Madison East's Aja Van Hout and Madison Memorial's Jackie Powell have been named Madison-area swimmers of the year, featured in the Preps Extra edition of the Sunday Wisconsin State Journal (Nov. 29, 2009). Both Van Hout and Powell won two events at this year's girls D1 state meet -- Van Hout setting a record in the 200 IM and winning the 500 free, while Powell defended her title in the 200 free and also won the 100 free. Van Hout added a third gold medal via her lead-off leg on East's first-place 400 free relay. Madison West's Kyle Rosenstock, who won her record fourth consecutive D1 state diving title, was named diver of the year.
I'd post a link to the story, which also lists a number of other swimmers making the Madison-area swim team, but cannot find a link to the story on the madison.com website (which relegates swimming behind gymnastics and bowling as sports its readers might be interested in). I'll keep looking for it; if anyone out there finds a link, feel free to post it in the comments section or send me an email.
Congratulations to Aja, Jackie, and Kylie -- the honor is well-deserved.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Friday, November 27, 2009
D1 sectional at Schroeder
The Milwaukee-area D1 boys sectional, held for several years at Nicolet High School, has been moved to the Walter Schroeder Aquatic Center in Brown Deer. Marquette will serve as the host school for the sectional, according to the WIAA website.
The switch to Schroeder was prompted by Nicolet being moved this year for boys swimming from D1 to D2. Swim teams are placed in one of the two divisions for swimming based on enrollment, with the largest 60 percent of schools (or co-ops) placed in D1, and the remaining 40 percent placed in D2.
The switch to Schroeder was prompted by Nicolet being moved this year for boys swimming from D1 to D2. Swim teams are placed in one of the two divisions for swimming based on enrollment, with the largest 60 percent of schools (or co-ops) placed in D1, and the remaining 40 percent placed in D2.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
More recruiting updates
See the recruiting post for more recruiting updates; several have been posted in the past few days:
http://wiscswim.blogspot.com/2009/11/recruiting-news.html
http://wiscswim.blogspot.com/2009/11/recruiting-news.html
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
D1 boys season preview 2009-10
Here's what to look for during the upcoming D1 boys swim season:
-- Madison Memorial took home the title last year -- its 10th in school history, and fourth in the last five years -- with a combination of an amazing meet by Michael Drives, a strong showing in diving, and a host of swimmers moving up slightly from their seed placements at the state meet. It was enough to give the Spartans an 18-point victory over Sauk Prairie-Wisconsin Heights. Drives, the best swimmer in the state, broke two state records last year, albiet one that resulted in a second-place finish to Arrowhead's Ryan Hansen in their thrilling duel in the 500 free. Now a senior, the West Point-bound Drives is the kind of versatile swimmer who can enter most any event -- as the current Natatorium pool-record holder in the 200 free, will he feel he's accomplished enough in that race and move back to the 200 IM, which he won at state his sophomore year? Sophomore state qualifiers Patrick Franken (500 IM/500 free) and Ben Anderson (50 free/fly) return, and junior Michael Salerno will take over as a top sprinting threat for the Spartans. But Memorial has to replace several graduated swimmers who contributed points at the state meet, including diver Nate Broadbridge, who's second-place finish at diving help propel the Spartans to the title. Memorial almost always brings in a strong freshman class; they'll need another one if they hope to repeat.
-- Besides Memorial, the state's other dominant D1 program during the decade has been Hartland Arrowhead, with four titles and three runner-up finishes. HA has to replace Hansen and the 37 points he scored at state last year in the 200 and 500 frees, but the team brings a lot of depth to the table this year. Nine swimmers who took part in the state meet last year return for coach Bob Jenkyns, including seniors Cody Roller (6th 200 IM/13th fly) and Chris Jenkyns (9th 500 free/11th back) and sophomore Jake Prodoehl (11th 200 free/8th 500 free). HA may not have the dominant swimmer that Hansen was the past two years at state, but this is one of the deepest squads in D1 this year.
-- Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights was the surprise of the D1 state meet last year, earning its first runner-up trophy behind oustanding showings at the meet by three swimmers and two relays. Two of those swimmers -- seniors Tyler Lentz and Matt Friede -- return for coach Todd Wuerger this year, forming perhaps the best one-two punch in D1. The Iowa-bound Lentz won the 200 IM last year and finished 3rd in the back; he also contributed strong legs on Sauk's winning (and record-breaking) 200 free relay, as well as its first-place 400 free relay. The Purdue-bound Friede anchored both of those relays, shared a gold medal with a tie for 1st in the 50 free, and finished 2nd in the 100 free. Junior Paul Ballweg, also a member of the two winning relays, returns, as does junior backstroker Stephen Hanko. Look for Sauk to have two more outstanding relays at the state meet this year, along with Friede and Lentz being threats to win each of their individual events. If Wuerger can find a bit more depth, the Eagles may be in a position to make a run for another trophy this year.
-- If Sauk has the best one-two punch in the state, the Greenfield/Greendale co-op may have the best one-two-three punch. Senior Mike Lucchesi and juniors Jack Lennertz and Matt Jungers comprise a versatile and strong trio; between them, the garnered six top-7 finishes in their individual events at last year's state meet, highlighted by Lennertz' runner-up finish in the fly. A DQ by the team's medley relay at last year's state meet --featuring all three of the swimmers -- cost the co-op a higher spot than their 10th place finish. It will be interesting to see if head coach Dale Schrank combines his fast trio into two relays, or spreads them out among three relays. An added bonus for the team: they will host the sectional meet this year, previously held at Racine Park, at Greenfield High School's brand-new pool.
-- No team suffered a bigger single loss to graduation than the New Berlin West/Eisenhower co-op, which lost three-time state champion Byron Butler (now at Iowa, yet another D1 state champ of recent years who has chosen to go out-of-state to swim collegiately). But New Berlin returns a solid cast of swimmers; they'll likely slug it out with Arrowhead at the Waukesha South sectional this year, and are looking to improve upon their 6th-place showing at last year's state meet. Among the swimmers returning: Pitt-bound senior Alex Rodernkirk (7th in the 200 free/6th in the 100 free) and sophomore Jasen Johnson (11th fly/15th breaststroke).
-- Fox Valley Conference foes Appleton North/East and Neenah both had top-10 finishes at last year's state meet, and return some strong state-qualifying swimmers. For North/East, look for senior Josh Kinney (200 IM/breaststroke) and sophomore Jake Iotte (200 IM/500 free) to lead the way; at Neenah, a strong junior class includes Matt Hollub (100 free/100 back), Aaron Sears (500 free/breaststroke), Connor Christiansen (200/500 frees), and Matt Lagieski (breaststroke).
Other notable teams and swimmers to watch:
-- Wausau East's Danny Brebrick returns to defend his 100 free title; East graduated two state champions in Lucas Koenig and Josh Hall.
-- Waukesha South/Catholic Memorial's Collin Nietzel looks to take back the 100 breaststroke title he won as a sophomore before finishing 4th to Hall last year.
-- Muskego's Bobby Wolf (13th 200 free/4th 500 free) and Hartford's Aiden Kohnhorst (5th 200 free/3rd 500 free) are two of the state's top returning distance swimmers.
-- Verona will build around sprinter Derek Toomey (6th 50 free/5th 100 free), versatile junior Spencer Ritt (12th fly/9th back) and distance swimmer Jacob Olandt.
-- Marquette sophomore Lucas Kuriga hopes to repeat his strong freshman season, when he finished 4th in the 200 free and 15th in the fly.
-- Madison East got podium finishes from UW-Green Bay-bound Robert Miner in both the 200 free and fly; he'll be joined by double-state-qualifier Aaron Lickel (IM/100 free) and relay swimmer Coleman Fraser.
-- Menomonee Falls/Germantown/Hamilton junior diver Nathan Cox returns to defend his title; he'll be pushed by Appleton West/Kimberly senior Stephen Bothun and Marquette senior Michael Donofrio.
-- Madison Memorial took home the title last year -- its 10th in school history, and fourth in the last five years -- with a combination of an amazing meet by Michael Drives, a strong showing in diving, and a host of swimmers moving up slightly from their seed placements at the state meet. It was enough to give the Spartans an 18-point victory over Sauk Prairie-Wisconsin Heights. Drives, the best swimmer in the state, broke two state records last year, albiet one that resulted in a second-place finish to Arrowhead's Ryan Hansen in their thrilling duel in the 500 free. Now a senior, the West Point-bound Drives is the kind of versatile swimmer who can enter most any event -- as the current Natatorium pool-record holder in the 200 free, will he feel he's accomplished enough in that race and move back to the 200 IM, which he won at state his sophomore year? Sophomore state qualifiers Patrick Franken (500 IM/500 free) and Ben Anderson (50 free/fly) return, and junior Michael Salerno will take over as a top sprinting threat for the Spartans. But Memorial has to replace several graduated swimmers who contributed points at the state meet, including diver Nate Broadbridge, who's second-place finish at diving help propel the Spartans to the title. Memorial almost always brings in a strong freshman class; they'll need another one if they hope to repeat.
-- Besides Memorial, the state's other dominant D1 program during the decade has been Hartland Arrowhead, with four titles and three runner-up finishes. HA has to replace Hansen and the 37 points he scored at state last year in the 200 and 500 frees, but the team brings a lot of depth to the table this year. Nine swimmers who took part in the state meet last year return for coach Bob Jenkyns, including seniors Cody Roller (6th 200 IM/13th fly) and Chris Jenkyns (9th 500 free/11th back) and sophomore Jake Prodoehl (11th 200 free/8th 500 free). HA may not have the dominant swimmer that Hansen was the past two years at state, but this is one of the deepest squads in D1 this year.
-- Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights was the surprise of the D1 state meet last year, earning its first runner-up trophy behind oustanding showings at the meet by three swimmers and two relays. Two of those swimmers -- seniors Tyler Lentz and Matt Friede -- return for coach Todd Wuerger this year, forming perhaps the best one-two punch in D1. The Iowa-bound Lentz won the 200 IM last year and finished 3rd in the back; he also contributed strong legs on Sauk's winning (and record-breaking) 200 free relay, as well as its first-place 400 free relay. The Purdue-bound Friede anchored both of those relays, shared a gold medal with a tie for 1st in the 50 free, and finished 2nd in the 100 free. Junior Paul Ballweg, also a member of the two winning relays, returns, as does junior backstroker Stephen Hanko. Look for Sauk to have two more outstanding relays at the state meet this year, along with Friede and Lentz being threats to win each of their individual events. If Wuerger can find a bit more depth, the Eagles may be in a position to make a run for another trophy this year.
-- If Sauk has the best one-two punch in the state, the Greenfield/Greendale co-op may have the best one-two-three punch. Senior Mike Lucchesi and juniors Jack Lennertz and Matt Jungers comprise a versatile and strong trio; between them, the garnered six top-7 finishes in their individual events at last year's state meet, highlighted by Lennertz' runner-up finish in the fly. A DQ by the team's medley relay at last year's state meet --featuring all three of the swimmers -- cost the co-op a higher spot than their 10th place finish. It will be interesting to see if head coach Dale Schrank combines his fast trio into two relays, or spreads them out among three relays. An added bonus for the team: they will host the sectional meet this year, previously held at Racine Park, at Greenfield High School's brand-new pool.
-- No team suffered a bigger single loss to graduation than the New Berlin West/Eisenhower co-op, which lost three-time state champion Byron Butler (now at Iowa, yet another D1 state champ of recent years who has chosen to go out-of-state to swim collegiately). But New Berlin returns a solid cast of swimmers; they'll likely slug it out with Arrowhead at the Waukesha South sectional this year, and are looking to improve upon their 6th-place showing at last year's state meet. Among the swimmers returning: Pitt-bound senior Alex Rodernkirk (7th in the 200 free/6th in the 100 free) and sophomore Jasen Johnson (11th fly/15th breaststroke).
-- Fox Valley Conference foes Appleton North/East and Neenah both had top-10 finishes at last year's state meet, and return some strong state-qualifying swimmers. For North/East, look for senior Josh Kinney (200 IM/breaststroke) and sophomore Jake Iotte (200 IM/500 free) to lead the way; at Neenah, a strong junior class includes Matt Hollub (100 free/100 back), Aaron Sears (500 free/breaststroke), Connor Christiansen (200/500 frees), and Matt Lagieski (breaststroke).
Other notable teams and swimmers to watch:
-- Wausau East's Danny Brebrick returns to defend his 100 free title; East graduated two state champions in Lucas Koenig and Josh Hall.
-- Waukesha South/Catholic Memorial's Collin Nietzel looks to take back the 100 breaststroke title he won as a sophomore before finishing 4th to Hall last year.
-- Muskego's Bobby Wolf (13th 200 free/4th 500 free) and Hartford's Aiden Kohnhorst (5th 200 free/3rd 500 free) are two of the state's top returning distance swimmers.
-- Verona will build around sprinter Derek Toomey (6th 50 free/5th 100 free), versatile junior Spencer Ritt (12th fly/9th back) and distance swimmer Jacob Olandt.
-- Marquette sophomore Lucas Kuriga hopes to repeat his strong freshman season, when he finished 4th in the 200 free and 15th in the fly.
-- Madison East got podium finishes from UW-Green Bay-bound Robert Miner in both the 200 free and fly; he'll be joined by double-state-qualifier Aaron Lickel (IM/100 free) and relay swimmer Coleman Fraser.
-- Menomonee Falls/Germantown/Hamilton junior diver Nathan Cox returns to defend his title; he'll be pushed by Appleton West/Kimberly senior Stephen Bothun and Marquette senior Michael Donofrio.
Kelsey Hojan-Clark repeats as MJS swimmer of the year
It's two in a row for Brookfield Academy junior Kelsey Hojan-Clark; just like last year, she's been named the Swimmer of the Year by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. See this:
http://www.jsonline.com/sports/preps/73077602.html
Here's the understatement of the year, found near the end of the story:
"Hojan-Clark, who is receiving some interest from Division I schools..."
You think?
http://www.jsonline.com/sports/preps/73077602.html
Here's the understatement of the year, found near the end of the story:
"Hojan-Clark, who is receiving some interest from Division I schools..."
You think?
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
D2 boys season preview 2009-10
Here's a rundown of the upcoming D2 boys season:
-- McFarland was an easy winner of its third straight state title last year, its 122-point margin over Whitefish Bay the largest at the state meet since 2005. Despite losing two senior stalwarts in Bradon O'Donnell and Graham Thoresen, the Spartans return more than enough talent to make a run at a fourth straight title. Coach Nick Weiss' squad is led by senior Brian Heiser -- the UW-Green Bay recruit is the defending state champ in the 200 free, finished 3rd in the 100 free, and swam on two gold-medal relays, including the team's record-breaking 400 free relay. He'll be joined by fellow senior Peter Grenzow, who qualified for state last year in both the 50 and 100 frees, and has anchored four Spartan relays to first-place finishes at state during his career. Sophomore Ryan O'Donnell had an impressive freshman campaign last year, when he finished 2nd (200 IM) and 3rd (backstroke) in his individual events at state and swam on two first-place relays. A host of other state-qualifying swimmers from last year's squad -- senior Ben Psyk, junior Geoff Glover, and sophomores Jacob Mandli, Collin Morgan, Max Schimanski and Ryan Krattiger -- also return, giving McFarland the kind of depth that few D2 teams can match. In fact, of the 17 individual "swims" McFarland had at state last year, the swimmers responsible for 13 of them return. It remains to be seen whether this squad can match the performance of last year's team, which won all three relays at state and had 8 individual top-3 finishes. But it's an awfully good -- and deep -- squad.
-- Perhaps the team best-suited to make a run at McFarland is last year's runner-up, Whitefish Bay. The Blue Dukes return a senior-dominated squad with considerable state-meet experience -- sprinter and UW-Madison recruit Chuckie Prestigiacomo (50/100 frees); Boston College-bound Jason Castillo (200 IM/breaststroke); Tommy Hiller (fly, 500 free); Chris Fink (200 free/backstroke); junior DJ Freisch (IM/breaststroke); and Walker Brengel (200 free). Add in seniors Rob Colton and Domi Lauko, both of whom swam on state-qualifying relays last year, and Whitefish Bay is one of the few teams in the state with the kind of depth needed to tangle with McFarland. The key for Whitefish Bay may rest in moving their swimmers into the top tier of competitors at the state meet -- WB's relays last year finished with two 3rds and a 9th, while its individual swimmers had five top-6 podium finishes compared to nine for McFarland.
-- Shorewood returns a strong nucleus of swimmers that helped the Greyhounds to a tie for 4th at last year's state meet. Leading the team is senior Stephen Meyer, who finished 2nd in both the fly and backstroke at state, and came within two-tenths of a second of winning both events. He's joined by junior Kasmir Bohannon (200 free/back); senior Mike Ross (IM/breaststroke); sophomore Jay Tomasiewicz (IM/500 free); senior Asher Kaufman (breaststroke); junior Isaac Flegel-Mishlove (500 free); and senior Arthur Staub (medley and 200 free relays). They'll need to replace the points at state generated by Karl Weisling, who had two podium finishes in the 200 and 500 frees as a senior last year.
-- Madison Edgewood features perhaps the best one-two punch in D2 in junior Drew teDuits and senior Chase Stephens. teDuits won the backstroke last year, nearly breaking the state record in the event, and finished 2nd in the 50 free, while contributing strong legs on Edgewood's medley and 400 free relays. The Northwestern-bound Stephens finished 3rd at state last year in both the 200 and 500 frees, and anchored two top-three relays. Edgewood -- which tied Shorewood for 4th last year at state -- will look for juniors Eric Wendorf and Eric Madsen, along with sophomore Mark Vukich, to step up to replace graduated state qualifiers Chris Kuecker and Matt Everts.
Other teams and swimmers to watch during the season:
-- Cedarburg graduated all of its 31.5 points it scored in diving at last year's state, along with distance swimmer Jim Akkala. But junior Carl Newenhouse (4th at state in the back, 11th in the 100 free) returns, as do state qualifiers Connoer Neuville (500 free), Nate Jones (back), and three-fourths of all three relays that made it to state.
-- Delavan-Darien returns Alex Reigert, the defending state champ in the 100 breaststroke who also finished 5th in the 100 free, along with Kevin Schneider, a state qualifier in the IM and fly.
-- Fort Atkinson is one of several D2 teams with a powerful twosome of swimmers returning: junior Evan Hill (6th in both the fly and back at state) and sophomore Wyatt Paul (7th in both the 50 and 100 frees), both also featured on Fort's two strong relays at state last year.
-- Brookfield Academy is home to another strong twosome -- between them, juniors Jack Donovan (200 free/fly) and Jonathan Marks (200 IM/breaststroke) had three top-six podium finishes at state.
-- Milton returns former state champion Jeff Maxwell, who finished second in the 500 free by less than a third of a second last year after winning the event as a sophomore. Maxwell, a versatile swimmer, also finished 4th last year in the 200 free. State qualifier Erik Swanson (breaststroke) also returns for the Redhawks.
-- Plymouth returns state qualifiers Jesse Gambrell (200 IM/breaststroke), Brian Linzmeyer (200 free) and Andrew Connor (breaststroke), along with state qualifying divers Zach Schroeder and Josh Suchon.
-- Monona Grove returns double state qualifiers Aaron Pomeroy (50/100 frees) and Jake McDade (200 IM/500 free), along with nearly all of the team's two relays (200/400) that qualified for state. Senior Trevor Sisson, 3rd last year at state, is the top returning diver in the state; freshman brother Patrick joins him on the boards this year.
