Sorting out the Badger Conference

The Badger Conference -- divided into North and South divisions -- remains one of the most competitive swim conferences in the state. Last year's D2 state champs -- McFarland -- along with last year's D1 runners-up -- Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights -- came out of the North, while three of the top nine teams in last year's D2 state meet (Edgewood, Milton and Fort Atkinson) came out of the South.

Last night's dual meets in the Badger went a long way toward sorting out the dual-meet champs in both divisions. In the North, McFarland traveled to Sauk and came away with a convincing 102-68 win. Sauk has two of the best swimmers in the state in Tyler Lentz and Matt Friede, but McFarland has some top ones as well, along with the kind of depth that few teams in the state -- D1 or D2 -- can match.

Lentz, the defending state champ in the 200 IM, easily won a match-up with McFarland's Ryan O'Donnell (2nd at D2 state last year in the IM) in the race (1:54.93-2:00.05), and came back later in the meet to lead a 1-2 Sauk finish with teammate Stephen Hanko in the backstroke. He also joined helped Sauk race to a 3+-second win in the meet-opening medley relay (1:41.78-1:44.98 for McFarland).

But McFarland can put quality swimmers in every event in a dual meet, and senior Brian Heiser led strong showings by the Spartans with wins in the two distance freestyles. Breaststroker Jacob Mandli, in the middle of a very good season, led a 1-2-3 finish for the Spartans in the breaststroke.

Fittingly, the best race of the night was the last, as the two teams battled it out in the 400 free relay. The Spartans opening trio of swimmers (O'Donnell, Peter Grenzow, and Colin Morgan) handed Heiser the lead going into the anchor leg, and that would be good enough in most races, as Heiser's 100 free speed is outstanding (he was 3rd last year in the 100 free at D2 state). But Friede is a special swimmer, and has tremendous closing speed. In the end, Friede caught his finish right on stroke, while Heiser was caught a bit in between strokes, and Sauk got the win with a time of 3:19.08 to 3:19.16 for the Spartans.

More details here from Sauk Prairie Eagle reporter Dan Larson:

http://host.madison.com/sports/high-school/swimming/article_b1ecd3fa-fffd-11de-93a6-001cc4c03286.html

Down in Fort Atkinson, Milton solidified its hold on the Badger South dual-meet title with a 91-79 victory over Fort Atkinson. The Red Hawks were led by senior Jeff Maxwell, who won the 100 fly and 100 back, and led off the team's winning medley relay (1:44.85). Maxwell is the kind of swimmer that coaches crave -- you can slot him into almost any high school event (save for perhaps the breaststroke) and he'll usually emerge the winner. In Milton's case, that gives the deep Red Hawks squad a lot of versatility on how to build a dual-meet lineup. Breaststroker Erik Swanson also provided a key late-meet win with a strong showing (1:05.04) in the 100 breaststroke, and freshman Brandon Benson picked up a big win in the 500 free (5:23.66). Fort Atkinson actually had the edge in events won, 6-5, including two of the three relays, but Milton's superior depth proved to the difference.

Milton still has a solid Edgewood squad to tangle with next week (the Crusaders beat Monona Grove 96-74 last night), but thanks to Maxwell and Co., look primed to defend their Badger Conference South title next month.