D1 state meet -- what to watch for

The D1 boys state meet is Saturday, with diving at 10 a.m. and swimming at 3 p.m. (Lane assignments, seed times, and diving orders are here:)
http://www.wiaawi.org/swimmingboys/d1lanes.pdf

Here's a pre-meet rundown of what to expect:

-- This has the potential to be a very close and exciting state meet, with the top two teams -- Waukesha South/Catholic Memorial and Hartland Arrowhead -- separated based on seed times by only three points: http://wiscswim.blogspot.com/2010/02/div-1-state-meet-scored.html
Defending state champs Madison Memorial looms as the third-seeded team, and enters the meet with the state's best swimmer -- senior Michael Drives. Should WS/CM hold on to its seed placement and win, they'd become the first program to win a D1 state title -- other than Memorial and Arrowhead -- since 2001.

-- Can swimmers and relays win a state meet event without swimming in the final, fastest-seeded heat? It sure looks that way in D1 -- last fall, the girls D1 state meet produced two winners out of the second heat, and last year's D1 boys meet did so, too. There are a number of solid swimmers who didn't make the final heat of this meet; keep the winning time of the earlier heats in mind as the final heat finishes out.

-- How far will the meet-opening 200 medley relay go toward sorting out the top contenders? All four of the highest-seeded teams have a medley relay in the meet, with Arrowhead owning the top seed, Bay Port the 3rd seed, and WS/CM the 6th seed. Memorial looks to move up from its 14th seed in the second heat.

-- Can Danny Brebrick of Wausau East repeat his feat of last year, winning a race from the outer-most lane? He did it last year in the 100 free, coming out of lane 1. This year, he's swimming in Lane 8 in the 200 free in what may be the deepest event in the meet. Drives returns to the event after his record-breaking swim of last year, when his 1:38.02 set not only the state's all-time record, but the UW Natatorium pool record.

-- Can Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights win half the events at the state meet? Don't laugh -- the Eagles have three of the top seeds in the meet (Matt Friede in the 50 and 100 frees, and Tyler Lentz in the 200 IM). Lentz, one of the sharpest-looking swimmers all season long in D1, has the 6th-fastest seed time in the 100 back. Their medley relay has been sharp all season, and odds are few if any swimmers will split breaststroke and free legs faster than Lentz and Friede. If teammates Stephen Hanko (back) and Paul Ballweg (fly) can hold up their end, Sauk looks to be a real threat swimming out of lane 1. Then there is the 400 free relay. Sauk's revamped 400 free relay line-up last year, swimming in the second heat, got out to a huge lead and finished with a time no one in the final heat of last year's meet could match. Swimmers and coaches often talk about the "clean water" theory of swimming relays, where jumping out to a big lead can provide a smoother and faster trip. Sauk is in lane 4 of the second heat of the 400 free relay, and this team has shown it knows how to win relays at state.

-- Another event with the potential to play a big role in the outcome of the team race is the 500 free. Memorial's Drives enters the race with the top seed, and he'll be joined by sophomore Parick Franken, who had a very solid state meet last year and is seeded 10th this year, along with unseeded Rob Eckerle in the first heat. WS/CM counters with its terrific twosome of Noah Potratz (seeded 2nd) and Max Evans-Nolan (4th), who have been amazingly consistent all season long. Arrowhead has three seeded swimmers -- Chris Jenkyns (6th), Jake Prodoehl (7th) and Matt Ahnen (15th), all veterans of this race from a year ago. Bay Port's Andrew Sumnicht is seeded 13th in the race, while teammate Trent Kuffel is unseeded coming out of the first heat.

-- Don't count Arrowhead out of the team race until you count their backstrokers. In the 10th event of the meet, Jenkyns leads a contingent of five HA backstrokers seeded to score 57 points in the event. It's also the one event where chief rival for the title, WS/CM, has no entries.

-- Can Eau Claire freshman Alex DeLakis hold on to his top seed (58.67) in the 100 breaststroke? If so, he'd become the first freshman to win an individual state title in D1 since 2007. DeLakis will be chased by three other swimmers with seed times under a minute, but watch out for WS/CM's Collin Neitzel. He's seeded 5th, but won this event as a sophomore and finished fourth last year.

-- All of this is merely a precursor to the 400 free relay, which looks to be a real doozy and could decide the team title. Besides the aforementioned Sauk Prairie/ WH relay, the meet's final event figures to be a terrific race. Brookfield East/Central leads the way in the final heat with the fastest seed time (3:13.64); all eight relay teams are seeded within about two seconds of each other. Memorial, WS/CM, Arrowhead and Bay Port all have relays in the final heat, and will be joined by solid relay teams from Verona/Mount Horeb, New Berlin West/Eisenhower, and Appleton North/East. And watch for relay DQs in this event -- they have played a major outcome of the final team standings the past two state meets.