-- McFarland was an easy winner of its third straight state title last year, its 122-point margin over Whitefish Bay the largest at the state meet since 2005. Despite losing two senior stalwarts in Bradon O'Donnell and Graham Thoresen, the Spartans return more than enough talent to make a run at a fourth straight title. Coach Nick Weiss' squad is led by senior Brian Heiser -- the UW-Green Bay recruit is the defending state champ in the 200 free, finished 3rd in the 100 free, and swam on two gold-medal relays, including the team's record-breaking 400 free relay. He'll be joined by fellow senior Peter Grenzow, who qualified for state last year in both the 50 and 100 frees, and has anchored four Spartan relays to first-place finishes at state during his career. Sophomore Ryan O'Donnell had an impressive freshman campaign last year, when he finished 2nd (200 IM) and 3rd (backstroke) in his individual events at state and swam on two first-place relays. A host of other state-qualifying swimmers from last year's squad -- senior Ben Psyk, junior Geoff Glover, and sophomores Jacob Mandli, Collin Morgan, Max Schimanski and Ryan Krattiger -- also return, giving McFarland the kind of depth that few D2 teams can match. In fact, of the 17 individual "swims" McFarland had at state last year, the swimmers responsible for 13 of them return. It remains to be seen whether this squad can match the performance of last year's team, which won all three relays at state and had 8 individual top-3 finishes. But it's an awfully good -- and deep -- squad.
-- Perhaps the team best-suited to make a run at McFarland is last year's runner-up, Whitefish Bay. The Blue Dukes return a senior-dominated squad with considerable state-meet experience -- sprinter and UW-Madison recruit Chuckie Prestigiacomo (50/100 frees); Boston College-bound Jason Castillo (200 IM/breaststroke); Tommy Hiller (fly, 500 free); Chris Fink (200 free/backstroke); junior DJ Freisch (IM/breaststroke); and Walker Brengel (200 free). Add in seniors Rob Colton and Domi Lauko, both of whom swam on state-qualifying relays last year, and Whitefish Bay is one of the few teams in the state with the kind of depth needed to tangle with McFarland. The key for Whitefish Bay may rest in moving their swimmers into the top tier of competitors at the state meet -- WB's relays last year finished with two 3rds and a 9th, while its individual swimmers had five top-6 podium finishes compared to nine for McFarland.
-- Shorewood returns a strong nucleus of swimmers that helped the Greyhounds to a tie for 4th at last year's state meet. Leading the team is senior Stephen Meyer, who finished 2nd in both the fly and backstroke at state, and came within two-tenths of a second of winning both events. He's joined by junior Kasmir Bohannon (200 free/back); senior Mike Ross (IM/breaststroke); sophomore Jay Tomasiewicz (IM/500 free); senior Asher Kaufman (breaststroke); junior Isaac Flegel-Mishlove (500 free); and senior Arthur Staub (medley and 200 free relays). They'll need to replace the points at state generated by Karl Weisling, who had two podium finishes in the 200 and 500 frees as a senior last year.
-- Madison Edgewood features perhaps the best one-two punch in D2 in junior Drew teDuits and senior Chase Stephens. teDuits won the backstroke last year, nearly breaking the state record in the event, and finished 2nd in the 50 free, while contributing strong legs on Edgewood's medley and 400 free relays. The Northwestern-bound Stephens finished 3rd at state last year in both the 200 and 500 frees, and anchored two top-three relays. Edgewood -- which tied Shorewood for 4th last year at state -- will look for juniors Eric Wendorf and Eric Madsen, along with sophomore Mark Vukich, to step up to replace graduated state qualifiers Chris Kuecker and Matt Everts.
Other teams and swimmers to watch during the season:
-- Cedarburg graduated all of its 31.5 points it scored in diving at last year's state, along with distance swimmer Jim Akkala. But junior Carl Newenhouse (4th at state in the back, 11th in the 100 free) returns, as do state qualifiers Connoer Neuville (500 free), Nate Jones (back), and three-fourths of all three relays that made it to state.
-- Delavan-Darien returns Alex Reigert, the defending state champ in the 100 breaststroke who also finished 5th in the 100 free, along with Kevin Schneider, a state qualifier in the IM and fly.
-- Fort Atkinson is one of several D2 teams with a powerful twosome of swimmers returning: junior Evan Hill (6th in both the fly and back at state) and sophomore Wyatt Paul (7th in both the 50 and 100 frees), both also featured on Fort's two strong relays at state last year.
-- Brookfield Academy is home to another strong twosome -- between them, juniors Jack Donovan (200 free/fly) and Jonathan Marks (200 IM/breaststroke) had three top-six podium finishes at state.
-- Milton returns former state champion Jeff Maxwell, who finished second in the 500 free by less than a third of a second last year after winning the event as a sophomore. Maxwell, a versatile swimmer, also finished 4th last year in the 200 free. State qualifier Erik Swanson (breaststroke) also returns for the Redhawks.
-- Plymouth returns state qualifiers Jesse Gambrell (200 IM/breaststroke), Brian Linzmeyer (200 free) and Andrew Connor (breaststroke), along with state qualifying divers Zach Schroeder and Josh Suchon.
-- Monona Grove returns double state qualifiers Aaron Pomeroy (50/100 frees) and Jake McDade (200 IM/500 free), along with nearly all of the team's two relays (200/400) that qualified for state. Senior Trevor Sisson, 3rd last year at state, is the top returning diver in the state; freshman brother Patrick joins him on the boards this year.
Monday, November 23, 2009
A different sort of recruit -- Sheboygan North's Parker Wolf and her remarkable comeback from cancer
Sheboygan North's Parker Wolf, one of D1's better sprinters, has decided to extend her swimming career at nearby UW-Green Bay.
That she's able to continue swimming at all is a remarkable story, chronicled in this Sheboygan Press report:
http://www.sheboyganpress.com/article/20091120/SHE020507/911200406/1089/SHE02
In 2008, Wolf garnered two top-10 finishes at the D1 state meet, including a 4th in the 50 free. But before she began her senior year of swimming, she was diagnosed with Stage 2 Hodgkins lymphoma, and underwent radiation treatments and chemotherapy. Her return to swimming was uncertain, but Wolf battled all the way back to again qualify for state. In her last individual race, she set a school record in the 100 free. With her cancer in remission, Wolf will continue her swimming career for the Phoenix.
Said her mother, Jean: "I've told Parker, 'You've already won the biggest race of your life; you've beaten cancer.'"
That she's able to continue swimming at all is a remarkable story, chronicled in this Sheboygan Press report:
http://www.sheboyganpress.com/article/20091120/SHE020507/911200406/1089/SHE02
In 2008, Wolf garnered two top-10 finishes at the D1 state meet, including a 4th in the 50 free. But before she began her senior year of swimming, she was diagnosed with Stage 2 Hodgkins lymphoma, and underwent radiation treatments and chemotherapy. Her return to swimming was uncertain, but Wolf battled all the way back to again qualify for state. In her last individual race, she set a school record in the 100 free. With her cancer in remission, Wolf will continue her swimming career for the Phoenix.
Said her mother, Jean: "I've told Parker, 'You've already won the biggest race of your life; you've beaten cancer.'"
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Recruiting news
Here's a quick look so far of high school swimmers who have announced their intentions for collegiate swimming after this season.
(A personal note on recruiting: Although I do want to encourage comments on this post, I am not a big fan of posting stories or comments that speculate about who is going where, or what schools a given swimmer may be considering. My preference is to list only recruiting commitments posted or publicized somewhere else -- a college or university announcement, a local newspaper or media report, a reputable website like collegeswimming.com. Coaches, parents, and swimmers are free to comment, of course, on where swimmers are headed. But the intent here is to post only known public commitments, not speculative ones. Thanks for your understanding.)
Girls:
Jackie Powell (Madison Memorial) -- Northwestern.
Tracey Vogel (Hartland Arrowhead) -- Buffalo.
Emily Russart (Badger/Big Foot/Williams Bay) -- Northwestern.
Chloe Bartuska (McFarland) -- St. Cloud State.
Erica Halley (Appleton East) -- Illinois State.
Source: Collegeswimming.com website
Boys:
Tyler Lentz (Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights) -- Iowa.
Matt Friede (Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights) -- Purdue.
Alex Rodenkirk (New Berlin West/Eisenhower) -- Pittsburgh.
Robert Miner (Madison East) -- UW-Green Bay.
Source: Collegeswimming.com website
In addition, Madison Memorial's Michael Drives has announced on his Facebook page that he plans to attend the United States Military Academy at West Point, NY.
Finally, according to collegeswimming.com, three Wisconsin swimmers who bypassed part or all of high school swimming have signed on with major colleges. They are: Mitchell Friedmann -- Arizona; Dak Stone -- Ohio State; Emily Schwabe -- Louisiana State.
Update (also check the comments section for additions to this list): Brian Heiser (McFarland) -- UW-Green Bay; Stephanie Armstrong (who won a state championship in the D1 100 free as a sophomore, then left high school swimming to swim for Waukesha Express) -- Indiana; Natalie Johnson (Hartland Arrowhead) -- Northern Iowa.
More updates: Abbey Tuchscherer and Hilary Woldt (Oshkosh West) -- Tuchscherer to Iowa; Woldt to Buffalo.
Several UW-Milwaukee signings: Women -- Briana Huth (Appleton North); Molly Piepenburg (Cedarburg); Erika Pliner (Ashwaubenon); Diana Diel (home-schooled; did not compete in high school swimming); Men -- Jeff Maxwell (Milton); Chris Jenkyns (Hartland Arrowhead).
Jennah Haney (Milton) -- University of Wisconsin.
Brittany Walsh (Muskego) -- Louisville.
Marin Thompson (Germantown) -- Illinois.
Katie Schroeder (Brookfield Central) -- Michigan State.
Diver Sara Axness (Eau Claire Memorial) -- Minnesota.
(A personal note on recruiting: Although I do want to encourage comments on this post, I am not a big fan of posting stories or comments that speculate about who is going where, or what schools a given swimmer may be considering. My preference is to list only recruiting commitments posted or publicized somewhere else -- a college or university announcement, a local newspaper or media report, a reputable website like collegeswimming.com. Coaches, parents, and swimmers are free to comment, of course, on where swimmers are headed. But the intent here is to post only known public commitments, not speculative ones. Thanks for your understanding.)
Girls:
Jackie Powell (Madison Memorial) -- Northwestern.
Tracey Vogel (Hartland Arrowhead) -- Buffalo.
Emily Russart (Badger/Big Foot/Williams Bay) -- Northwestern.
Chloe Bartuska (McFarland) -- St. Cloud State.
Erica Halley (Appleton East) -- Illinois State.
Source: Collegeswimming.com website
Boys:
Tyler Lentz (Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights) -- Iowa.
Matt Friede (Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights) -- Purdue.
Alex Rodenkirk (New Berlin West/Eisenhower) -- Pittsburgh.
Robert Miner (Madison East) -- UW-Green Bay.
Source: Collegeswimming.com website
In addition, Madison Memorial's Michael Drives has announced on his Facebook page that he plans to attend the United States Military Academy at West Point, NY.
Finally, according to collegeswimming.com, three Wisconsin swimmers who bypassed part or all of high school swimming have signed on with major colleges. They are: Mitchell Friedmann -- Arizona; Dak Stone -- Ohio State; Emily Schwabe -- Louisiana State.
Update (also check the comments section for additions to this list): Brian Heiser (McFarland) -- UW-Green Bay; Stephanie Armstrong (who won a state championship in the D1 100 free as a sophomore, then left high school swimming to swim for Waukesha Express) -- Indiana; Natalie Johnson (Hartland Arrowhead) -- Northern Iowa.
More updates: Abbey Tuchscherer and Hilary Woldt (Oshkosh West) -- Tuchscherer to Iowa; Woldt to Buffalo.
Several UW-Milwaukee signings: Women -- Briana Huth (Appleton North); Molly Piepenburg (Cedarburg); Erika Pliner (Ashwaubenon); Diana Diel (home-schooled; did not compete in high school swimming); Men -- Jeff Maxwell (Milton); Chris Jenkyns (Hartland Arrowhead).
Jennah Haney (Milton) -- University of Wisconsin.
Brittany Walsh (Muskego) -- Louisville.
Marin Thompson (Germantown) -- Illinois.
Katie Schroeder (Brookfield Central) -- Michigan State.
Diver Sara Axness (Eau Claire Memorial) -- Minnesota.
Some sad news to pass along
Word comes from a friend that former Janesville Craig swim coach and longtime swim official Wes Mayer passed away in Janesville Tuesday morning. Mayer, 77, was both a high school and collegiate swim official for more than 50 years, and was a charter member of the Southern Wisconsin Swimming Officials Association. A highly respected and well-liked official, he was also a mentor to many swim officials throughout the state.
His full obituary is here:
http://gazettextra.com/obits/2009/nov/19/wesley-mayer/
It's always been my sense, in watching swim meets over the years, that swim officials prefer to stay in the background; they only really come to the forefront at a meet when they have to make an (oftentimes difficult) disqualification or ensure the rules of swimming are enforced. But without officials, there would be no swim meets -- and I have yet to meet a swim official who didn't truly love the sport of swimming. So next time you're at a meet, and have a minute, thank the officials.
His full obituary is here:
http://gazettextra.com/obits/2009/nov/19/wesley-mayer/
It's always been my sense, in watching swim meets over the years, that swim officials prefer to stay in the background; they only really come to the forefront at a meet when they have to make an (oftentimes difficult) disqualification or ensure the rules of swimming are enforced. But without officials, there would be no swim meets -- and I have yet to meet a swim official who didn't truly love the sport of swimming. So next time you're at a meet, and have a minute, thank the officials.
Monday, November 16, 2009
2009 girls season review
Another girls swim season is in the books; a few highlights before moving on to season-ending recognition:
-- Five state records were broken at the Div. 1 and Div. 2 state meets, compared to six records broken last year at the two state meets. This year's records: Aja Van Hout, Madison East, 200 IM, 2:00.06 (2:0139); Emily Russart, Badger/Big Foot/Williams Bay, 100 breaststroke, 1:02.53 (1:02.70); D2 -- Kelsey Hojan-Clark, Brookfield Academy, 200 free, 1:49.13 (1:49.94), and 500 free, 4:50.19 (4:53.94); Sturgeon Bay/Sevastopol, 200 free relay, 1:36.02 (1:38.95).
-- Div. 2 event winners at the state meet had faster times than their counterparts in Div. 1 in four events -- both the 200 and 500 frees, the 200 free relay, and the 100 back. Last year, only one D2 time bettered a winning D1 time. This year, D2 swimmers had half of the top-6 times among all state meet swimmers (D1 and D2 combined) in the back, breaststroke, and fly, and two of the top-6 times in all three of the relays. The D2 field can't match D1 in terms of depth, but this year's results are an indication that the very top tier of D2 swimmers can hold their own with swimmers from the state's largest schools.
-- Did the much-discussed suit ban make a difference in times at the state meets? Hard to tell, without a comprehensive list of which swimmers wore them last year. But they were pretty prevelant among the winners last year. At this year's state meets, 14 of the winning times were slower than last year's winning times; eight were faster. Comments and observations on this issue, of course, are welcome.
On to the post-season recoginition.
D1
Swimmer of the year: It may be getting to the point where swim fans take East's Aja Van Hout for granted. They shouldn't. A swimmer of Van Hout's caliber comes along about once every 10 years or so. She's on her way to accomplishing what only two swimmers in the history of the state have done -- win eight individual titles during her high school career. Perhaps the most notable feature of Van Hout is that -- at least in the biggest meet of the year -- she never has anything close to an indifferent race. Everyone expects her to win, and she does -- time and again. And she clearly inspires her teammates; East came into this year's state meet seeded nearly five seconds behind a very strong Hartland Arrowhead squad in the 400 free relay. But Van Hout's amazing 49.94 lead-off leg (a mere .17 off the all-time state record in the 100 free) gave the East relay a lead that her teammates refused to give up. A treat to watch. Runners-up: Arrowhead's Emma Goral, who won her third straight butterfly title, and was the leader of Arrowhead's dominant D1 title team this year; and Madison Memorial's Jackie Powell, who for the second year in a row won two individual titles.
Swim of the year: Van Hout's record-breaking 200 IM win at the state meet. When you knock off a record held by Arrowhead's Andrea Boritzke (the only swimmer in the history of the state with eight individual and eight relay gold medals), you've accomplished something. And Van Hout broke it pretty easily, by more than 1-1/2 seconds, and became the second high school swimmer in the past year (along with Michael Drives of Madison Memorial) to set a UW Natatorium pool record at a state meet. Runner-up: Emily Russart's record-breaking win in the 100 breaststroke over Eau Claire Memorial freshman phenom Leah Pronschinske. Also worth mentioning: Distance swimmers Katie Delaney of Middleton and Ilsa Feierabend of Madison West. Neither one swam at the state meet in the final heat of their events -- the 200 and 500 frees -- but they earned top-6 podium finishes in both races. Delaney came home with two bronze medals, while Feierabend earned a 6th place (200) and 4th place (500), with both swimmers breaking the 5-minute mark in the 500.
Relay of the year: In a close call, Arrowhead's state-winning 200 medley relay. The team of Kate Jones, Caryn Knight, Emma Goral and Haley Pietila came into the state meet as the top-seeded team, but swimming right next to them were both a loaded-up Madison East squad, along with Badger/Big Foot/Williams Bay, the defending champs in the event. Arrowhead's medley had come in as the top seed in last year's state meet, as well, only to see B/B/WB upend them by .14 seconds. The two relays also hooked up at the Wisconsin Girls Invite at the Nat in October, and B/B/WB again edged Arrowhead by a narrow two-tenths. It looked like Arrowhead would lose for a third time after the first two legs of the medley, when the team found itself in third place. But Goral's terrific fly leg gave Arrowhead the lead, and Pietila anchored the team home to victory. Runner-up: East's grab-the-lead-and-hold-on-for-dear-life 400 free relay, which nipped favored Arrowhead by four-tenths of a second.
Rookie of the year: Shawano-Bonduel freshman Mackenzie Buss came in as a highly anticipated freshman, and her program's move up this year from D2 to D1 didn't stop her from winning the state title in the 100 backstroke. Buss, the #3 seed in the event coming out of sectionals, grabbed an early lead in the race and never let go. Runners-up: Burlington co-op freshman Anna Brooks didn't have the state meet she wanted, with a 5th in the 200 IM and a 10th in the 500 free, but she was one of the leading swimmers in a program that looks to be a strong presence for several years. Arrowhead freshman sprinter Julia Mikota got on the podium in both her individual free sprints, and won a gold medal anchoring the team's winning 200 free relay. Waukesha South/Mukwonago's Kayla Skenandore, although a sophomore, eschewed club swimming for her first season of high school swimming, and earned runner-up finishes at the state meet in both the 200 free and 100 fly.
D2
Swimmer of the year: A no-brainer -- Brookfield Academy junior Kelsey Hojan-Clark. Last year, Hojan-Clark showed her great potential with wins in both the 200 and 500 frees at the state meet. This year, she smashed the long-standing state records in each race, held since 1996 by Shorewood's Jamie Belfor, one of D2's greatest swimmers. Hojan-Clark swims for the one of the smallest schools in Div. 2, and as such doesn't have the opportunity to shine in relays that lots of other top-tier swimmers do. But no matter -- her two record-setting performances at this year's state meet stood out. Runners-up: Sauk Prairie junior Alison Meng, who won both the 100 backstroke and the 100 butterfly, and helped Sauk's medley and 400 free relays to two podium finishes; Sturgeon Bay/Sevastopol freshman Savanna Townsend, whose state-meet performance carried the Clippers to the first state title in school history.
