close last year -- less than a second away -- with three underclassmen on it, including Nielsen.
Not sure that Medford, Menominee, Rhinelander and Tomahawk have much this year. Ashwaubenon seems down as well, based on some results I've been, but they have a couple of solid swimmers -- Jason Kraus and Jacob Klika -- who made it to state last year. The Tschoeke brothers are also likely to get out in diving. Relays are another question for the Jaguars; they were a senior-heavy team last year.
River Falls had three underclassmen on its state-qualifying medley relay last year, and senior Roland Pomfret was 11th last year at D2 state in the 500 free. But they graduated state D2 100 free champ Eric Emerson, and that's a big spot to fill on their relays.
Rice Lake's Nick Solum is a solid swimmer, and was 13th last year at D2 state in the back. RL's medley was also very close to qualifying for state last year, but needs to replace two departed seniors.
With Berlin/Green Lake now placed in the Plymouth sectional, I see Sturgeon Bay/Southern Door as the team to beat in the Point sectional (and they have a diver to boot). Given the depth in some of the other sectionals this year -- particularly the Baraboo sectional and the heavyweight match-up between Whitefish Bay and Shorewood in the Cudahy sectional -- it'll be interesting to see if there are any automatic qualifiers coming out of Point with times slower than the top-16 qualifying times. It does appear at first glance to have the least depth of the four D2 sectionals.
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