Just in case anyone was wondering, Division 2 still belongs to McFarland.
The Spartans won nine of 11 swimming events at the Small School State Invitational at Plymouth HS, demonstrating why they've won three straight D2 titles. Great depth, strong individual performances, and the best relays in the state added up to a 337-251 over runner-up Whitefish Bay in a repeat of the finish of last year's small schools invite. Shorewood took 3rd with 196, a surprising Monona Grove squad finished 4th (183), and Berlin/Green Lake took 5th (174) in a meet that brought together (with the exception of Madison Edgewood) the state's top D2 teams.
Where to begin with McFarland? It's hard to single out a group of individuals who swim so well, but:
-- The 200 medley relay of Ryan O'Donnell, Jacob Mandli, Collin Morgan, and Peter Grenzow got things off to a bang with a pool- and meet-record time of 1:39.46, besting the previous meet record by the great 2005 Sturgeon Bay team by more than second. The dominating relay won by more than four seconds over 2nd-place Whitefish Bay.
-- O'Donnell won the 200 IM (1:57.31) and the 100 fly, the latter in a meet and pool record time of 52.11 in what was one of the best races of the meet (Brookfield Academy's Jack Donovan finished 2nd in 52.45, also breaking the meet and pool record).
-- Collin Morgan, swimming out of lane 1 in the final heat both times, won the 50 (22.48) and 100 (48.92) frees, showing he'll be a serious contender for the D2 state sprint titles next month.
-- Jacob Mandli, in perhaps the biggest surprise of the day, won the 100 breaststroke (1:01.69) over Plymouth's Jesse Gambrell (1:02.61) and defending D2 state champ Alex Riegert (1:02.80).
Oh, and O'Donnell, Morgan and Mandli are all sophomores. Seniors Brian Heiser and Peter Grenzow showed the old men of the Spartan squad still had something in them, as Heiser won the 200 free (1:45.75) and Grenzow swam legs on all three winning relays. Combined with a number of other top-16 finishes (no one on the team finished lower than 14th on the day), and the Spartans showed why they're still the heavy favorites for a four-peat come February.
Other meet highlights:
-- Only Milton's Jeff Maxwell in the 500 free (4:45.65) and Cedarburg's Carl Newenhouse in the 100 back (53.19) prevented a McFarland sweep in the swimming events. Maxwell put up a spirited challenge to O'Donnell in the 200 IM, finishing 2nd in 1:58.85, and afterward said he's still mulling whether to swim the 200 free or 200 IM come sectional time. He swam the IM as a freshman, but has swum the 200 free the last two years at state, finishing 4th last year and 2nd in 2008.
-- Grafton freshman Al Nenning had a strong meet, finishing 3rd in the 100 free (50.41) and 2nd in the 100 back (54.37), beating out last year's D2 state runner-up in the event, Shorewood's Stephen Meyer, by more than a second.
-- Monona Grove's 4th-place finish was spearheaded by senior diver Trevor Sisson, who continues to dominate his D2 opposition this year. He racked up 454.95 points to win by nearly 100 points over runner-up Zach Schroeder of Plymouth in a performance that had dive meet observors buzzing afterwards about Sisson's proficiency on the board. There may not be a stronger favorite for a state title at the D2 state meet next month than Sisson in diving. MG's 4th-place showing was augmented by strong showings in the two free relays, as the 200 free relay finished 2nd (1:32.49) and the 400 relay clinched 4th place overall for the team with a fifth-place finish (3:27.16).
UPDATE: Full results now posted...
Boys Small School State 2010
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7 comments:
Big surprise?
Mandli has been swimming those
1:02s all year. He's really grown, both physically and mentally. He too, along with Collin Morgan, will be a force to be reckoned with when sectionals and state roll around.
...oh and where were their other sophs Ryan Krattiger and Max Schimanski, if you know?
According to my scribbled up heat sheet, Max swam 200/500, while Ryan swam fly. I'm not sure of times or places, but like Phil said, nobody did worse than 14th. I'm pretty sure Max had 8th in the 200.
One interesting note, McFarland never lost a heat until the 500. Not only the final heats to win the events, but guys in the second or third to last heats won their heats as well.
Sectional meets are going to be crazy this year. The Baraboo Sectional in particular for D2 is going to be full of amazing races. With McFarland's boys and Edgewood bringing hot contenders like Drew teDuits and Chase Stephens, and now Milton in that sectional, bringing Maxwell into the mix...needless to say it'll be awesome.
We noted Mandli's impressive showings this season in this post from a few weeks ago:
http://wiscswim.blogspot.com/2010/01/weekend-meet-round-up.html
Still, beating a senior who is the defending D2 champ in the breaststroke, to me, meets the definition of a surprise. Not shocking, but a surprise. Noticeable, too, was how much bigger physically Mandli is than his chief two competitors -- Gambrell of Plymouth and Riegert of D-D.
Schimanski was 8th in both the 200 (1:53.90) and the 500 (5:10.40). He came on very strong at the end of last season, and the Spartan coaches over the years have shown they really know how to taper their distance swimmers.
Krattiger was a 1:00.09 for 13th in the fly. Full results should be up sometime today.
Sectionals and state are fast approaching. Anyone out there have an "official" list of suits that are legal for the boys tournament series? Thanks
This is the latest available language on suits posted on the rules and regs section of the WIAA's boys swimming section on its website:
10-23-09
High-Tech Suits
Question: Can a XXXXXX swimming suit be worn during the WIAA regular season and/or tournament
series?
Interpretation: The NFHS will not be providing a list of suits that can or can not be worn. Consequently, swimming
suits must meet the new NFHS Rule 3-3-2 requirements. This new regulation can be found on the NFHS
website under Swimming and Diving.
Below you will find a summary for swimming suits:
1. Only one swimming suit shall be permitted to be worn in competition. Two suits should be relatively easy to identify.
2. A suit that does not meet the size/style restriction for girls and for boys should also be easy to identify.
3. Any zipper on a suit is a good indication of a violation.
4. The construction must meet all of the requirements in the rule – textile, permeable, no zippers (fastening system), size, and can’t aid in buoyancy. If the suit does not meet all requirements of the rule, the suit will not be
considered legal.
5. If parts of the suit are permeable and other parts are not, the suit is not a legal suit.
6. “Textile” is defined as a material consisting of natural and/or synthetic, individual non-consolidated yarns used
to constitute a fabric by knitting, weaving or braiding. Lycra, Spandex, Polyridge, Speedline, Streamline and
PBT (texturized polyester) are considered textile materials. Coaches can check the clothing tabs found on the inside of the suit or with the manufacturers for the material/fabric.
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