Swim of the year: Again, a no-brainer -- Hojan-Clark's 500 free win at state. You may have to be a distance-race junkie (like I am) to appreciate how good this swim was. Hojan-Clark's opening 200 -- a 1:54.14 -- would have beat every other D2 swimmer in the 200 free (save for her own record-breaking swim in the race). She closed with an astonishing 1:56.54 for the final 200 yards, an amazing display of back-half speed. She swam the race alone after about 75 yards, yet kept expanding her lead the entire race. She never once split a 50 free above 30 seconds. Here's one request: Can someone arrange to have the state's two finest swimmers -- Van Hout and Hojan-Clark -- swim against each other next year? Please? Begging is not beneath me...Runners-up: Hojan-Clark's record-breaking 200 free at state; Meng's 100-yard backstroke win at state, where she bested a field that included two former state champs in the event, and won in a time (57.19) that was .25 seconds faster than D1 winner Buss; Delavan-Darien's Emily McClellan, who won the 100 breaststroke over a loaded field that included four other state-record breakers from last year's meet and two former state titleists in the event.
Relay of the year: Sturgeon-Bay/Sevastopol's 200 free relay. Very early in the year, in the midst of the hard training that's not conducive to fast times in meets, SB/S's 200 free relay popped a 1:39.36, less than half-a-second slower than the existing D2 record in the event. The SB/S relay -- sisters Savanna and Sierra Townsend, along with McKenzie Trelka and Michaela Rabas -- kept it up all season long, and entered the state meet as the clear favorites in the event, with a seed time a half-second below the state record. But no one was expecting the relay's 1:36.02 -- a record by nearly three seconds, and a second faster than Arrowhead's winning 200 free relay in D1. A record that may stand for a while -- unless SB/S (which returns all four members of the relay next year) has another go at it. Runner-up: Swimming the anchor leg in the last event of the meet in the final race of her careeer, Whitefish Bay senior Maggie Smith rallied the Blue Dukes from third place in the 400 free relay with a 51.19 split (fastest in the field by more than half-a-second) that gave her team their second relay win of the state meet.
Rookie of the year: Sturgeon Bay/Sevastopol freshman Savanna Townsend was the catalyst behind a squad that entered the season as a possible contender for a state title and ended with the first-place trophy high above their heads. Townsend came into the state meet with a lot riding on her shoulders, and somehow managed to exceed expectations -- a 1st in the 50 free, a close 2nd in the 100 free, a lights-out 23.14 anchor leg on the team's record-setting 200 free relay, and a 51.77 anchor leg on the team's 6th-place 400 free relay that secured the team title. She'll be faced with a tough encore next year. Runners-up: The Holmquist sisters of Milton, Abby and Katelyn, who qualified for three individual events and keyed a Milton squad that finished 5th at state despite the loss of some key seniors from last year's team; Ellen Stello of Shorewood, who put together four podium finishes at the state meet in her individual and relay events.
-- Five state records were broken at the Div. 1 and Div. 2 state meets, compared to six records broken last year at the two state meets. This year's records: Aja Van Hout, Madison East, 200 IM, 2:00.06 (2:0139); Emily Russart, Badger/Big Foot/Williams Bay, 100 breaststroke, 1:02.53 (1:02.70); D2 -- Kelsey Hojan-Clark, Brookfield Academy, 200 free, 1:49.13 (1:49.94), and 500 free, 4:50.19 (4:53.94); Sturgeon Bay/Sevastopol, 200 free relay, 1:36.02 (1:38.95).
-- Div. 2 event winners at the state meet had faster times than their counterparts in Div. 1 in four events -- both the 200 and 500 frees, the 200 free relay, and the 100 back. Last year, only one D2 time bettered a winning D1 time. This year, D2 swimmers had half of the top-6 times among all state meet swimmers (D1 and D2 combined) in the back, breaststroke, and fly, and two of the top-6 times in all three of the relays. The D2 field can't match D1 in terms of depth, but this year's results are an indication that the very top tier of D2 swimmers can hold their own with swimmers from the state's largest schools.
-- Did the much-discussed suit ban make a difference in times at the state meets? Hard to tell, without a comprehensive list of which swimmers wore them last year. But they were pretty prevelant among the winners last year. At this year's state meets, 14 of the winning times were slower than last year's winning times; eight were faster. Comments and observations on this issue, of course, are welcome.
On to the post-season recoginition.
D1
Swimmer of the year: It may be getting to the point where swim fans take East's Aja Van Hout for granted. They shouldn't. A swimmer of Van Hout's caliber comes along about once every 10 years or so. She's on her way to accomplishing what only two swimmers in the history of the state have done -- win eight individual titles during her high school career. Perhaps the most notable feature of Van Hout is that -- at least in the biggest meet of the year -- she never has anything close to an indifferent race. Everyone expects her to win, and she does -- time and again. And she clearly inspires her teammates; East came into this year's state meet seeded nearly five seconds behind a very strong Hartland Arrowhead squad in the 400 free relay. But Van Hout's amazing 49.94 lead-off leg (a mere .17 off the all-time state record in the 100 free) gave the East relay a lead that her teammates refused to give up. A treat to watch. Runners-up: Arrowhead's Emma Goral, who won her third straight butterfly title, and was the leader of Arrowhead's dominant D1 title team this year; and Madison Memorial's Jackie Powell, who for the second year in a row won two individual titles.
Swim of the year: Van Hout's record-breaking 200 IM win at the state meet. When you knock off a record held by Arrowhead's Andrea Boritzke (the only swimmer in the history of the state with eight individual and eight relay gold medals), you've accomplished something. And Van Hout broke it pretty easily, by more than 1-1/2 seconds, and became the second high school swimmer in the past year (along with Michael Drives of Madison Memorial) to set a UW Natatorium pool record at a state meet. Runner-up: Emily Russart's record-breaking win in the 100 breaststroke over Eau Claire Memorial freshman phenom Leah Pronschinske. Also worth mentioning: Distance swimmers Katie Delaney of Middleton and Ilsa Feierabend of Madison West. Neither one swam at the state meet in the final heat of their events -- the 200 and 500 frees -- but they earned top-6 podium finishes in both races. Delaney came home with two bronze medals, while Feierabend earned a 6th place (200) and 4th place (500), with both swimmers breaking the 5-minute mark in the 500.
Relay of the year: In a close call, Arrowhead's state-winning 200 medley relay. The team of Kate Jones, Caryn Knight, Emma Goral and Haley Pietila came into the state meet as the top-seeded team, but swimming right next to them were both a loaded-up Madison East squad, along with Badger/Big Foot/Williams Bay, the defending champs in the event. Arrowhead's medley had come in as the top seed in last year's state meet, as well, only to see B/B/WB upend them by .14 seconds. The two relays also hooked up at the Wisconsin Girls Invite at the Nat in October, and B/B/WB again edged Arrowhead by a narrow two-tenths. It looked like Arrowhead would lose for a third time after the first two legs of the medley, when the team found itself in third place. But Goral's terrific fly leg gave Arrowhead the lead, and Pietila anchored the team home to victory. Runner-up: East's grab-the-lead-and-hold-on-for-dear-life 400 free relay, which nipped favored Arrowhead by four-tenths of a second.
Rookie of the year: Shawano-Bonduel freshman Mackenzie Buss came in as a highly anticipated freshman, and her program's move up this year from D2 to D1 didn't stop her from winning the state title in the 100 backstroke. Buss, the #3 seed in the event coming out of sectionals, grabbed an early lead in the race and never let go. Runners-up: Burlington co-op freshman Anna Brooks didn't have the state meet she wanted, with a 5th in the 200 IM and a 10th in the 500 free, but she was one of the leading swimmers in a program that looks to be a strong presence for several years. Arrowhead freshman sprinter Julia Mikota got on the podium in both her individual free sprints, and won a gold medal anchoring the team's winning 200 free relay. Waukesha South/Mukwonago's Kayla Skenandore, although a sophomore, eschewed club swimming for her first season of high school swimming, and earned runner-up finishes at the state meet in both the 200 free and 100 fly.
D2
Swimmer of the year: A no-brainer -- Brookfield Academy junior Kelsey Hojan-Clark. Last year, Hojan-Clark showed her great potential with wins in both the 200 and 500 frees at the state meet. This year, she smashed the long-standing state records in each race, held since 1996 by Shorewood's Jamie Belfor, one of D2's greatest swimmers. Hojan-Clark swims for the one of the smallest schools in Div. 2, and as such doesn't have the opportunity to shine in relays that lots of other top-tier swimmers do. But no matter -- her two record-setting performances at this year's state meet stood out. Runners-up: Sauk Prairie junior Alison Meng, who won both the 100 backstroke and the 100 butterfly, and helped Sauk's medley and 400 free relays to two podium finishes; Sturgeon Bay/Sevastopol freshman Savanna Townsend, whose state-meet performance carried the Clippers to the first state title in school history.
Swim of the year: Again, a no-brainer -- Hojan-Clark's 500 free win at state. You may have to be a distance-race junkie (like I am) to appreciate how good this swim was. Hojan-Clark's opening 200 -- a 1:54.14 -- would have beat every other D2 swimmer in the 200 free (save for her own record-breaking swim in the race). She closed with an astonishing 1:56.54 for the final 200 yards, an amazing display of back-half speed. She swam the race alone after about 75 yards, yet kept expanding her lead the entire race. She never once split a 50 free above 30 seconds. Here's one request: Can someone arrange to have the state's two finest swimmers -- Van Hout and Hojan-Clark -- swim against each other next year? Please? Begging is not beneath me...Runners-up: Hojan-Clark's record-breaking 200 free at state; Meng's 100-yard backstroke win at state, where she bested a field that included two former state champs in the event, and won in a time (57.19) that was .25 seconds faster than D1 winner Buss; Delavan-Darien's Emily McClellan, who won the 100 breaststroke over a loaded field that included four other state-record breakers from last year's meet and two former state titleists in the event.
Relay of the year: Sturgeon-Bay/Sevastopol's 200 free relay. Very early in the year, in the midst of the hard training that's not conducive to fast times in meets, SB/S's 200 free relay popped a 1:39.36, less than half-a-second slower than the existing D2 record in the event. The SB/S relay -- sisters Savanna and Sierra Townsend, along with McKenzie Trelka and Michaela Rabas -- kept it up all season long, and entered the state meet as the clear favorites in the event, with a seed time a half-second below the state record. But no one was expecting the relay's 1:36.02 -- a record by nearly three seconds, and a second faster than Arrowhead's winning 200 free relay in D1. A record that may stand for a while -- unless SB/S (which returns all four members of the relay next year) has another go at it. Runner-up: Swimming the anchor leg in the last event of the meet in the final race of her careeer, Whitefish Bay senior Maggie Smith rallied the Blue Dukes from third place in the 400 free relay with a 51.19 split (fastest in the field by more than half-a-second) that gave her team their second relay win of the state meet.
Rookie of the year: Sturgeon Bay/Sevastopol freshman Savanna Townsend was the catalyst behind a squad that entered the season as a possible contender for a state title and ended with the first-place trophy high above their heads. Townsend came into the state meet with a lot riding on her shoulders, and somehow managed to exceed expectations -- a 1st in the 50 free, a close 2nd in the 100 free, a lights-out 23.14 anchor leg on the team's record-setting 200 free relay, and a 51.77 anchor leg on the team's 6th-place 400 free relay that secured the team title. She'll be faced with a tough encore next year. Runners-up: The Holmquist sisters of Milton, Abby and Katelyn, who qualified for three individual events and keyed a Milton squad that finished 5th at state despite the loss of some key seniors from last year's team; Ellen Stello of Shorewood, who put together four podium finishes at the state meet in her individual and relay events.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Scenes from the state meet
Here are a few photos from the Division 2 state meet (I was timing at the D1 meet, so was unable to grab any photos from that meet; click on the photos to enlarge):
Members of the Sturgeon Bay/Sevastopol swim team take a peek at their medals as they await the trophy presentation after capturing their first Div. 2 state title.
The trophy hoisted high above.
Red-clad Sturgeon Bay/Sevastopol fans cheer on their team after the trophy presentation.
The state swim meet is loud, intense, and a constant din of cheering and noise. It can be hard for swimmers to find a quiet spot to focus on their race. Here's Monona Grove's Kelsey Millin (blue cap), sitting along the benches that line the UW Natatorium behind the starting blocks, trying to catch a few quiet moments before her race in the 100-yard butterfly. She finished third in the event.
Members of the Sturgeon Bay/Sevastopol swim team take a peek at their medals as they await the trophy presentation after capturing their first Div. 2 state title.
The trophy hoisted high above.
Red-clad Sturgeon Bay/Sevastopol fans cheer on their team after the trophy presentation.
The state swim meet is loud, intense, and a constant din of cheering and noise. It can be hard for swimmers to find a quiet spot to focus on their race. Here's Monona Grove's Kelsey Millin (blue cap), sitting along the benches that line the UW Natatorium behind the starting blocks, trying to catch a few quiet moments before her race in the 100-yard butterfly. She finished third in the event.
Update:
Peter Zuzga, a photographer for the MyCommunityNow website (the website of suburban newspapers printed by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel), has a wonderful collection of photos of Milwaukee-area swimmers from the Div. 2 state meet here:
http://www.mycommunitynow.com/multimedia/photos/70103597.htmlD1 state meet recap
In a meet that was both predictable -- and not -- here's what happened that was predictable at the D1 state meet Saturday:
-- Hartland Arrowhead won the title, its seventh in eight years, with a 122-point margin;
-- Madison East's Aja Van Hout won two events, and set another state record;
-- Four swimmers defended their individual titles from a year ago, as did one relay.
-- Madison West's Kyle Rosenstock won her fourth straight state diving title.
Here's what was not:
-- Two swimmers came out of the second heat -- not the last, fast heat -- to claim individual titles. When was the last time that happened?
-- Madison East, competing with all of four swimmers (and thus only two relays), claimed its second consecutive runner-up trophy, to go along with its state championship trophy from 2007.
-- Waukesha South/Mukwonago and Muskego, seeded to finish 2nd and 3rd in the meet (51 and 45 points, respectively, ahead of East), both fell down in the standings, finishing third and fourth.
For Arrowhead, the meet was the conclusion of a dominating season which saw the team win every meet it entered. For right now, Arrowhead boasts a very deep and talented pool of swimmers that the rest of the D1 field simply can't match.
"Nothing's ever easy," Warhawks coach Jennifer Leider told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "It's hard to kind of approach it that way, but we knew we had a lot more weapons on this year's team coming in."
You could tell it was going to be an Arrowhead night right from the start, as its 200 medley relay won in a terrific battle with the last two teams to win the medley at state -- Madison East and Badger/Big Foot/Williams Bay. The Warhawks were trailing after the first two legs on the relay, but then junior Emma Goral jumped in the pool, and all was put right for Arrowhead. The two-time defending champ in the 100 butterfly split a 24.95 fly leg, giving anchor swimmer Haley Pietila a lead she never gave up.
Goral came back later in the meet to claim her third straight title in the fly -- her 55.27 is the 4th-fastest in the event. Out of the water, Goral is a pretty unassuming-looking swimmer, but in the water, she's a superb technician who gets a better push off the wall than any butterfier in the state.
"I made sure to nail my turns, I had a great start and I just concentrated on me - on what I was doing - and I knew I'd come away with the win," Goral told the Milwaukee paper. "I'm really looking forward to next year. I'm going to get back to training hard and hopefully I can get that state record (54.55) next year finally."
As for Van Hout, she electrified the crowd with her win in the 200 IM, her time of 2:00.06 breaking the previous state record of Arrowhead's Andrea Boritzke (2:01.39) by well over a second. Van Hout then came back with a win in the 500 free, in a race where she had to hold off a game Brittany Walsh of Muskego. Van Hout never trailed in the race, but she could never shake Walsh, and with 150 yards it was no sure thing that Van Hout would win her third straight 500 (Walsh at one point in the race had four consecutive 50 splits faster than Van Hout). But Van Hout held on, her winning time of 5:51.77 3+ seconds slower than her record time last year, but still second all-time in D1 state history. Walsh was second in 4:52.84 (nearly exactly what she swam a year ago when she also finished second.)
As for the rest of the meet:
Performance of the meet: A tie between Madison Memorial senior Jackie Powell in the 100 free and Madison East's Ivy Martin in the 50 free. Both came out of the slower, second heat to claim a state title -- Powell with a 50.82 in the 100 free that easily won the title over Pietila (51.51). Powell had shown earlier in the meet she would be a force in the 100, as she powered her way past Pietila at the halfway point of the 200 free and finished out in 1:49.90 to win by nearly 2-1/2 seconds. Martin followed up on the success of her sister, Ruby -- who won the 50 free the past two years -- as she won with a 23.55 that Wisconsin Rapids' junior Becca Weiland (23.66) couldn't quite match in the final heat.
Race of the meet: Another tie, this one between the 100 breaststroke and the meet-ending 400 free relay. The highly anticipated 100 breaststroke shoot-out lived up to its advance billing, with two-time defending champion Emily Russart of Badger/Big Foot (1:02.53) holding off Eau Claire Memorial freshman Leah Pronschinske (1:02.94). Russart set a state record, breaking her own mark (1:02.70) she set two years ago, while Pronschinske became only the second breaststroker in state history to go under 1:03 in the event. Pronschinske is wonderful-looking breaststroker, with a smooth stroke and a rapid turnover. In truth, she might have been just slightly faster than Russart in the water. But Russart, the taller of the two, got terrific pushes off the wall on all three of her turns, and her powerful underwater pull off her start gave her a lead in the race she never gave up.
As for Madison East's 400 free relay, the team's performance sealed their second straight runner-up trophy. East, Muskego, and Waukesha South/Mukwonago were within 6 points of each other entering the relay, and with all three teams in the final heat, the runner-up trophy was up for grabs. Standing in everyone's way was Arrowhead, which came in with the fastest seed time and featured Goral and three of the team's top sprinters.
Conventional wisdom for relays suggests spreading out your fastest swimmers, going with your second-fastest swimmer on the lead-off leg and saving your fastest swimmer for the anchor leg. But East coach Matt Matteson turned that on its head, putting out Van Hout and Martin on the first two legs. Van Hout's lead-off leg of 49.94 would've won the 100 free, and Martin then helped extend the lead. That left it to the Soderholm sisters -- sophomore Chelsea and senior Becca -- to hold on to the lead. Becca Soderholm entered the pool for the anchor leg with about a one-second lead, and with 50 yards to go, it looked like Arrowhead anchor Julia Mikota was on her way to overtaking her and giving Arrowhead its third relay title of the meet. But Soderholm dug in, and as the crowd rose to its feet, the two swimmers battled for the lead. In the end, Soderholm and East held on -- not by much (four-tenths of a second) -- but enough to elicit a scream and a jig on the pool deck from the East relay, and the runner-up trophy that arrived in their hands a few minutes later. A great ending to a very good meet.
Swimmer of the meet: One more tie, between Arrowhead's Goral and East's Van Hout. Both ended up with three gold medals and a silver medal for their day's work. Maybe Van Hout gets a slight edge for her record-breaking swim in the 200 IM, but Goral is Arrowhead's rock. In a meet that featured some inconsistent swims by the Arrowhead team, Goral proved as reliable as Old Faithful, with a win in the fly and great relay legs. Wisconsin swim fans have the good fortune of getting to watch these two swimmers for one more year.
-- Hartland Arrowhead won the title, its seventh in eight years, with a 122-point margin;
-- Madison East's Aja Van Hout won two events, and set another state record;
-- Four swimmers defended their individual titles from a year ago, as did one relay.
-- Madison West's Kyle Rosenstock won her fourth straight state diving title.
Here's what was not:
-- Two swimmers came out of the second heat -- not the last, fast heat -- to claim individual titles. When was the last time that happened?
-- Madison East, competing with all of four swimmers (and thus only two relays), claimed its second consecutive runner-up trophy, to go along with its state championship trophy from 2007.
-- Waukesha South/Mukwonago and Muskego, seeded to finish 2nd and 3rd in the meet (51 and 45 points, respectively, ahead of East), both fell down in the standings, finishing third and fourth.
For Arrowhead, the meet was the conclusion of a dominating season which saw the team win every meet it entered. For right now, Arrowhead boasts a very deep and talented pool of swimmers that the rest of the D1 field simply can't match.
