D2 state meet -- what to watch for

The D2 boys state meet is Friday, with diving at 2:30 p.m. and swimming at 6:30 p.m. (Lane assignments, seed times, and diving orders are here:)http://www.wiaawi.org/swimmingboys/d2lanes.pdf

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

-- McFarland is seeded to win its fourth straight state title:
http://wiscswim.blogspot.com/2010/02/div-2-state-meet-scored.html
If they accomplish yet another title, the Spartans would match the record of the Sturgeon Bay teams of 2003-06, which won four consecutive titles before McFarland went on its current run (SB won three of those titles as a co-op with Southern Door). One of the things that makes McFarland tough at state is their ability to jump off to an early lead, thus making all other teams chase after them. McFarland has won the medley relay three years in a row, the 200 IM the past two years, and usually scores more points than any other team in the 200 free (and this year returns defending state champ Brian Heiser in the event). With sprinters Andrew Hovel, Peter Grenzow and Colin Morgan seeded to score points in the 50 free, McFarland is set to repeat its formula of the past few years -- grab an early lead before the break and let others play catch-up. Should McFarland win the medley, Grenzow will have accomplished a rare feat (I'm not sure it's ever been done in either division) -- anchoring the same relay to a first-place finish four years in a row.

-- If Whitefish Bay and Madison Edgewood have any hopes of catching McFarland, they will need huge meets from their top swimmers -- the Crusaders' Chase Stephens (200/100 frees) and Drew teDuits (fly and back), and WBay's Chuckie Prestigiacomo (50/100 frees). Both teams qualified all three relays to state, so there is some opportunity to garner additional points by moving up in the relays. But looming in front of both teams will be McFarland -- the Spartans earned the top seed in each of the three relays.

-- Watch out for McFarland's 200 free relay. Three of the members who brought home gold from the relay last year -- Heiser, Grenzow and Morgan -- are back on it, and sophomore Ryan O'Donnell will likely be on it as well and lead off. The state record of 1:26.63 is held by Sturgeon Bay/Southern Door, and after McFarland last year smashed the state record held by SB/SD in the 400 free relay, you've got to think the Spartans are hungry for another record. McFarland is also about a second away with its seed time from the medley relay record.

There are some terrific individual match-ups in the meet as well, among them:

-- The 200 free features defending state champ Heiser, who enters with the second-fastest seed time of 1:46.02, matched up against Stephens, who has the fastest seed time of 1:44.82. Brookfield Academy's Jack Donovan -- who had a terrific sectional meet last weekend -- is close behind at 1:46.34.

-- Three swimmers enter the 200 IM with seed times below 2 minutes, with O'Donnell leading the way with a 1:57.04. Milton's Jeff Maxwell and Brookfield Academy's Jonathan Marks are the next two fastest seeds. Maxwell has tried to chase down O'Donnell twice in the past month -- first at the Small School State Invitational, and then last weekend at the Baraboo sectional -- and come up second both times. Both are strong fliers and backstrokers; O'Donnell's underwater turns are the best in D2. If Marks can hang on through the initial fly and back legs, he could contend as well as he's a terrific breaststroker.

-- Berlin/Green Lake's Greg Hameister enters the 50 free with the fastest seed time by nearly three-fourths of a second, a lot in such a short race. This could be a blanket finish at the end; after Hameister, the next five fastest seeded swimmers are separated by a mere .12 seconds.

-- Is there a better potential race in either division than the 100 fly? Donovan, teDuits and O'Donnell own three of the four fastest seed times in the event for both D2 and D1 state meets; they are separated by less than a third of a second.

-- If the seed times hold up (never a sure bet), the 100 free could feature two state titleists -- Stephens (with the fastest 200 free seed) and Hameister (with the fastest 50 free seed) own the two fastest seed times in the 100 free. Heiser, 3rd in this event last year, leads seven other 100 free swimmers who swam in this race a year ago.

-- Maxwell owns the fastest seed time in the 500 free by more than 15 seconds. He's hoping to reclaim the state title he won in this event as a sophomore, but lost last year by a mere .23 seconds.

-- teDuits and Delavan-Darien's Alex Riegert look to defend their state titles from last year -- teDuits in the back and Riegert in the breaststroke. Here's a nice feature on Riegert from the Janesville Gazette:
http://gazettextra.com/news/2010/feb/11/shhhh-riegert-quiets-most-foes/
Here's hoping Chuck Riegert, Alex's dad, returns to the state meet stands sporting his blue-and-yellow (D-D school colors) moustache.

-- Can Monona Grove's Trevor Sisson continue his ascendency up the D2 state diving ladder and finally claim gold? Sisson was 9th at the state meet as a freshman, 4th as a sophomore, and 3rd last year. He's the highest returning finisher from last year's meet, and has been D2's leading diver all season. Cudahy's Ryan Citro, 6th last year, will give chase.