"Nothing's ever easy," Warhawks coach Jennifer Leider told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "It's hard to kind of approach it that way, but we knew we had a lot more weapons on this year's team coming in."
You could tell it was going to be an Arrowhead night right from the start, as its 200 medley relay won in a terrific battle with the last two teams to win the medley at state -- Madison East and Badger/Big Foot/Williams Bay. The Warhawks were trailing after the first two legs on the relay, but then junior Emma Goral jumped in the pool, and all was put right for Arrowhead. The two-time defending champ in the 100 butterfly split a 24.95 fly leg, giving anchor swimmer Haley Pietila a lead she never gave up.
Goral came back later in the meet to claim her third straight title in the fly -- her 55.27 is the 4th-fastest in the event. Out of the water, Goral is a pretty unassuming-looking swimmer, but in the water, she's a superb technician who gets a better push off the wall than any butterfier in the state.
"I made sure to nail my turns, I had a great start and I just concentrated on me - on what I was doing - and I knew I'd come away with the win," Goral told the Milwaukee paper. "I'm really looking forward to next year. I'm going to get back to training hard and hopefully I can get that state record (54.55) next year finally."
As for Van Hout, she electrified the crowd with her win in the 200 IM, her time of 2:00.06 breaking the previous state record of Arrowhead's Andrea Boritzke (2:01.39) by well over a second. Van Hout then came back with a win in the 500 free, in a race where she had to hold off a game Brittany Walsh of Muskego. Van Hout never trailed in the race, but she could never shake Walsh, and with 150 yards it was no sure thing that Van Hout would win her third straight 500 (Walsh at one point in the race had four consecutive 50 splits faster than Van Hout). But Van Hout held on, her winning time of 5:51.77 3+ seconds slower than her record time last year, but still second all-time in D1 state history. Walsh was second in 4:52.84 (nearly exactly what she swam a year ago when she also finished second.)
As for the rest of the meet:
Performance of the meet: A tie between Madison Memorial senior Jackie Powell in the 100 free and Madison East's Ivy Martin in the 50 free. Both came out of the slower, second heat to claim a state title -- Powell with a 50.82 in the 100 free that easily won the title over Pietila (51.51). Powell had shown earlier in the meet she would be a force in the 100, as she powered her way past Pietila at the halfway point of the 200 free and finished out in 1:49.90 to win by nearly 2-1/2 seconds. Martin followed up on the success of her sister, Ruby -- who won the 50 free the past two years -- as she won with a 23.55 that Wisconsin Rapids' junior Becca Weiland (23.66) couldn't quite match in the final heat.
Race of the meet: Another tie, this one between the 100 breaststroke and the meet-ending 400 free relay. The highly anticipated 100 breaststroke shoot-out lived up to its advance billing, with two-time defending champion Emily Russart of Badger/Big Foot (1:02.53) holding off Eau Claire Memorial freshman Leah Pronschinske (1:02.94). Russart set a state record, breaking her own mark (1:02.70) she set two years ago, while Pronschinske became only the second breaststroker in state history to go under 1:03 in the event. Pronschinske is wonderful-looking breaststroker, with a smooth stroke and a rapid turnover. In truth, she might have been just slightly faster than Russart in the water. But Russart, the taller of the two, got terrific pushes off the wall on all three of her turns, and her powerful underwater pull off her start gave her a lead in the race she never gave up.
As for Madison East's 400 free relay, the team's performance sealed their second straight runner-up trophy. East, Muskego, and Waukesha South/Mukwonago were within 6 points of each other entering the relay, and with all three teams in the final heat, the runner-up trophy was up for grabs. Standing in everyone's way was Arrowhead, which came in with the fastest seed time and featured Goral and three of the team's top sprinters.
Conventional wisdom for relays suggests spreading out your fastest swimmers, going with your second-fastest swimmer on the lead-off leg and saving your fastest swimmer for the anchor leg. But East coach Matt Matteson turned that on its head, putting out Van Hout and Martin on the first two legs. Van Hout's lead-off leg of 49.94 would've won the 100 free, and Martin then helped extend the lead. That left it to the Soderholm sisters -- sophomore Chelsea and senior Becca -- to hold on to the lead. Becca Soderholm entered the pool for the anchor leg with about a one-second lead, and with 50 yards to go, it looked like Arrowhead anchor Julia Mikota was on her way to overtaking her and giving Arrowhead its third relay title of the meet. But Soderholm dug in, and as the crowd rose to its feet, the two swimmers battled for the lead. In the end, Soderholm and East held on -- not by much (four-tenths of a second) -- but enough to elicit a scream and a jig on the pool deck from the East relay, and the runner-up trophy that arrived in their hands a few minutes later. A great ending to a very good meet.
Swimmer of the meet: One more tie, between Arrowhead's Goral and East's Van Hout. Both ended up with three gold medals and a silver medal for their day's work. Maybe Van Hout gets a slight edge for her record-breaking swim in the 200 IM, but Goral is Arrowhead's rock. In a meet that featured some inconsistent swims by the Arrowhead team, Goral proved as reliable as Old Faithful, with a win in the fly and great relay legs. Wisconsin swim fans have the good fortune of getting to watch these two swimmers for one more year.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Clipping along to victory -- D2 state meet recap
Give credit where it's due -- of the five D2 teams seeded to finish within 33 points of each other before the night began, Sturgeon Bay/Sevastopol swam the best all meet long, and came away deservedly with its first state championship.
The win was a sweet one for a Clippers team that came in with high hopes for a top finish at last year's state meet, only to end up 14th. The team swam great all year -- in all candor, consistently posting the best times of D2 teams throughout the year -- and the key question coming into Friday night: Could they bring it for the big meet? They did, in flying colors, in a tightly contested meet that wasn't settled until the meet-ending 400 free relay.
Of course, it helps when you add a freshman to your squad the caliber of Savanna Townsend. It was truly a team effort on SB/S's part -- they qualified nine individuals, and had six swimmers participating on their three relays -- but Savanna Townsend stood out during the meet. She won the 50 free, finished a close second in the 100 free, anchored the team's record-breaking 200 free relay with a scintillating 23.14 split (the fastest of the night in the event by more than half-a-second), and secured the first-place trophy with a 51.77 anchor leg on the 400 free relay that clinched 6th place in the relay and the team's 15-point win over three-time defending champs DeForest.
"Savanna's been a championship swimmer for a long time," said a dripping wet head coach Mike McHugh after the meet. "We knew she had the potential."
And give credit to McHugh, as well. Coaches (in all sports, really) receive both too much credit and too much blame for their team's performances. But McHugh made a crucial line-up switch before sectionals that paid off for the Clippers. He took junior Michaela Rabas out of the 200 IM for sectional -- where McHugh figured she would've qualified for state -- and put her on three relays, including the meet-ending 400 free relay. McHugh said the move cost the team points at sectionals, where the team finished third at Plymouth behind Whitefish Bay and Shorewood, but assured the Clippers would have three relays competing at what was expected to be -- and turned out to be -- a very close meet.
"Without Michaela on that relay, we probably don't win state," he said. "We gave up a sectional title to try to win state."
McHugh's decision to load up the freestyle sprints also paid off in a big way. He loaded up the 50 and 100 frees at sectionals with eight entries, and got six through to state (3 each in the 50 and 100). Seeded to score 52 points at state, the Clipper sprinters scored 64 -- a big portion of their margin over DeForest. Before the season began, McHugh took a close look at last year's D2 state meet, reviewed who was graduating and returning in various events, assessed his team's strengths, and figured freestyle sprints were the way to go.
"It was just a logical move," he said.
So congratulations to Sturgeon Bay/Sevastopol, and look out next year as well -- the team returns a good share of the swimmers who led the team to the title.
As for DeForest and Whitefish Bay, the teams swam nearly exactly as seeded -- 186 points for DeForest (seeded at 182), and 179.9.5 for Whitefish Bay (seeded at 178). DeForest coach Sue Winckler said she was happy with how her team swam.
"Our girls swam well; we moved up in points," she said. "But Sturgeon Bay moved up a little more. We had a lot of fast swims."
Other meet highlights:
-- Performance of the night: A tie between Brookfield Academy junior Kelsey Hojan-Clark's 500 free win and Sturgeon Bay/Sevastopol's 200 free relay. Is there a better swimmer in D2 than Hojan-Clark? Maybe a better question -- is there a better swimmer in the entire state? After first setting a state record in the 200 free by 8/10's of a second with a time of 1:49.13, Hojan-Clark obliterated the 500 record with a time of 4:50.19, nearly four seconds under the previous state record (both of them dating to 1996 and held by Shorewood's Jamie Belfor, generally recognized as one the best D2 swimmers in state history). Her 14+ second victory was hardly boring; with each lap, Hojan-Clark extended her lead to a rising chorus of cheers from an appreciative audience at the Nat. It was a stunning swim; only Madison East star Aja Van Hout, two-time winner of the D1 500 free, has ever swum a faster 500 free in state history. And Hojan-Clark swam the race alone for the last 400 yards against some high-caliber swimmers, including runner-up Casey Wolters of DeForest and Shorewood's Clare Chamberlain.
As for the Clippers' 200 free relay, here's the thing -- its record time of 1:36.02 actually could've been faster. With leadoff swimmer Sierra Townsend giving the team a lead with a 24.15 start -- and the team desperately needing the 40 team points it would get from winning the relay -- relay swimmers Rabas, McKenzie Trelka, and Savanna Townsend took fairly conservative relay starts, making sure not to DQ (in a meet that did see two relay DQs). The Clippers' relay was already more than half-a-second under the existing state record coming into the meet with a seed time of 1:38.43; McHugh predicted before the meet they could maybe get that down to 1:37.50. McHugh had to do a double-take when he looked at the scoreboard following the relay win. "I was just absolutely floored."
-- Race of the night: In a meet with a lot of close races, the best came early, when Milton senior Jennah Haney edged out Shorewood's Chamberlain in the 200 IM. Haney came in with the top seed, but Chamberlain was the two-time defending state champ in the event. The two pulled away from the field quickly, and when Chamberlain turned for the third leg of the event, the breaststroke, she was ahead by nearly a second. But Haney, one of D2's best breaststrokers, ripped off a 35.82 leg on the breaststroke, making up ground on Chamberlain, a very good breaststroker herself. When the two turned for the final 50-yard free sprint, Chamberlain held the slightest of edges, and still had the lead coming off the final turn. But Haney nudged ahead with 15 yards to go, and held off Chamberlain 2:04.83 to 2:04.98. Here's a video of Haney talking about her win:
http://host.madison.com/html_6f7b6cc8-d0d4-11de-9bd3-001cc4c002e0.html
-- Swimmer of the night: It has to go to Hojan-Clark with her two record-setting wins, but Sauk Prairie junior Alison Meng deserves mention for her two wins in the 100 fly and 100 backstroke. In the fly, she bested a field that saw four swimmers go under 58 seconds and nine under 1 minute. In the back, she won a tightly contested race that included defending state champ Siri Smits. Meng also helped Sauk to a 2nd-place finish in the medley relay and a 4th in the 400 free relay.
-- Good egg award: Whitefish Bay senior Maggie Smith might've been justified in feeling some disappointment on the night; after all, she swam a career-best 23.89 in the 50 free only to finish runner-up in the event for the third year in a row. But Smith's three anchor relay legs produced two gold medals in the medley and 400 free relays, and a podium finish (6th) in the 200 free relay. Her terrific 51.18 anchor leg on the 400 free relay brought her team back from third place in the relay to a second relay win on the night. It left Smith departing the Natatorium for the last time in her high school career, arm in arm with her relay teammates, singing songs as they headed for the locker room. That's a champion in anyone's book.
The win was a sweet one for a Clippers team that came in with high hopes for a top finish at last year's state meet, only to end up 14th. The team swam great all year -- in all candor, consistently posting the best times of D2 teams throughout the year -- and the key question coming into Friday night: Could they bring it for the big meet? They did, in flying colors, in a tightly contested meet that wasn't settled until the meet-ending 400 free relay.
Of course, it helps when you add a freshman to your squad the caliber of Savanna Townsend. It was truly a team effort on SB/S's part -- they qualified nine individuals, and had six swimmers participating on their three relays -- but Savanna Townsend stood out during the meet. She won the 50 free, finished a close second in the 100 free, anchored the team's record-breaking 200 free relay with a scintillating 23.14 split (the fastest of the night in the event by more than half-a-second), and secured the first-place trophy with a 51.77 anchor leg on the 400 free relay that clinched 6th place in the relay and the team's 15-point win over three-time defending champs DeForest.
"Savanna's been a championship swimmer for a long time," said a dripping wet head coach Mike McHugh after the meet. "We knew she had the potential."
And give credit to McHugh, as well. Coaches (in all sports, really) receive both too much credit and too much blame for their team's performances. But McHugh made a crucial line-up switch before sectionals that paid off for the Clippers. He took junior Michaela Rabas out of the 200 IM for sectional -- where McHugh figured she would've qualified for state -- and put her on three relays, including the meet-ending 400 free relay. McHugh said the move cost the team points at sectionals, where the team finished third at Plymouth behind Whitefish Bay and Shorewood, but assured the Clippers would have three relays competing at what was expected to be -- and turned out to be -- a very close meet.
"Without Michaela on that relay, we probably don't win state," he said. "We gave up a sectional title to try to win state."
McHugh's decision to load up the freestyle sprints also paid off in a big way. He loaded up the 50 and 100 frees at sectionals with eight entries, and got six through to state (3 each in the 50 and 100). Seeded to score 52 points at state, the Clipper sprinters scored 64 -- a big portion of their margin over DeForest. Before the season began, McHugh took a close look at last year's D2 state meet, reviewed who was graduating and returning in various events, assessed his team's strengths, and figured freestyle sprints were the way to go.
"It was just a logical move," he said.
So congratulations to Sturgeon Bay/Sevastopol, and look out next year as well -- the team returns a good share of the swimmers who led the team to the title.
As for DeForest and Whitefish Bay, the teams swam nearly exactly as seeded -- 186 points for DeForest (seeded at 182), and 179.9.5 for Whitefish Bay (seeded at 178). DeForest coach Sue Winckler said she was happy with how her team swam.
"Our girls swam well; we moved up in points," she said. "But Sturgeon Bay moved up a little more. We had a lot of fast swims."
Other meet highlights:
-- Performance of the night: A tie between Brookfield Academy junior Kelsey Hojan-Clark's 500 free win and Sturgeon Bay/Sevastopol's 200 free relay. Is there a better swimmer in D2 than Hojan-Clark? Maybe a better question -- is there a better swimmer in the entire state? After first setting a state record in the 200 free by 8/10's of a second with a time of 1:49.13, Hojan-Clark obliterated the 500 record with a time of 4:50.19, nearly four seconds under the previous state record (both of them dating to 1996 and held by Shorewood's Jamie Belfor, generally recognized as one the best D2 swimmers in state history). Her 14+ second victory was hardly boring; with each lap, Hojan-Clark extended her lead to a rising chorus of cheers from an appreciative audience at the Nat. It was a stunning swim; only Madison East star Aja Van Hout, two-time winner of the D1 500 free, has ever swum a faster 500 free in state history. And Hojan-Clark swam the race alone for the last 400 yards against some high-caliber swimmers, including runner-up Casey Wolters of DeForest and Shorewood's Clare Chamberlain.
As for the Clippers' 200 free relay, here's the thing -- its record time of 1:36.02 actually could've been faster. With leadoff swimmer Sierra Townsend giving the team a lead with a 24.15 start -- and the team desperately needing the 40 team points it would get from winning the relay -- relay swimmers Rabas, McKenzie Trelka, and Savanna Townsend took fairly conservative relay starts, making sure not to DQ (in a meet that did see two relay DQs). The Clippers' relay was already more than half-a-second under the existing state record coming into the meet with a seed time of 1:38.43; McHugh predicted before the meet they could maybe get that down to 1:37.50. McHugh had to do a double-take when he looked at the scoreboard following the relay win. "I was just absolutely floored."
-- Race of the night: In a meet with a lot of close races, the best came early, when Milton senior Jennah Haney edged out Shorewood's Chamberlain in the 200 IM. Haney came in with the top seed, but Chamberlain was the two-time defending state champ in the event. The two pulled away from the field quickly, and when Chamberlain turned for the third leg of the event, the breaststroke, she was ahead by nearly a second. But Haney, one of D2's best breaststrokers, ripped off a 35.82 leg on the breaststroke, making up ground on Chamberlain, a very good breaststroker herself. When the two turned for the final 50-yard free sprint, Chamberlain held the slightest of edges, and still had the lead coming off the final turn. But Haney nudged ahead with 15 yards to go, and held off Chamberlain 2:04.83 to 2:04.98. Here's a video of Haney talking about her win:
http://host.madison.com/html_6f7b6cc8-d0d4-11de-9bd3-001cc4c002e0.html
-- Swimmer of the night: It has to go to Hojan-Clark with her two record-setting wins, but Sauk Prairie junior Alison Meng deserves mention for her two wins in the 100 fly and 100 backstroke. In the fly, she bested a field that saw four swimmers go under 58 seconds and nine under 1 minute. In the back, she won a tightly contested race that included defending state champ Siri Smits. Meng also helped Sauk to a 2nd-place finish in the medley relay and a 4th in the 400 free relay.
-- Good egg award: Whitefish Bay senior Maggie Smith might've been justified in feeling some disappointment on the night; after all, she swam a career-best 23.89 in the 50 free only to finish runner-up in the event for the third year in a row. But Smith's three anchor relay legs produced two gold medals in the medley and 400 free relays, and a podium finish (6th) in the 200 free relay. Her terrific 51.18 anchor leg on the 400 free relay brought her team back from third place in the relay to a second relay win on the night. It left Smith departing the Natatorium for the last time in her high school career, arm in arm with her relay teammates, singing songs as they headed for the locker room. That's a champion in anyone's book.
Friday, November 13, 2009
D2 state meet live
It's official -- SB/S wins with 201 points, ending DeForest's three-year run as state champs. Norskies finish 2nd with 186, , Whitefish Bay 3rd with 179.5, Shorewood 4th with 167, Milton 5th with 153, and Sauk in 6th with 141. Great meet; thanks for tuning in.
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That should do it; final results aren't in, but Sturgeon Bay should have their first-ever D2 title. They finished 6th overall in the 400 free, with DeForest 4th. Whitefish Bay gets another great anchor leg from senior Maggie Smith to pull out the win. Sauk Prairie 2nd, and Shorewood comes out of the first heat to grab third in the relay.
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DeForest has to win the 400 free relay, and SB/S finish 9th or lower, to overcome SB/S lead. It's SB/S at 175, with DeForest at 156. DeForest is seeded 2nd in the 400 free relay, SB/S 5th.
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Emily McClellan of Delevan-Darien, who's been terrific all season long, comes back and takes the 100 breaststroke in 1:04.97. Plymouth's Kate Criter led most of the race, only to finish 3rd. Wauk. Catholic Memorial's Anna Meinholz finishes 3rd, with Milton's Jennah Haney in 4th. 400 free relay coming up.
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Team scores thru the backstroke -- St. Bay -- 175; DeForest 144, Shorewood 135, Milton 134, Whitefish Bay 125.5, Sauk 107. St. Bay has no breaststrokers, while Milton has Jennah Haney contending for a title, and DeForest has Lindsey Verhulst. St. Bay/S looks to have the lead leading into the 400 free relay.
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Sauk Prairie junior Alison Meng continues her great night, with another win, this in the 100 back. She edges Milton's Katelyn Holmquist and Grafton's Sadie Nening. Defending champ Siri Smits of Berlin/Green Lake finishes 5th. Meng goes 57.19 in what was a very close race with the top three separated by less than three-tenths of a second.
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Sturgeon Bay/S just rips off a magnificant win in the 200 free relay -- 1:36.02, breaking the previous state record set last year by Monona Grove by nearly three seconds. This relay has been terrific all season, but what a race! And with pretty safe relay starts -- no real risk-taking by the SB/S swimmers. DeForest 2nd, Elkhorn 3rd, Edgewood 4th. SB/S, if they can get some decent results out of their backstrokers, may be headed for the state title. But DeForest is still there.
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Watching Kelsey Hojan-Clark swim is like watching a perfectly tuned athlete. She wins the 500 free, smashing the state record, in 4:50.19, nearly four seconds under the former state record. Casey Wolter for DeForest finishes 2nd, in 5:04.65, while Clare Chamberlain finishes 3rd. A magnificant night from Hojan-Clark -- two state records, taken from what is generally considered one of D2's all-time best swimmers, Jamie Belfor of Shorewood.
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The team race is close, but Sturgeon Bay/Sevastopol, which has been swimming well all night long, is now in first with 120 points, followed by Shorewood 100, DeForest 93, Whitefish Bay 87.5, Milton 84, Sauk 83, Grafton 81. SB/S has its big relays to come -- the 200 free relay and the 400 free relay. But watch Milton -- they have a lot of back-half points seeded in this meet.
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Elli Sellinger of Shorewood moved over to the 100 free this year, and it proved the right move for the senior. She wins the 100 free in 52.69; Savanna Townsend of SB/S 2nd, with Kelsey Kohlbeck of Sauk in 3rd and Sierra Townsend of SB/S -- who held the lead for much of the race swimming in lane 1 -- in 4th. Top-seeded Chelsea Statz of DeForest moves down to 5th.
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In a race with four swimmers under 58 seconds, Sauk's Alison Meng wins the 100 fly in 57.06. DeForest's Leah Winckler moves up two spots to finish 2nd, with MG's Kelsey Millin in 3rd, and Elkhorn's Terrin Seaver 4th.
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Two great races just concluded. Milton's Jennah Haney beats two-time defending champ Clare Chamberlain in the 200 IM, 2:04.83 to 2:04.98. The two were neck and neck virtually the entire race, with Chamberlain holding a slight edge off the turn for the final 50 free. But Haney came down the final 15 yards and just out-touched her rival from Shorewood. Delavan-Darien's Emily McClellan 3rd, 2:08.41.
The, freshman Savanna Townsend of SB/S just edged Whitefish Bay's Maggie Smith in the 50 free -- 23.86 to 23.89. It's the third year in a row that Smith has finished 2nd in the event. Alli Bellford of New Berlin Eisenhower 3rd, while Sauk's Kelsey Kohlbeck and SB/S's McKenzie Trelka moved out of the first heat to take top-6 finishes in the 50 free.
Team scores thru the 50: Milton -- 84; Grafton (with 33 diving points) 78; SB/S -- 71; Whitefish Bay -- 71; Shorewood -- 67; DeForest -- 62. All seem to be swimming well; DeForest is creeping up from its seeds, but so is SB/S and Milton.
Brookfield Academy's Kelsey Hojan-Clark with an amazing swim -- 1:49.13, breaks all-time record set by Shorewood's Jamie Belfor in 1996. Dominating win; Shorewood's Elli Sellinger 2nd in 1:55. DeForest's Wolter and Statz moved up in their seedings, finishing 3rd and 5th. An incredible swim by the junior from Brookfield Academy.
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Whitefish Bay off to a great start with a win the medley -- 1:48.47. St. Bay 2nd, Milton moves up from 8th seed to finish 3rd. Great anchor leg by Whitefish Bay's Maggie Smith. DeForest moved up as well, from 16th seed to finish 13th.
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Full results for all 16 divers, and team scores through the first event, are now up on the WIAA website.
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The first event -- the 200 medley relay -- might provide some hints as to how this very tight meet will go. All five of the highest-seeded teams in the meet -- Sturgeon Bay/Sevatopol, DeForest, Whitefish Bay, Milton and Shorewood -- all have relays in the medley. All but DeForest are in the second, faster heat.
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We're about 30 minutes away from the start of the swim meet; proving that swimmers are multi-dimensional, one of the senior captains of the Monona Grove girls swim team -- Abby Graf -- will sing the national anthem for tonight's swim meet.
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Senior Kristin Capcik of Milwaukee Lutheran caps a fine career with a win in the D2 diving competition. She edges Whitnall's Rachel Stave by about six points to win. Capcik was 2nd last year and 4th as a sophomore. Grafton's McElligot and Zarem go 3-4, and their 33 points is two more than Grafton was seeded to score in the dive portion of the meet. New Berlin West sophomore Katie Hausmann gets 5th, while Edgewood sophomore Sheridan Hearn gets the last spot on the podium with a 6th place finish.
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Dive meet is over; results soon. A pile of swimmers are waiting to get into the Nat locker rooms in the annual jam-up at the downstairs doors.
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As the swim meet progresses, feel free to ask questions and comments as to particular swimmers. I'll try to get to them as time allows. Send to comments (as opposed to the personal email address posted here) on this blog item. We'll track down results; the WIAA plans to post results as well on it website.
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Grafton divers Molly McElligot and Katelyn Zarem hold down the 3rd and 4th place spots as the final round of diving takes place.
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Capcik of Milwaukee Lutheran has taken the lead in diving, drawing a big cheer from the Milwaukee Lutheran fans here at the Nat. Stave of Whitnall is second. Three dives to go before the dive meet concludes.
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We're going to reformat; all new posts will be on the top of the post, instead of scrolling down to see new posts. Also, please induge mis-spellings, typos and whatnot -- the swim meet will be fast-paced, so a few errors may creep in. Divers are wrapping up; swimmers are making their way into the Nat, and a good crowd is already here -- with DeForest fans sitting in their traditional spot nearest the starting blocks.
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OK, we're blogging the state meet live. It's 2:50 p.m., and the D2 divers are underway. Whitnall freshman Rachel Stave is the top-seeded diver, with a sectional score of 429.75. In the random order of diving, she's 4th among the 16 divers. Kristin Capcik, a senior from Milwaukee Lutheran, is seeded second. She was runner-up last year, and the highest-placing finisher returning from last year's state dive meet.
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We're halfway through diving; Stave, Capcik and Edgewood's Sheridan Hearn are all among the top 5 as of right now.
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That should do it; final results aren't in, but Sturgeon Bay should have their first-ever D2 title. They finished 6th overall in the 400 free, with DeForest 4th. Whitefish Bay gets another great anchor leg from senior Maggie Smith to pull out the win. Sauk Prairie 2nd, and Shorewood comes out of the first heat to grab third in the relay.
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DeForest has to win the 400 free relay, and SB/S finish 9th or lower, to overcome SB/S lead. It's SB/S at 175, with DeForest at 156. DeForest is seeded 2nd in the 400 free relay, SB/S 5th.
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Emily McClellan of Delevan-Darien, who's been terrific all season long, comes back and takes the 100 breaststroke in 1:04.97. Plymouth's Kate Criter led most of the race, only to finish 3rd. Wauk. Catholic Memorial's Anna Meinholz finishes 3rd, with Milton's Jennah Haney in 4th. 400 free relay coming up.
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Team scores thru the backstroke -- St. Bay -- 175; DeForest 144, Shorewood 135, Milton 134, Whitefish Bay 125.5, Sauk 107. St. Bay has no breaststrokers, while Milton has Jennah Haney contending for a title, and DeForest has Lindsey Verhulst. St. Bay/S looks to have the lead leading into the 400 free relay.
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Sauk Prairie junior Alison Meng continues her great night, with another win, this in the 100 back. She edges Milton's Katelyn Holmquist and Grafton's Sadie Nening. Defending champ Siri Smits of Berlin/Green Lake finishes 5th. Meng goes 57.19 in what was a very close race with the top three separated by less than three-tenths of a second.
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Sturgeon Bay/S just rips off a magnificant win in the 200 free relay -- 1:36.02, breaking the previous state record set last year by Monona Grove by nearly three seconds. This relay has been terrific all season, but what a race! And with pretty safe relay starts -- no real risk-taking by the SB/S swimmers. DeForest 2nd, Elkhorn 3rd, Edgewood 4th. SB/S, if they can get some decent results out of their backstrokers, may be headed for the state title. But DeForest is still there.
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Watching Kelsey Hojan-Clark swim is like watching a perfectly tuned athlete. She wins the 500 free, smashing the state record, in 4:50.19, nearly four seconds under the former state record. Casey Wolter for DeForest finishes 2nd, in 5:04.65, while Clare Chamberlain finishes 3rd. A magnificant night from Hojan-Clark -- two state records, taken from what is generally considered one of D2's all-time best swimmers, Jamie Belfor of Shorewood.
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The team race is close, but Sturgeon Bay/Sevastopol, which has been swimming well all night long, is now in first with 120 points, followed by Shorewood 100, DeForest 93, Whitefish Bay 87.5, Milton 84, Sauk 83, Grafton 81. SB/S has its big relays to come -- the 200 free relay and the 400 free relay. But watch Milton -- they have a lot of back-half points seeded in this meet.
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Elli Sellinger of Shorewood moved over to the 100 free this year, and it proved the right move for the senior. She wins the 100 free in 52.69; Savanna Townsend of SB/S 2nd, with Kelsey Kohlbeck of Sauk in 3rd and Sierra Townsend of SB/S -- who held the lead for much of the race swimming in lane 1 -- in 4th. Top-seeded Chelsea Statz of DeForest moves down to 5th.
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In a race with four swimmers under 58 seconds, Sauk's Alison Meng wins the 100 fly in 57.06. DeForest's Leah Winckler moves up two spots to finish 2nd, with MG's Kelsey Millin in 3rd, and Elkhorn's Terrin Seaver 4th.
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Two great races just concluded. Milton's Jennah Haney beats two-time defending champ Clare Chamberlain in the 200 IM, 2:04.83 to 2:04.98. The two were neck and neck virtually the entire race, with Chamberlain holding a slight edge off the turn for the final 50 free. But Haney came down the final 15 yards and just out-touched her rival from Shorewood. Delavan-Darien's Emily McClellan 3rd, 2:08.41.
The, freshman Savanna Townsend of SB/S just edged Whitefish Bay's Maggie Smith in the 50 free -- 23.86 to 23.89. It's the third year in a row that Smith has finished 2nd in the event. Alli Bellford of New Berlin Eisenhower 3rd, while Sauk's Kelsey Kohlbeck and SB/S's McKenzie Trelka moved out of the first heat to take top-6 finishes in the 50 free.
Team scores thru the 50: Milton -- 84; Grafton (with 33 diving points) 78; SB/S -- 71; Whitefish Bay -- 71; Shorewood -- 67; DeForest -- 62. All seem to be swimming well; DeForest is creeping up from its seeds, but so is SB/S and Milton.
Brookfield Academy's Kelsey Hojan-Clark with an amazing swim -- 1:49.13, breaks all-time record set by Shorewood's Jamie Belfor in 1996. Dominating win; Shorewood's Elli Sellinger 2nd in 1:55. DeForest's Wolter and Statz moved up in their seedings, finishing 3rd and 5th. An incredible swim by the junior from Brookfield Academy.
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Whitefish Bay off to a great start with a win the medley -- 1:48.47. St. Bay 2nd, Milton moves up from 8th seed to finish 3rd. Great anchor leg by Whitefish Bay's Maggie Smith. DeForest moved up as well, from 16th seed to finish 13th.
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Full results for all 16 divers, and team scores through the first event, are now up on the WIAA website.
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The first event -- the 200 medley relay -- might provide some hints as to how this very tight meet will go. All five of the highest-seeded teams in the meet -- Sturgeon Bay/Sevatopol, DeForest, Whitefish Bay, Milton and Shorewood -- all have relays in the medley. All but DeForest are in the second, faster heat.
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We're about 30 minutes away from the start of the swim meet; proving that swimmers are multi-dimensional, one of the senior captains of the Monona Grove girls swim team -- Abby Graf -- will sing the national anthem for tonight's swim meet.
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Senior Kristin Capcik of Milwaukee Lutheran caps a fine career with a win in the D2 diving competition. She edges Whitnall's Rachel Stave by about six points to win. Capcik was 2nd last year and 4th as a sophomore. Grafton's McElligot and Zarem go 3-4, and their 33 points is two more than Grafton was seeded to score in the dive portion of the meet. New Berlin West sophomore Katie Hausmann gets 5th, while Edgewood sophomore Sheridan Hearn gets the last spot on the podium with a 6th place finish.
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Dive meet is over; results soon. A pile of swimmers are waiting to get into the Nat locker rooms in the annual jam-up at the downstairs doors.
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As the swim meet progresses, feel free to ask questions and comments as to particular swimmers. I'll try to get to them as time allows. Send to comments (as opposed to the personal email address posted here) on this blog item. We'll track down results; the WIAA plans to post results as well on it website.
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Grafton divers Molly McElligot and Katelyn Zarem hold down the 3rd and 4th place spots as the final round of diving takes place.
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Capcik of Milwaukee Lutheran has taken the lead in diving, drawing a big cheer from the Milwaukee Lutheran fans here at the Nat. Stave of Whitnall is second. Three dives to go before the dive meet concludes.
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We're going to reformat; all new posts will be on the top of the post, instead of scrolling down to see new posts. Also, please induge mis-spellings, typos and whatnot -- the swim meet will be fast-paced, so a few errors may creep in. Divers are wrapping up; swimmers are making their way into the Nat, and a good crowd is already here -- with DeForest fans sitting in their traditional spot nearest the starting blocks.
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OK, we're blogging the state meet live. It's 2:50 p.m., and the D2 divers are underway. Whitnall freshman Rachel Stave is the top-seeded diver, with a sectional score of 429.75. In the random order of diving, she's 4th among the 16 divers. Kristin Capcik, a senior from Milwaukee Lutheran, is seeded second. She was runner-up last year, and the highest-placing finisher returning from last year's state dive meet.
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We're halfway through diving; Stave, Capcik and Edgewood's Sheridan Hearn are all among the top 5 as of right now.
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Blogging from the D2 state meet
I'm going to attempt to live-blog the D2 state meet tonight. Instead of setting up a live-blogging device, I'll simply start a topic -- probably "D2 state meet live" and continually update it throughout the meet. I've never tried it before, and am hoping the Natatorium wi-fi works for me. We'll see how it goes.
Good luck to all state meet participants!
Good luck to all state meet participants!
Thursday, November 12, 2009
The Mikrut DQ explained
Lindsey Mikrut, a senior swimmer for Badger/Big Foot/Williams Bay, was disqualified from participating at Saturday's sectional swim meet at Kenosha Bradford High School after it was discovered she had shaved at the meet site. Her DQ raised one question from a blog commentator about the rule.
It's contained in the National Federation of State High School Associations' Swimming and Diving and Water Polo rulebook. Rule 3-5, article 7, says: "No team personnel/competitor shall perform any on-site shaving before, during or after the meet. PENALTY: Team personnel/competitors shall be disqualified from further participation for on-site shaving."
A veteran WIAA swim official who I contacted characterized the rule as a "well-understood restriction" that has been on the books for many years.
Mikrut entered the sectional meet as the top-seeded swimmer in the 100 fly and third-seeded in the 200 IM. She finished 4th last year at state in the 100 fly, and was a key member of the team's state-winning medley relay, swimming the fly leg on the relay. She is still eligible to swim on B/B/WB's medley and 200 free relays at the D1 state meet.
It's contained in the National Federation of State High School Associations' Swimming and Diving and Water Polo rulebook. Rule 3-5, article 7, says: "No team personnel/competitor shall perform any on-site shaving before, during or after the meet. PENALTY: Team personnel/competitors shall be disqualified from further participation for on-site shaving."
A veteran WIAA swim official who I contacted characterized the rule as a "well-understood restriction" that has been on the books for many years.
Mikrut entered the sectional meet as the top-seeded swimmer in the 100 fly and third-seeded in the 200 IM. She finished 4th last year at state in the 100 fly, and was a key member of the team's state-winning medley relay, swimming the fly leg on the relay. She is still eligible to swim on B/B/WB's medley and 200 free relays at the D1 state meet.
D1 state meet preview
The D1 state meet is Saturday afternoon; here's hoping swim fans can find a parking space within a mile of the Natatorium to take in what should be a great meet. Here's a few things to look for:
-- Hartland Arrowhead is seeded to win the meet by 135 points; with all 16 of its swimmers qualified for the state meet, and two divers to boot, HA is a pretty sure bet to come away with its 7th title in eight years. This may not be the equal of Arrowhead's great 2003 and 2005 teams, but it is a very good and very deep squad. Last year, HA squeaked out a 16-point win over Madison East; its margin of victory Saturday is likely to be much higher.
-- The race for second looks quite close, with Muskego and Waukesha South/Mukwonago seeded within six points of each other for second place, Madison East seeded in 4th, and teams such as Wausau East, Eau Claire Memorial, Madison Memorial and Badger/Big Foot/Williams Bay looking to grab a piece of state hardware. It will be interesting to see if WS/M and Muskego can avoid last year's fate, when both teams dropped down for their seed positions and finished 4th and 5th, respectively. Relays of course will play a big role -- WS/M, Muskego and Madison Memorial qualified all three of their relays among the teams contending for 2nd.
-- Will youth be served? Only one senior -- Muskego's Brittany Walsh -- earned a top seed at the D1 state meet, and that was by the slimmest of margins (.01 seconds) over Madison East junior and defending champion Aja Van Hout. One thing I noticed while going over the heat sheets for the state meet -- this is a meet filled with a bunch of very good juniors.
-- How low can she go? Last year, Van Hout smashed the state record in the 500 free by more than five seconds, swimming a 4:48.60. The year before that, as a freshman, she won the 500 in 4:58.68 -- or 10 seconds slower than her sophomore time. Another prodigious time drop by Van Hout would bring into the conversation the national public high school record in the event -- 4:34.78, set last year by North Dakota native and Auburn recruit Dagny Knutson. Van Hout's winning time last year in the 200 IM (2:01.69) was nearly five seconds faster than her winning time as a freshman and within three-tenths of a second of the state record time set by Arrowhead's Andrea Boritzke. Can she break the magical 2-minute barrier in the IM, a feat reserved for very few high school swimmers? Van Hout's never lost an individual race at state; she's halfway toward accomplishing what only two swimmers in the history of the state have done -- win eight individual state titles.
-- Winning four gold medals is a rare accomplishment at a state meet. Can Arrowhead junior Emma Goral pull it off? She's seeded to do so -- Goral will swim on all three of Arrowhead's relays, all of which earned top seeds for the state meet. She's also seeded #1 in the 100 butterfly, an event she's won the past two years.
-- Can Madison Memorial senior Jackie Powell hold off the young guns coming after her in the 200 free? She's the defending champion in the event, having won it last year by a convincing 1.78 seconds. She'll tangle with sophomores Kayla Skenandore of WS/M ( who earned the top seed in the event) and Haley Pietila of Arrowhead (last year's runner-up), as well as rising freshman Natalie Neuwirth of Stevens Point, who has been swimming lights out the past two weeks.
-- Can Wisconsin Rapids junior Becca Weiland complete her comeback with a double win in the freestyle sprints? Weiland made a big splash at the D1 state meet two years ago with 3rd-place finishes in both the 50 and 100 frees. But a bad knee sidelined her last year from competing at sectionals. This year, she's back and has been the state's top sprinter all season long, earning top seeds at the state meet in the 50 and 100 frees. In the 100 free, she'll tangle with Arrowhead's Pietila and freshman Julia Mikota, who will bracket her in lanes 3 and 5. In the 50 free, Weiland will see a bunch of familiar faces -- conference rivals Lea Keonig and Lauren Sichterman from Wausau East earned the #2 and #3 seeds and will swim right next to Weiland.
-- The most highly anticipated race of the night probably comes in the second-to-last event -- the 100-yard breaststroke. Badger/Big Foot/Williams Bay senior Emily Russart hopes to capture her third state title in a row. Standing in her way is Eau Claire Memorial freshman Leah Pronschinske, who earned the meet's top seed (1:03.22 to Russart's 1:03.78). Pronschinske's debut at the state meet has been highly anticipated; she earned an Olympic Trials cut as an 8th grader. These two tangled in October at the Wisconsin Girls Invitational at the Natatorium; Russart won by .01 seconds. The rematch should be just as good.
-- Can anyone upend Arrowhead's top-seeded relays? Their 400 free relay looks to be the strongest of the three, with three of the top eight seeded swimmers in the 100 free, plus Goral, swimming on it. In the medley, Arrowhead has a seed time nearly two seconds faster than anyone else, but sitting right next to them in lanes 3 and 5 are the last two teams to win this event at state -- defending champs Badger/Big Foot/Williams Bay in lane 5, and Madison East in lane 3. East features two of the swimmers who helped the team win the relay in 2007 -- Becca Soderholm on fly and Ivy Martin anchoring -- plus the addition of Van Hout on breaststroke. It will be interesting to see how B/B/WB reacts after last week's sectional meet -- star butterflier Lindsey Mikrut was DQ'd from the meet for shaving on-site; sophomore Amie Zick replaced her on the fly leg and swam a tremendous leg to earn B/B/WB a #2 seed for the event. Mikrut can swim the relay, but won't be swimming any individual events at state. Will it serve as extra motivation to help defend her team's relay title? As for the 200 free relay, Arrowhead again owns a more-than-a-second seed-time advantage on the field. But Wausau East returns the entire line-up for the 200 free that finished a surprising second in this event last year at state. Wisconsin Rapids has the #3 seed in the event, and that means Weiland anchoring. If I was the anchor swimmer on any of the 200 free relays, I'd want to have a big lead before she jumped in the water.
-- Hartland Arrowhead is seeded to win the meet by 135 points; with all 16 of its swimmers qualified for the state meet, and two divers to boot, HA is a pretty sure bet to come away with its 7th title in eight years. This may not be the equal of Arrowhead's great 2003 and 2005 teams, but it is a very good and very deep squad. Last year, HA squeaked out a 16-point win over Madison East; its margin of victory Saturday is likely to be much higher.
-- The race for second looks quite close, with Muskego and Waukesha South/Mukwonago seeded within six points of each other for second place, Madison East seeded in 4th, and teams such as Wausau East, Eau Claire Memorial, Madison Memorial and Badger/Big Foot/Williams Bay looking to grab a piece of state hardware. It will be interesting to see if WS/M and Muskego can avoid last year's fate, when both teams dropped down for their seed positions and finished 4th and 5th, respectively. Relays of course will play a big role -- WS/M, Muskego and Madison Memorial qualified all three of their relays among the teams contending for 2nd.
-- Will youth be served? Only one senior -- Muskego's Brittany Walsh -- earned a top seed at the D1 state meet, and that was by the slimmest of margins (.01 seconds) over Madison East junior and defending champion Aja Van Hout. One thing I noticed while going over the heat sheets for the state meet -- this is a meet filled with a bunch of very good juniors.
-- How low can she go? Last year, Van Hout smashed the state record in the 500 free by more than five seconds, swimming a 4:48.60. The year before that, as a freshman, she won the 500 in 4:58.68 -- or 10 seconds slower than her sophomore time. Another prodigious time drop by Van Hout would bring into the conversation the national public high school record in the event -- 4:34.78, set last year by North Dakota native and Auburn recruit Dagny Knutson. Van Hout's winning time last year in the 200 IM (2:01.69) was nearly five seconds faster than her winning time as a freshman and within three-tenths of a second of the state record time set by Arrowhead's Andrea Boritzke. Can she break the magical 2-minute barrier in the IM, a feat reserved for very few high school swimmers? Van Hout's never lost an individual race at state; she's halfway toward accomplishing what only two swimmers in the history of the state have done -- win eight individual state titles.
-- Winning four gold medals is a rare accomplishment at a state meet. Can Arrowhead junior Emma Goral pull it off? She's seeded to do so -- Goral will swim on all three of Arrowhead's relays, all of which earned top seeds for the state meet. She's also seeded #1 in the 100 butterfly, an event she's won the past two years.
-- Can Madison Memorial senior Jackie Powell hold off the young guns coming after her in the 200 free? She's the defending champion in the event, having won it last year by a convincing 1.78 seconds. She'll tangle with sophomores Kayla Skenandore of WS/M ( who earned the top seed in the event) and Haley Pietila of Arrowhead (last year's runner-up), as well as rising freshman Natalie Neuwirth of Stevens Point, who has been swimming lights out the past two weeks.
-- Can Wisconsin Rapids junior Becca Weiland complete her comeback with a double win in the freestyle sprints? Weiland made a big splash at the D1 state meet two years ago with 3rd-place finishes in both the 50 and 100 frees. But a bad knee sidelined her last year from competing at sectionals. This year, she's back and has been the state's top sprinter all season long, earning top seeds at the state meet in the 50 and 100 frees. In the 100 free, she'll tangle with Arrowhead's Pietila and freshman Julia Mikota, who will bracket her in lanes 3 and 5. In the 50 free, Weiland will see a bunch of familiar faces -- conference rivals Lea Keonig and Lauren Sichterman from Wausau East earned the #2 and #3 seeds and will swim right next to Weiland.
-- The most highly anticipated race of the night probably comes in the second-to-last event -- the 100-yard breaststroke. Badger/Big Foot/Williams Bay senior Emily Russart hopes to capture her third state title in a row. Standing in her way is Eau Claire Memorial freshman Leah Pronschinske, who earned the meet's top seed (1:03.22 to Russart's 1:03.78). Pronschinske's debut at the state meet has been highly anticipated; she earned an Olympic Trials cut as an 8th grader. These two tangled in October at the Wisconsin Girls Invitational at the Natatorium; Russart won by .01 seconds. The rematch should be just as good.
-- Can anyone upend Arrowhead's top-seeded relays? Their 400 free relay looks to be the strongest of the three, with three of the top eight seeded swimmers in the 100 free, plus Goral, swimming on it. In the medley, Arrowhead has a seed time nearly two seconds faster than anyone else, but sitting right next to them in lanes 3 and 5 are the last two teams to win this event at state -- defending champs Badger/Big Foot/Williams Bay in lane 5, and Madison East in lane 3. East features two of the swimmers who helped the team win the relay in 2007 -- Becca Soderholm on fly and Ivy Martin anchoring -- plus the addition of Van Hout on breaststroke. It will be interesting to see how B/B/WB reacts after last week's sectional meet -- star butterflier Lindsey Mikrut was DQ'd from the meet for shaving on-site; sophomore Amie Zick replaced her on the fly leg and swam a tremendous leg to earn B/B/WB a #2 seed for the event. Mikrut can swim the relay, but won't be swimming any individual events at state. Will it serve as extra motivation to help defend her team's relay title? As for the 200 free relay, Arrowhead again owns a more-than-a-second seed-time advantage on the field. But Wausau East returns the entire line-up for the 200 free that finished a surprising second in this event last year at state. Wisconsin Rapids has the #3 seed in the event, and that means Weiland anchoring. If I was the anchor swimmer on any of the 200 free relays, I'd want to have a big lead before she jumped in the water.
D2 state meet preview
The D2 state meet is Friday night; here's a preview of what to look for in what figures to be a very close team competition.
-- Can DeForest make it four in a row? The Norskies have won the last three state championships; last year they overwhelmed the field with 15 individual qualifiers and three solid relays. This year figures to be more like 2006, when five teams finished within 33 points of each other and the Norskies pulled it out in the very last event by winning the 400 free relay. DeForest has nine individual qualifiers, along with all three relays, but only sophomore Chelsea Statz earned a top seed for the team (100 free). Still, this is a squad filled with veteran swimmers who know the pressures of the state meet, and DeForest -- which was posting some fair-to-middling times mid-season -- always seems to swim well this time of year. With three teams (Sturgeon Bay/Sevastopol, DeForest and Whitefish Bay) seeded within six points of each other for the top spot (see: http://wiscswim.blogspot.com/2009/11/d1-and-d2-meets-seeded.html ), this meet is way too close to call. But DeForest will certainly be in the mix, and has its four very best swimmers -- Statz and fellow sophomore Leah Winckler, junior Casey Wolter, and senior Lindsey Verhulst -- slated to swim the meet-ending 400 free relay. Shades of 2006? We'll find out.
-- Can Sturgeon Bay/Sevastopol sprint its way to the state championship? The Clippers are loaded in the sprints, with three qualifiers each in the 50 and 100 frees, a 200 free relay that's already under the state-record time in the event, a second-seeded 200 medley relay, and a 400 free relay that earned a #5 seed. Sisters Sierra and Savanna Townsend will lead a squad looking for a bit of redemption after last year, when SB/S came to the Natatorium with high hopes but performed below expectations. Coach Mike McHuhugh is making sure one thing is changed this year; all of the Clippers will be wearing the fastest suits available for the state meet."I just don't think you can compete without them, so we're going to bite the bullet and spend the money to get them," McHugh told the Door County Advocate. "Whoever's going to show up at state without a suit is going to be at a distinct disadvantage. I really think the speed suits make a massive difference. We were primed last year and swam well, but without speed suits it was like going to a gunfight with a knife. We were unable to beat the suit last year. We just can't take that hit again."
-- Can Whitefish Bay senior Maggie Smith finally win an individual state title, and in doing so lead her team to a state title? Whitefish Bay has traditionally been one of the strongest girls programs in the state, but it's never won a state title. The Blue Dukes finished as runner-up in 2006 and 2007. Smith won a gold medal on that 2006 team as a freshman, when she anchored a 200 free relay that won by just .04 seconds. But she's been shut out since, finishing as runner-up the past two years in the 50 free. She's got the top seed in the 50 free this year, and in a true display of taking one for the team, gave up the 100 free (where she's finished T-5th and 3rd the past two state meets) to anchor all three of the Blue Dukes' state-qualifying relays. The move paid off, as Whitefish Bay earned the top seed in both the medley and 400 free relays. The Blue Dukes swam as well or better than any D2 team in the state at last week's sectionals; can they bring it again?
-- Can Milton senior Jennah Haney cap her wonderful high school career with two individual titles? If she does, will it be enough to take her team to the D2 state title? Haney is seeded 1st in the 200 IM, where she'll be up against two-time defending champion Clare Chamberlain of Shorewood, and 2nd in the 100 breaststroke -- the event she won her first two years at state. Haney is the team elder on a squad that depends heavily on freshmen and sophomores; she'll also play a key role on two of Milton's three state-qualifying relays. Milton is seeded to finish 4th at the state meet, but close enough to the top teams that a big night from Haney could mean a move up.
-- Can Brookfield Academy's Kelsey Hojan-Clark chase down the state records she just missed last year? The defending champion in both the 200 and 500 free, Hojan-Clark missed state records last year by a third-of-a-second (200 free) and a quarter-of-a-second (500 free). Notable last year was that Hojan-Clark -- although wearing a full-body suit -- eschewed the controversial blue70 suit popular with so many swimmers at last year's state meet that prompted controversy and the eventual restrictions on suits for this season. She'll be chased by some top talent, including McFarland's Chloe Bartuska and Shorewood's Elli Sellinger in the 200, and Chamberlain and Wolter in the 500.
-- Could the race for the 100 butterfly be any closer? The three top seeds -- Elkhorn's Terrin Seaver, Sauk Prairie's Alison Meng, and Monona Grove's Kelsey Millin -- are collectively separated by a mere .07 seconds on their seed times. The field also includes top butterfliers like DeForest's Winckler and Berlin/Green Lake's Siri Smits, as well as last year's runner-up -- Plymouth's Kate Criter -- swimming out of lane 4 in the first heat.
-- One of the night's most intriguing races looks to be the 100 backstroke. Milton freshman Katelyn Holmquist comes in with the top seed, but she'll be bracketed in the final heat by a bevy of state meet veterans, including defending champ Smits, who last year set a D2 state record (55.83) with a time so fast it would've won last year's D1 title. Two other swimmers loom in outside lanes -- Grafton's Sadie Nenning in lane 1, last year's runner-up who won this race at state in 2006 and 2007, and in lane 7 Ashwaubenon's Erika Pliner, who has moved down from D1. At last year's D1 state meet, Pliner cut an amazing 3.13 seconds off her sectional seed time to finish 3rd at state with a time of 58.00.
-- They're baaaack. The best race at last year's state meet was the 100 breaststroke, where five swimmers broke the existing state record. All of them return -- first-place finisher Criter, Haney, Waukesha Catholic Memorial's Anna Meinholz, McFarland's Stirling Smith, and Delavan-Darien's Emily McClellan. McClellan, who finished 5th last year at state after breaking the state record out of the first heat, comes in as the favorite. She's beaten Haney, who has the #2 seed, three times this season in the event, including at last week's sectional meet. The breaststroke is particularly loaded this year, as 10 swimmers come in seeded under 1:10.00.
-- Finally, how fast will this year's meet be? Some have suggested not as fast as last year, which saw three state records fall and the utilization by numerous swimmers of the now-banned full-body suits. But remember this -- the meet features seven swimmers who have won individual state titles. Sturgeon Bay/Sevastopol has already swum a time in the 200 free relay more than half-a-second below the state record in the event. And the remarkable closeness of the meet suggests that no one will be holding back on "safe" relay starts, since all of the top teams competing for the state title will be battling each other in the relays. Expect another very fast meet.
-- Can DeForest make it four in a row? The Norskies have won the last three state championships; last year they overwhelmed the field with 15 individual qualifiers and three solid relays. This year figures to be more like 2006, when five teams finished within 33 points of each other and the Norskies pulled it out in the very last event by winning the 400 free relay. DeForest has nine individual qualifiers, along with all three relays, but only sophomore Chelsea Statz earned a top seed for the team (100 free). Still, this is a squad filled with veteran swimmers who know the pressures of the state meet, and DeForest -- which was posting some fair-to-middling times mid-season -- always seems to swim well this time of year. With three teams (Sturgeon Bay/Sevastopol, DeForest and Whitefish Bay) seeded within six points of each other for the top spot (see: http://wiscswim.blogspot.com/2009/11/d1-and-d2-meets-seeded.html ), this meet is way too close to call. But DeForest will certainly be in the mix, and has its four very best swimmers -- Statz and fellow sophomore Leah Winckler, junior Casey Wolter, and senior Lindsey Verhulst -- slated to swim the meet-ending 400 free relay. Shades of 2006? We'll find out.
-- Can Sturgeon Bay/Sevastopol sprint its way to the state championship? The Clippers are loaded in the sprints, with three qualifiers each in the 50 and 100 frees, a 200 free relay that's already under the state-record time in the event, a second-seeded 200 medley relay, and a 400 free relay that earned a #5 seed. Sisters Sierra and Savanna Townsend will lead a squad looking for a bit of redemption after last year, when SB/S came to the Natatorium with high hopes but performed below expectations. Coach Mike McHuhugh is making sure one thing is changed this year; all of the Clippers will be wearing the fastest suits available for the state meet."I just don't think you can compete without them, so we're going to bite the bullet and spend the money to get them," McHugh told the Door County Advocate. "Whoever's going to show up at state without a suit is going to be at a distinct disadvantage. I really think the speed suits make a massive difference. We were primed last year and swam well, but without speed suits it was like going to a gunfight with a knife. We were unable to beat the suit last year. We just can't take that hit again."
-- Can Whitefish Bay senior Maggie Smith finally win an individual state title, and in doing so lead her team to a state title? Whitefish Bay has traditionally been one of the strongest girls programs in the state, but it's never won a state title. The Blue Dukes finished as runner-up in 2006 and 2007. Smith won a gold medal on that 2006 team as a freshman, when she anchored a 200 free relay that won by just .04 seconds. But she's been shut out since, finishing as runner-up the past two years in the 50 free. She's got the top seed in the 50 free this year, and in a true display of taking one for the team, gave up the 100 free (where she's finished T-5th and 3rd the past two state meets) to anchor all three of the Blue Dukes' state-qualifying relays. The move paid off, as Whitefish Bay earned the top seed in both the medley and 400 free relays. The Blue Dukes swam as well or better than any D2 team in the state at last week's sectionals; can they bring it again?
-- Can Milton senior Jennah Haney cap her wonderful high school career with two individual titles? If she does, will it be enough to take her team to the D2 state title? Haney is seeded 1st in the 200 IM, where she'll be up against two-time defending champion Clare Chamberlain of Shorewood, and 2nd in the 100 breaststroke -- the event she won her first two years at state. Haney is the team elder on a squad that depends heavily on freshmen and sophomores; she'll also play a key role on two of Milton's three state-qualifying relays. Milton is seeded to finish 4th at the state meet, but close enough to the top teams that a big night from Haney could mean a move up.
-- Can Brookfield Academy's Kelsey Hojan-Clark chase down the state records she just missed last year? The defending champion in both the 200 and 500 free, Hojan-Clark missed state records last year by a third-of-a-second (200 free) and a quarter-of-a-second (500 free). Notable last year was that Hojan-Clark -- although wearing a full-body suit -- eschewed the controversial blue70 suit popular with so many swimmers at last year's state meet that prompted controversy and the eventual restrictions on suits for this season. She'll be chased by some top talent, including McFarland's Chloe Bartuska and Shorewood's Elli Sellinger in the 200, and Chamberlain and Wolter in the 500.
-- Could the race for the 100 butterfly be any closer? The three top seeds -- Elkhorn's Terrin Seaver, Sauk Prairie's Alison Meng, and Monona Grove's Kelsey Millin -- are collectively separated by a mere .07 seconds on their seed times. The field also includes top butterfliers like DeForest's Winckler and Berlin/Green Lake's Siri Smits, as well as last year's runner-up -- Plymouth's Kate Criter -- swimming out of lane 4 in the first heat.
-- One of the night's most intriguing races looks to be the 100 backstroke. Milton freshman Katelyn Holmquist comes in with the top seed, but she'll be bracketed in the final heat by a bevy of state meet veterans, including defending champ Smits, who last year set a D2 state record (55.83) with a time so fast it would've won last year's D1 title. Two other swimmers loom in outside lanes -- Grafton's Sadie Nenning in lane 1, last year's runner-up who won this race at state in 2006 and 2007, and in lane 7 Ashwaubenon's Erika Pliner, who has moved down from D1. At last year's D1 state meet, Pliner cut an amazing 3.13 seconds off her sectional seed time to finish 3rd at state with a time of 58.00.
-- They're baaaack. The best race at last year's state meet was the 100 breaststroke, where five swimmers broke the existing state record. All of them return -- first-place finisher Criter, Haney, Waukesha Catholic Memorial's Anna Meinholz, McFarland's Stirling Smith, and Delavan-Darien's Emily McClellan. McClellan, who finished 5th last year at state after breaking the state record out of the first heat, comes in as the favorite. She's beaten Haney, who has the #2 seed, three times this season in the event, including at last week's sectional meet. The breaststroke is particularly loaded this year, as 10 swimmers come in seeded under 1:10.00.
-- Finally, how fast will this year's meet be? Some have suggested not as fast as last year, which saw three state records fall and the utilization by numerous swimmers of the now-banned full-body suits. But remember this -- the meet features seven swimmers who have won individual state titles. Sturgeon Bay/Sevastopol has already swum a time in the 200 free relay more than half-a-second below the state record in the event. And the remarkable closeness of the meet suggests that no one will be holding back on "safe" relay starts, since all of the top teams competing for the state title will be battling each other in the relays. Expect another very fast meet.
From club to high school
Commentators to the blog have on occasion debated the pull of club swimming vs. competing for your high school. It's a decision faced by only a handful of high school athletes -- soccer and volleyball come to mind -- as those sports offer high-level club competition at the same time as the high school seasons.
Here's an article from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that focuses on that very decision by Waukesha South/Mukwonago sophomore Kayla Skenandore, who earned a top seed for this week's D1 state meet in the 200 free (and a #2 seed behind only defending champ Emma Goral of Hartland Arrowhead in the 100 fly). Skenandore skipped her freshman year of high school swimming to compete for Waukesha Express, one of the most competitive clubs in the state, but decided to compete for the Waukesha South/Mukwonago co-op this year.
http://www.jsonline.com/sports/preps/69821002.html
Here's an article from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that focuses on that very decision by Waukesha South/Mukwonago sophomore Kayla Skenandore, who earned a top seed for this week's D1 state meet in the 200 free (and a #2 seed behind only defending champ Emma Goral of Hartland Arrowhead in the 100 fly). Skenandore skipped her freshman year of high school swimming to compete for Waukesha Express, one of the most competitive clubs in the state, but decided to compete for the Waukesha South/Mukwonago co-op this year.
http://www.jsonline.com/sports/preps/69821002.html
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
From Thailand to the Natatorium
Here's a nice feature from the Sheboygan Press on Sheboygan North swimmer Suki Suwanparin, an exchange student from Thailand:
http://www.sheboyganpress.com/article/20091110/SHE020507/911100434/1089/SHE0205/Prep-profile--Suki-Suwanparin--Sheboygan-North
http://www.sheboyganpress.com/article/20091110/SHE020507/911100430/1089/SHE0205
Suwanparin, according to the Press, waited two weeks into the swim season to decide whether she should join the team because she had sat out from swimming for a year. Now she finds herself swimming four events at the D1 state meet this Saturday. She finished second to teammate Parker Wolf in the 50 free at the Cedarburg sectional, and ended up tied for the 21st overall seed in the 50 free for the state meet. She also swam leadoff on the team's 200 free relay, and anchored the medley and 400 free relays -- all of which qualified for state.
One more note -- she's never seen snow. And someone -- presumably including some of her Sheboygan North teammates -- has talked her into participating in the community's annual Polar Bear plunge into Lake Michigan on New Year's Day.
http://www.sheboyganpress.com/article/20091110/SHE020507/911100434/1089/SHE0205/Prep-profile--Suki-Suwanparin--Sheboygan-North
http://www.sheboyganpress.com/article/20091110/SHE020507/911100430/1089/SHE0205
Suwanparin, according to the Press, waited two weeks into the swim season to decide whether she should join the team because she had sat out from swimming for a year. Now she finds herself swimming four events at the D1 state meet this Saturday. She finished second to teammate Parker Wolf in the 50 free at the Cedarburg sectional, and ended up tied for the 21st overall seed in the 50 free for the state meet. She also swam leadoff on the team's 200 free relay, and anchored the medley and 400 free relays -- all of which qualified for state.
One more note -- she's never seen snow. And someone -- presumably including some of her Sheboygan North teammates -- has talked her into participating in the community's annual Polar Bear plunge into Lake Michigan on New Year's Day.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
The best swimmers you never hear about
The state swim meets are always full of good stories. Sure, the focus is on who's going to win the team competition, and the possible record-breaking performances. But there are a bunch of other competitors at the meet who deserve notice, as well. Here are a few worth a look:
-- Of the four Madison high schools, LaFollette's swim program sits in the heavy shadows cast by Memorial, West, and East, who have won 30 state titles among them and annually send dozens of swimmers to state. LaFollette hadn't sent a swimmer to the state meet since 2003. But that streak was broken this year by Lancer junior Britney Hilgendorf, who qualified in both the 200 IM and the 100 free. In the IM, the diminutive Hilgendorf came from the next-to-last heat at the Middleton sectional to qualify as the 23rd seed at the state meet. In the 100 free, she knocked more than a second off her sectional seed time to finish in 54.07 and grab the 18th seed at the state meet. It was sweet redemption for Hilgendorf, who last year finished .03 seconds away from qualifying for state in the 50 free. Ironically, the last Lancer swimmer to make the state meet, Caitlin Digney, serves as one of Hilgendorf's coaches for her summer swim club.
-- Two years ago, her school didn't even have a swim program. Now Lodi sophomore Sierra Sachtjen will be competing at the state swim meet -- Lodi's first-ever participant in the state meet for the nascent program. Sachtjen will compete in both the 100 free and the 100 back; she cut more than a second off her sectional seed time in the 100 free to qualify as the 9th seeded swimmer for the state meet. Lodi, with an enrollment of about 530 swimmers, is one of the smallest schools in the state to offer a non-co-op swim program.
-- For the first time in four years, the Milwaukee City Conference will have a swimmer at the state meet. Freshman Jaime Kohnke of the Milwaukee Riverside/Bay View co-op qualified in both the 200 and 500 frees. In the 200 free, Kohnke cut more than two-and-a-half seconds off her seed time at the Cedarburg sectional to grab the 23rd spot at the D1 state meet. She cut nearly three seconds off her 500 free time to qualify -- she'll be in fastest lane, 4, in the second heat of the D1 500. Earlier this year, we noted Kohnke's role in helping Riverside/Bay View to the city conference swim title:
http://wiscswim.blogspot.com/2009/10/milwaukee-riversidebay-view-wins-city.html
-- Madison West senior Kylie Rosenstock enters Saturday's state meet chasing history. She's looking to become the first D1 diver to ever capture four state titles; the D1 scoring record of 502.45 is probably also within the sites of the Stanford-bound Rosenstock. Wisconsin State Journal prep writer Rob Hernandez has a nice take on high school's loneliest sport and Rosenstock here:
http://host.madison.com/sports/columnists/rob_hernandez/article_1953dec4-cd97-11de-acec-001cc4c03286.html
-- Can a program develop into one of the state's best when the pool you practice in is nearly an hour away from your school? River Valley is trying. Surely there are few more dedicated swimmers in the state than those from the Spring Green-based high school. Lacking an indoor pool in Spring Green or at their school, the River Valley swimmers commute up to Baraboo to practice. How good are they? Among D2 schools, only seven qualified all three relays for state, and the list included the usual top-tier D2 teams -- DeForest, Whitefish Bay, Milton, and so on. Oh, and River Valley. The state berths weren't unprecedented; last year, River Valley qualified both its medley and 200 free relays to state. This year, the quintet of Samantha Ring, Karie Liegel, Rachel Puskula, Olivia Bergman, and Jaelin Crook comprised the three relays that made it to state; for good measure, Puskula qualified in the 100 butterfly. The team's fastest relay is its 200 free relay; seeded 8th for the state meet, the River Valley relay has a chance of nudging its way onto the podium. Not bad for a school with no pool (and most of the River Valley swimmers aren't going anywhere, either; only Bergman is a senior). Update: Here's an articile posted on the madison.com website about the traveling Spring Valley swimmers:
http://host.madison.com/sports/columnists/rob_hernandez/article_2b8ba3f8-cfcf-11de-9444-001cc4c03286.html
-- Another D2 school without a pool-- Pewaukee -- also had a very succesful sectional meet. We took notice of Pewaukee earlier this fall:
http://wiscswim.blogspot.com/2009/09/growing-sport-of-swimming-in-pewaukee.html
At the Cudahy sectional, sophomore Lacey Leist led the way with state-qualifying swims in the 200 free and 100 back; freshman Claire Fernandez cut more than 8 seconds from her seed time to earn a spot in the 500 free. The pair joined senior Carly Paget and junior Catherine Geanon in earning a spot in the state meet in the medley relay, while Leist, Fernandez and Paget joined junior Emily Nelson in earning a bid in the 200 free relay.
-- She's one of the top favorites entering the D1 state meet, but it bears mentioning that the presence of Wisconsin Rapids junior Becca Weiland at this year's state meet was no sure thing a year ago. Last year, Weiland was sidelined by a hurt shoulder, a particularly dangerous injury for swimmers. The constant pounding of yardage required to compete at the sport's highest levels can take a toll on swimmers, especially shoulders. Weiland sat out last year's sectional competition, but burned up the pool this year, earning the state's top seeds in both the 50 and 100 frees. Better yet, she'll be joined on Rapids' very competitive medley and 200 free relays by sophomore sister Racheal. Update: Becca's mom, Linda, writes to inform me it was a knee injury, not a shoulder injury, that sidelined her last year. Initial media reports said it had been a shoulder injury. Here's a nice story from the Wisconsin Rapids Tribune on her comeback:
http://www.wisconsinrapidstribune.com/article/20091112/WRT020507/911120669/-1/Varsity/Prep-swimming-Rapids-Becca-Weiland-makes-full-recovery-from-knee-injury
-- No individual swimmer will travel farther to Madison to compete in the state meet than Rice Lake's Nikki Martinez. Seeded 23rd overall among all D2 swimmers at sectionals in the 200 free,
Martinez cut more than two-and-a-half seconds off her seed time to finish runner-up at the Stevens Point sectional and qualify for the very last spot in the 200 free for the D2 state meet. She just missed qualifying in the 500 free as well, by less than half-a-second.
-- Finally (and with all due -- and sincere -- apologies to the hard-to-pronounce and hard-to-type Sara Brzozowski of Brookfield East, Kayla Dlugopolski of Mequon Homestead, and Emma Szczupakiewicz of Muskego) -- is there a better name in either of the state meets than Greenfield's Esmerelda Perez? I can't find one. I occasionally announce swim meets on the side, and I'm half-tempted to highjack the microphone for Perez' heat of the D1 100 butterfly. She's also a sectional champ, having won the Kenosha Bradford 100 fly title at last week's competition.
-- Of the four Madison high schools, LaFollette's swim program sits in the heavy shadows cast by Memorial, West, and East, who have won 30 state titles among them and annually send dozens of swimmers to state. LaFollette hadn't sent a swimmer to the state meet since 2003. But that streak was broken this year by Lancer junior Britney Hilgendorf, who qualified in both the 200 IM and the 100 free. In the IM, the diminutive Hilgendorf came from the next-to-last heat at the Middleton sectional to qualify as the 23rd seed at the state meet. In the 100 free, she knocked more than a second off her sectional seed time to finish in 54.07 and grab the 18th seed at the state meet. It was sweet redemption for Hilgendorf, who last year finished .03 seconds away from qualifying for state in the 50 free. Ironically, the last Lancer swimmer to make the state meet, Caitlin Digney, serves as one of Hilgendorf's coaches for her summer swim club.
-- Two years ago, her school didn't even have a swim program. Now Lodi sophomore Sierra Sachtjen will be competing at the state swim meet -- Lodi's first-ever participant in the state meet for the nascent program. Sachtjen will compete in both the 100 free and the 100 back; she cut more than a second off her sectional seed time in the 100 free to qualify as the 9th seeded swimmer for the state meet. Lodi, with an enrollment of about 530 swimmers, is one of the smallest schools in the state to offer a non-co-op swim program.
-- For the first time in four years, the Milwaukee City Conference will have a swimmer at the state meet. Freshman Jaime Kohnke of the Milwaukee Riverside/Bay View co-op qualified in both the 200 and 500 frees. In the 200 free, Kohnke cut more than two-and-a-half seconds off her seed time at the Cedarburg sectional to grab the 23rd spot at the D1 state meet. She cut nearly three seconds off her 500 free time to qualify -- she'll be in fastest lane, 4, in the second heat of the D1 500. Earlier this year, we noted Kohnke's role in helping Riverside/Bay View to the city conference swim title:
http://wiscswim.blogspot.com/2009/10/milwaukee-riversidebay-view-wins-city.html
-- Madison West senior Kylie Rosenstock enters Saturday's state meet chasing history. She's looking to become the first D1 diver to ever capture four state titles; the D1 scoring record of 502.45 is probably also within the sites of the Stanford-bound Rosenstock. Wisconsin State Journal prep writer Rob Hernandez has a nice take on high school's loneliest sport and Rosenstock here:
http://host.madison.com/sports/columnists/rob_hernandez/article_1953dec4-cd97-11de-acec-001cc4c03286.html
-- Can a program develop into one of the state's best when the pool you practice in is nearly an hour away from your school? River Valley is trying. Surely there are few more dedicated swimmers in the state than those from the Spring Green-based high school. Lacking an indoor pool in Spring Green or at their school, the River Valley swimmers commute up to Baraboo to practice. How good are they? Among D2 schools, only seven qualified all three relays for state, and the list included the usual top-tier D2 teams -- DeForest, Whitefish Bay, Milton, and so on. Oh, and River Valley. The state berths weren't unprecedented; last year, River Valley qualified both its medley and 200 free relays to state. This year, the quintet of Samantha Ring, Karie Liegel, Rachel Puskula, Olivia Bergman, and Jaelin Crook comprised the three relays that made it to state; for good measure, Puskula qualified in the 100 butterfly. The team's fastest relay is its 200 free relay; seeded 8th for the state meet, the River Valley relay has a chance of nudging its way onto the podium. Not bad for a school with no pool (and most of the River Valley swimmers aren't going anywhere, either; only Bergman is a senior). Update: Here's an articile posted on the madison.com website about the traveling Spring Valley swimmers:
http://host.madison.com/sports/columnists/rob_hernandez/article_2b8ba3f8-cfcf-11de-9444-001cc4c03286.html
-- Another D2 school without a pool-- Pewaukee -- also had a very succesful sectional meet. We took notice of Pewaukee earlier this fall:
http://wiscswim.blogspot.com/2009/09/growing-sport-of-swimming-in-pewaukee.html
At the Cudahy sectional, sophomore Lacey Leist led the way with state-qualifying swims in the 200 free and 100 back; freshman Claire Fernandez cut more than 8 seconds from her seed time to earn a spot in the 500 free. The pair joined senior Carly Paget and junior Catherine Geanon in earning a spot in the state meet in the medley relay, while Leist, Fernandez and Paget joined junior Emily Nelson in earning a bid in the 200 free relay.
-- She's one of the top favorites entering the D1 state meet, but it bears mentioning that the presence of Wisconsin Rapids junior Becca Weiland at this year's state meet was no sure thing a year ago. Last year, Weiland was sidelined by a hurt shoulder, a particularly dangerous injury for swimmers. The constant pounding of yardage required to compete at the sport's highest levels can take a toll on swimmers, especially shoulders. Weiland sat out last year's sectional competition, but burned up the pool this year, earning the state's top seeds in both the 50 and 100 frees. Better yet, she'll be joined on Rapids' very competitive medley and 200 free relays by sophomore sister Racheal. Update: Becca's mom, Linda, writes to inform me it was a knee injury, not a shoulder injury, that sidelined her last year. Initial media reports said it had been a shoulder injury. Here's a nice story from the Wisconsin Rapids Tribune on her comeback:
http://www.wisconsinrapidstribune.com/article/20091112/WRT020507/911120669/-1/Varsity/Prep-swimming-Rapids-Becca-Weiland-makes-full-recovery-from-knee-injury
-- No individual swimmer will travel farther to Madison to compete in the state meet than Rice Lake's Nikki Martinez. Seeded 23rd overall among all D2 swimmers at sectionals in the 200 free,
Martinez cut more than two-and-a-half seconds off her seed time to finish runner-up at the Stevens Point sectional and qualify for the very last spot in the 200 free for the D2 state meet. She just missed qualifying in the 500 free as well, by less than half-a-second.
-- Finally (and with all due -- and sincere -- apologies to the hard-to-pronounce and hard-to-type Sara Brzozowski of Brookfield East, Kayla Dlugopolski of Mequon Homestead, and Emma Szczupakiewicz of Muskego) -- is there a better name in either of the state meets than Greenfield's Esmerelda Perez? I can't find one. I occasionally announce swim meets on the side, and I'm half-tempted to highjack the microphone for Perez' heat of the D1 100 butterfly. She's also a sectional champ, having won the Kenosha Bradford 100 fly title at last week's competition.
Monday, November 9, 2009
That 25th swimmer in the D1 500 free -- and the great race that produced it
As a commentator on the blog noted over the weekend, the D1 500 final at the Neenah sectional this past weekend produced an electrifying race between Shawano/Bonduel's Mackenzie Soper and Oshkosh West's Natalie Bolin.
Both state meet veterans (Soper finished 6th at the D2 state meet last year as a freshman in the 500 free; Bolin was 12th in the 500 free at the D1 meet)), the two went at each other stroke for stroke nearly 15 seconds ahead of the next swimmer and ended, fittingly, tied at the end -- 5:07.66. As such, both qualified for the state meet as a sectional winner.
But the race did something else -- yield another spot in the 500 free at the state meet. D1 normally features three heats of eight swimmers each in every event. But instead of six sectional winners, the 500 free this year has 7 sectional winners, because of the Soper-Bolin tie. According to WIAA rules, that means another swimmer beyond the normal 24 qualify for state in that event. See this from the WIAA's regulations and procedures section for swimming:
"Participating in the State Meet will be:
(a) Swimming
1) Winners of each event at each sectional.
2) Next 18 (Division 1) and 12 (Division 2) fastest individuals/relay teams (not including sectional winners) from all sectionals."
That rule was good news for Germantown's Kelly Theis. The junior had been seeded to qualify for the D1 state meet in the 200 free out of the Cedarburg sectional, but swam more than a second over her seed time and failed to get in. As it turned out, the 200 medley relay she anchored fell short of qualifying for state by .15 seconds. That left the 500 free, where she finished 5th in the sectional with a time of 5:18.72. For Theis, the tie between Soper and Bolin left her as the 25th qualifier for the state meet -- usually the worst place to finish. This year, it got her a berth in the state meet.
Both state meet veterans (Soper finished 6th at the D2 state meet last year as a freshman in the 500 free; Bolin was 12th in the 500 free at the D1 meet)), the two went at each other stroke for stroke nearly 15 seconds ahead of the next swimmer and ended, fittingly, tied at the end -- 5:07.66. As such, both qualified for the state meet as a sectional winner.
But the race did something else -- yield another spot in the 500 free at the state meet. D1 normally features three heats of eight swimmers each in every event. But instead of six sectional winners, the 500 free this year has 7 sectional winners, because of the Soper-Bolin tie. According to WIAA rules, that means another swimmer beyond the normal 24 qualify for state in that event. See this from the WIAA's regulations and procedures section for swimming:
"Participating in the State Meet will be:
(a) Swimming
1) Winners of each event at each sectional.
2) Next 18 (Division 1) and 12 (Division 2) fastest individuals/relay teams (not including sectional winners) from all sectionals."
That rule was good news for Germantown's Kelly Theis. The junior had been seeded to qualify for the D1 state meet in the 200 free out of the Cedarburg sectional, but swam more than a second over her seed time and failed to get in. As it turned out, the 200 medley relay she anchored fell short of qualifying for state by .15 seconds. That left the 500 free, where she finished 5th in the sectional with a time of 5:18.72. For Theis, the tie between Soper and Bolin left her as the 25th qualifier for the state meet -- usually the worst place to finish. This year, it got her a berth in the state meet.
D1 and D2 meets seeded
Here's how the D1 state meet would turn out based solely on seed times (and for divers, seed scores) from this past weekend's sectional meets:
1) Hartland Arrowhead -- 329 points.
2) Muskego -- 194.
3) Waukesha South/Mukwonago -- 188.
4) Madison East -- 143.
5) Wausau East -- 119.
6) Eau Claire Memorial -- 111.
7) Madison Memorial -- 110.
8) Badger/Big Foot/Williams Bay -- 109.5.
Thoughts: As expected, Arrowhead came out of the sectional meets as the clear favorites for the state title. They are the only team with swimmers and divers in every event, and all three of their relays earned top seeds. A collective rash of false starts (or the aforementioned swine flu) seems to be the only potential roadblock between Arrowhead and its seventh title in eight years.
As for the rest of the seeding, it's eerily similar to last year, when Muskego and Waukesha South/Mukwonago came out of the very competitive and fast Waukesha South sectional as the two teams seeded behind Arrowhead, only to finish 4th (WS/M) and 5th (Muskego). Reasons for the move down vary; I've speculated about about one possible explanation here:
http://wiscswim.blogspot.com/2009/10/is-waukesha-south-pool-too-fast.html
Madison East as the 4th seed bears watching; few teams in D1 have tapered for the state meet as well as East the past two years. And four-time state champion Aja Van Hout is certainly a threat to post two wins and 40 points all by herself in the 200 IM and 500 free. But East only qualified two relays this year (medley and 400 free), and they are both seeded 3rd, so there is not a ton of room to capture more points there.
Meanwhile, Wausau East has all of its potential points wrapped up in four events -- the 200 and 400 free relays, and sprinters Lea Koenig and Lauren Sichterman in the 50 and 100 frees.
It's also worth noting that looming as the 7th seeded team is Madison Memorial (seeded at 110 points), which qualified all three relays and has entries in seven of the eight individual swimming events. A bunch of Memorial's swimmers are in the second heat, not the fastest one, so the Spartan swimmers will have to swim really well to move up. But coach Jason Verhelst has also proven to taper his swimmers well for the state meet.
D2
Here's the D2 state meet seeded:
1) Sturgeon Bay/Sevastopol -- 184 points.
2) DeForest -- 182.
3) Whitefish Bay -- 178.
4) Milton -- 157.
5) Shorewood -- 151.
6) Elkhorn -- 138.
7) Sauk Prairie -- 135.
8) Grafton -- 118.
Thoughts: Good golly, Miss Molly -- could this be any closer? The top three teams separated by six points, with the top five separated by only 33 points -- not that much in a state meet.
With such a close meet, the outcome will likely hinge on the relays, which of course are worth double the points of individual races. Any moves up or down from the relay seeding positions means a lot in a meet so tight (and especially so in this one, as the big moves up or down in the relays among the top five times will likely come at expense of each other).
Of the top five seeded teams, all qualified three relays for the meet. But here's where it gets interesting. Based on sectional performances, it looks like Sturgeon Bay/Sevastopol and Whitefish Bay have their relays set. In particular, Whitefish Bay coach Jim Davis' decision to put star sprinter Maggie Smith on three relays paid off, as the Blue Dukes' relays captured two top seeds (medley and 400 free) and a 7th seed (200 free relay).
But DeForest, Shorewood and Milton all could potentially move personnel around on their relays. DeForest's medley relay was the last one to get into the state meet, as coach Sue Winckler put her four fastest swimmers on the free relays. Those two relays each earned #2 seeds in the meet, and are filled with veteran state meet competitors who know how to perform under pressure. Shorewood spread out its relay swimmers to try to get three relays into the state meet, and it worked. But only one of those relays -- the medley -- qualified for the second, fast heat of the meet, and it will have to swim in lane 1. Shorewood's other two relays are seeded in the slower, first heats. It will be interesting to see how Shorewood coach Rob McCabe uses his top two swimmers -- Clare Chamberlain and Elli Sellinger -- in the relays. Meanwhile, Milton coach Tom Lieder has some unexpected flexibility with his relays, as freshman star Abby Holmquist -- seeded to make it to state in the 100 free -- just missed the cut-off time to qualify in the event. He could choose to put her on all three relays; Milton's relays are seeded 8th (medley), 5th (200), and 14th (400), so they have room to move up.
1) Hartland Arrowhead -- 329 points.
2) Muskego -- 194.
3) Waukesha South/Mukwonago -- 188.
4) Madison East -- 143.
5) Wausau East -- 119.
6) Eau Claire Memorial -- 111.
7) Madison Memorial -- 110.
8) Badger/Big Foot/Williams Bay -- 109.5.
Thoughts: As expected, Arrowhead came out of the sectional meets as the clear favorites for the state title. They are the only team with swimmers and divers in every event, and all three of their relays earned top seeds. A collective rash of false starts (or the aforementioned swine flu) seems to be the only potential roadblock between Arrowhead and its seventh title in eight years.
As for the rest of the seeding, it's eerily similar to last year, when Muskego and Waukesha South/Mukwonago came out of the very competitive and fast Waukesha South sectional as the two teams seeded behind Arrowhead, only to finish 4th (WS/M) and 5th (Muskego). Reasons for the move down vary; I've speculated about about one possible explanation here:
http://wiscswim.blogspot.com/2009/10/is-waukesha-south-pool-too-fast.html
Madison East as the 4th seed bears watching; few teams in D1 have tapered for the state meet as well as East the past two years. And four-time state champion Aja Van Hout is certainly a threat to post two wins and 40 points all by herself in the 200 IM and 500 free. But East only qualified two relays this year (medley and 400 free), and they are both seeded 3rd, so there is not a ton of room to capture more points there.
Meanwhile, Wausau East has all of its potential points wrapped up in four events -- the 200 and 400 free relays, and sprinters Lea Koenig and Lauren Sichterman in the 50 and 100 frees.
It's also worth noting that looming as the 7th seeded team is Madison Memorial (seeded at 110 points), which qualified all three relays and has entries in seven of the eight individual swimming events. A bunch of Memorial's swimmers are in the second heat, not the fastest one, so the Spartan swimmers will have to swim really well to move up. But coach Jason Verhelst has also proven to taper his swimmers well for the state meet.
D2
Here's the D2 state meet seeded:
1) Sturgeon Bay/Sevastopol -- 184 points.
2) DeForest -- 182.
3) Whitefish Bay -- 178.
4) Milton -- 157.
5) Shorewood -- 151.
6) Elkhorn -- 138.
7) Sauk Prairie -- 135.
8) Grafton -- 118.
Thoughts: Good golly, Miss Molly -- could this be any closer? The top three teams separated by six points, with the top five separated by only 33 points -- not that much in a state meet.
With such a close meet, the outcome will likely hinge on the relays, which of course are worth double the points of individual races. Any moves up or down from the relay seeding positions means a lot in a meet so tight (and especially so in this one, as the big moves up or down in the relays among the top five times will likely come at expense of each other).
Of the top five seeded teams, all qualified three relays for the meet. But here's where it gets interesting. Based on sectional performances, it looks like Sturgeon Bay/Sevastopol and Whitefish Bay have their relays set. In particular, Whitefish Bay coach Jim Davis' decision to put star sprinter Maggie Smith on three relays paid off, as the Blue Dukes' relays captured two top seeds (medley and 400 free) and a 7th seed (200 free relay).
But DeForest, Shorewood and Milton all could potentially move personnel around on their relays. DeForest's medley relay was the last one to get into the state meet, as coach Sue Winckler put her four fastest swimmers on the free relays. Those two relays each earned #2 seeds in the meet, and are filled with veteran state meet competitors who know how to perform under pressure. Shorewood spread out its relay swimmers to try to get three relays into the state meet, and it worked. But only one of those relays -- the medley -- qualified for the second, fast heat of the meet, and it will have to swim in lane 1. Shorewood's other two relays are seeded in the slower, first heats. It will be interesting to see how Shorewood coach Rob McCabe uses his top two swimmers -- Clare Chamberlain and Elli Sellinger -- in the relays. Meanwhile, Milton coach Tom Lieder has some unexpected flexibility with his relays, as freshman star Abby Holmquist -- seeded to make it to state in the 100 free -- just missed the cut-off time to qualify in the event. He could choose to put her on all three relays; Milton's relays are seeded 8th (medley), 5th (200), and 14th (400), so they have room to move up.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Division 2 sectional round-up
If Saturday's Div. 2 sectionals proved anything, it's that the race for the team title this year may be the closest in years. Several teams came out of sectional competition with a legitimate case for taking home the first-place trophy.
In the day's best competition, Whitefish Bay enjoyed an outstanding day in the Plymouth sectional, winning (326 points) a taught, three-way battle with Shorewood (317) and Sturgeon Bay/Sevastopol (312). WBay's Jim Davis stacked his relays, taking star sprinter Maggie Smith out of the 100 free and placing her as anchor on all three relays. It worked, as Smith brought home two relay wins for her team -- the medley in a thrilling match-up with SB/S (1:50.59 to 1:50.99), and the meet-clinching 400 free relay in an outstanding time of 3:36.74. For good measure, Smith won the 50 free (24.32, just edging SB/S freshman sensation Savanna Townsend by .03 seconds) and bringing home the 200 free relay in 3rd place.
WBay also got a surprising win from senior Annie Maercklein in the 100 breaststroke, where she edged out defending state champ Kate Criter in the race 1:07.02-1:07.18. But it was a true team win for WBay; nearly every single swimmer for the Blue Dukes improved her seed time and moved up to score points in the meet.
In a meet that featured several oustanding races, none was closer than the 100 free, where SB/S freshman Savanna Townsend edged Shorewood senior Elli Sellinger by a mere .01 seconds, 54.09-54.10. Townsend led a solid showing by SB/S's sprinters; the team qualified three swimmers for state in both the 50 and 100 frees. In addition, Savanna and her sister Sierra, joined by Micheala Rabas and McKenzie Trelka won the 200 free relay in 1:38.43, more than half-a-second under the current D2 state record in the event, set last year by Monona Grove. SB/S also finished second in both the 200 medley and 400 free relays; with their sprinting depth and strong relays, SB/S can certainly make an argument for being one of the strongest contenders for the D2 state title this coming week.
Also at the meet, defending state champ Kelsey Hojan-Clark of Brookfield Academy dominated both of her events, winning the 200 free (1:53.04) by more than three seconds over Sellinger, and the 500 free (5:00.46) by nearly nine seconds over last year's state runner-up, Claire Chamberlain of Shorewood. Chamberlain easily won the 200 IM; she'll be gunning for her third straight state title in the event this Friday.
Over at Baraboo, three-time defending state champ DeForest stated its case for a 4th consecutive title with a dominating performance, 331-276 over a Sauk Prairie squad that also swam extremely well. DeForest stacked its 200 and 400 free relays with its four best swimmers, and got wins from both relays with some very fast times (1:39.91 in the 200; 3:37.43 in the 400). All four of those relay swimmers produced an individual win as well -- Leah Winckler in the 200 IM, Lindsey Verhulst in the 50 free, Chelsea Statz in the 100 free, and Casey Wolter in the 500 free. Sauk's Alison Meng produced two wins -- 100 back (58.47) and the 100 fly (58.88), the latter in a thrilling three-way race with Monona Grove's Kelsey Millin and Winckler. Meng also led off Sauk's winning 200 medley relay. McFarland's Stirling Smith swam a very fast 1:06.05 to win the 100 breaststroke.
Milton edged Elkhorn 320-310 in another terrific sectional battle at Cudahy in a meet that saw the two teams go back and forth throughout the afternoon. Milton senior Jennah Haney led the way for her team, with a win in the 200 IM (2:06.93). She was joined by teammates Abby Holmquist, who won the 200 free (1:58.72), Stacey Kincade, who won the 500 free (5:21.70), and Katelyn Holmquist, who won the 100 back (57.37). The 100 breaststroke was the shining event of the meet, with Delavan-Darien's Emily McClellan (1:05.66) edging Haney (1:05.90) and Waukesha Catholic Memorial's Anna Meinholz (1:07.39) in a race that featured three of the five swimmers who broke last year's state record in the event. Elkhorn flexed its muscles in the relays, winning both the 200 and 400 free relays. Elkhorn senior Terrin Seaver earned the top seed in the butterfly at the state meet with a time of 58.85; she added a 2nd place in the 100 back. New Berlin West's Cory Wannamaker was a double-winner in the 50 and 100 frees.
At the UW-Stevens Point sectional, Berlin-Green Lake got a double win from Siri Smits (100 fly, 100 back) to capture the team title, 301-247 over runner-up Ashwaubenon. Smits and senior Erin Cox contributed legs on the team's winning medley and 400 free relays, and Cox added a win in the 200 IM. Ashwaubenon's Andrea Teske was a double winner in the 200 and 500 frees.
In the day's best competition, Whitefish Bay enjoyed an outstanding day in the Plymouth sectional, winning (326 points) a taught, three-way battle with Shorewood (317) and Sturgeon Bay/Sevastopol (312). WBay's Jim Davis stacked his relays, taking star sprinter Maggie Smith out of the 100 free and placing her as anchor on all three relays. It worked, as Smith brought home two relay wins for her team -- the medley in a thrilling match-up with SB/S (1:50.59 to 1:50.99), and the meet-clinching 400 free relay in an outstanding time of 3:36.74. For good measure, Smith won the 50 free (24.32, just edging SB/S freshman sensation Savanna Townsend by .03 seconds) and bringing home the 200 free relay in 3rd place.
WBay also got a surprising win from senior Annie Maercklein in the 100 breaststroke, where she edged out defending state champ Kate Criter in the race 1:07.02-1:07.18. But it was a true team win for WBay; nearly every single swimmer for the Blue Dukes improved her seed time and moved up to score points in the meet.
In a meet that featured several oustanding races, none was closer than the 100 free, where SB/S freshman Savanna Townsend edged Shorewood senior Elli Sellinger by a mere .01 seconds, 54.09-54.10. Townsend led a solid showing by SB/S's sprinters; the team qualified three swimmers for state in both the 50 and 100 frees. In addition, Savanna and her sister Sierra, joined by Micheala Rabas and McKenzie Trelka won the 200 free relay in 1:38.43, more than half-a-second under the current D2 state record in the event, set last year by Monona Grove. SB/S also finished second in both the 200 medley and 400 free relays; with their sprinting depth and strong relays, SB/S can certainly make an argument for being one of the strongest contenders for the D2 state title this coming week.
Also at the meet, defending state champ Kelsey Hojan-Clark of Brookfield Academy dominated both of her events, winning the 200 free (1:53.04) by more than three seconds over Sellinger, and the 500 free (5:00.46) by nearly nine seconds over last year's state runner-up, Claire Chamberlain of Shorewood. Chamberlain easily won the 200 IM; she'll be gunning for her third straight state title in the event this Friday.
Over at Baraboo, three-time defending state champ DeForest stated its case for a 4th consecutive title with a dominating performance, 331-276 over a Sauk Prairie squad that also swam extremely well. DeForest stacked its 200 and 400 free relays with its four best swimmers, and got wins from both relays with some very fast times (1:39.91 in the 200; 3:37.43 in the 400). All four of those relay swimmers produced an individual win as well -- Leah Winckler in the 200 IM, Lindsey Verhulst in the 50 free, Chelsea Statz in the 100 free, and Casey Wolter in the 500 free. Sauk's Alison Meng produced two wins -- 100 back (58.47) and the 100 fly (58.88), the latter in a thrilling three-way race with Monona Grove's Kelsey Millin and Winckler. Meng also led off Sauk's winning 200 medley relay. McFarland's Stirling Smith swam a very fast 1:06.05 to win the 100 breaststroke.
Milton edged Elkhorn 320-310 in another terrific sectional battle at Cudahy in a meet that saw the two teams go back and forth throughout the afternoon. Milton senior Jennah Haney led the way for her team, with a win in the 200 IM (2:06.93). She was joined by teammates Abby Holmquist, who won the 200 free (1:58.72), Stacey Kincade, who won the 500 free (5:21.70), and Katelyn Holmquist, who won the 100 back (57.37). The 100 breaststroke was the shining event of the meet, with Delavan-Darien's Emily McClellan (1:05.66) edging Haney (1:05.90) and Waukesha Catholic Memorial's Anna Meinholz (1:07.39) in a race that featured three of the five swimmers who broke last year's state record in the event. Elkhorn flexed its muscles in the relays, winning both the 200 and 400 free relays. Elkhorn senior Terrin Seaver earned the top seed in the butterfly at the state meet with a time of 58.85; she added a 2nd place in the 100 back. New Berlin West's Cory Wannamaker was a double-winner in the 50 and 100 frees.
At the UW-Stevens Point sectional, Berlin-Green Lake got a double win from Siri Smits (100 fly, 100 back) to capture the team title, 301-247 over runner-up Ashwaubenon. Smits and senior Erin Cox contributed legs on the team's winning medley and 400 free relays, and Cox added a win in the 200 IM. Ashwaubenon's Andrea Teske was a double winner in the 200 and 500 frees.
Division 1 sectional round-up
The Hartland Arrowhead express rolled along at Saturday's Div. 1 sectionals; the team easily won the Waukesha South/Mukwonago sectional (424 points), took 7 of the 11 swimming events (including all three relays), and placed all 16 of its swimmers into the state meet this coming Saturday. For good measure, diver Mary Woodson won the sectional title as well, and teammate Lindsey Day qualified in diving.
HA has been the dominant team in D1 all season long, and nothing they did Saturday disproved the notion that the real race at the state meet will be for the runner-up trophy. The medley relay of Kate Jones, Caryn Knight, Emma Goral and Haley Pietila got things off to a fast start for HA, winning in 1:46.28, more than two seconds faster than the best time posted this season by any medley relay in the state. Jones (back), Goral (fly), and Pietila (100 free) all posted individual wins with times that will move them into the inner lanes of the last, fastest heat at state. Freshman star Julia Mikota added the team's 4th individual win in the 50 free. Overall, it was just a dominant day by HA, as none of the team's swimmers finished lower than 5th in an event.
But, as is usually the case at the very fast Waukesha South pool, there were plenty of other fireworks. Waukesha South/Mukwanogo and Muskego ended up tied for second with 334 points, and each got some outstanding swims. For Waukesha South/Mukwonago, sophomore Kayla Skenandore had a terrific meet, winning the 200 free over Pietila by more than a second (1:51.07), and giving two-time defending state champ Emmal Goral a scare in the 100 fly, just getting edged 56.37-56.66 in a fast race that saw five swimmers go under 59 seconds. WS/M teammate Pamela Breitrick won the 200 IM. Muskego's distance aces Brittany Walsh and Jessica Wolf went 1-2 in the 500 and both went under 5 minutes (4:58.70 for Walsh, 4:59.90 for Wolf), while teammate Sami Powchowski won the 100 breaststroke. Both the runner-up teams qualified all three of their relays into the state meet.
Highlights from other sectionals:
Hudson
Wausau East topped Eau Claire Memorial 330-303.5 in a meet that, as expected, saw some very fast free sprint races. Wisconsin Rapids junior Becca Weiland won the 50 free (23.50) over WEast teammates Leo Koenig and Lauren Sichterman in a race that saw all three swimmers go under 24 seconds.Weiland came back with a win in the 100 free (51.53) and stamped herself as a real threat to capture the two sprint races at the D1 state meet. Weiland also anchored her team to a win in the 200 free relay in the race of the meet, as Rapids and WEast battled closely throughout the relay, with Rapids eeking out a win 1:38.35-1:38.49. WEast had earlier edged out Rapids in the 200 medley relay 1:49.64-1:50.08. Stevens Point freshman Natalie Neuwirth had a terrific sectional, winning the 200 free by more than four seconds (1:52.59) and finishing 2nd in the 100 free. Eau Claire Memorial freshman Leah Pronschinske was a double winner, in the 200 IM and 100 breaststroke; her time of 1:03.22 in the breaststroke will earn her the top seed
at the state meet.
Neenah
Aided by a 1-2 finish by freshman divers Greysen Hertting and Mollie Patzke, the host Rockets easily won a sectional title 355-276.5 over runner-up Oshkosh West. Appleton East enjoyed a solid day in the relays, winning both the 200 and 400 free relays, while the 100 butterfly race was as good as advertised -- five swimmers broke 1 minute in the race, led by Green Bay Southwest/West's Kendra Rottier, who won it in 58.69.
Middleton
Madison Memorial used its usual combination of solid depth and oustanding work by senior Jackie Powell to win the sectional title with 349 points. Madison West, which swam very well all day long, edged Middleton for second place, 289-288. Powell took the 200 and 100 free titles, and anchored Memorial's winning 200 free relay. Madison East won seven of the 11 swimming events, with junior ace Aja Van Hout having a hand in four of them. Van Hout won both the 200 IM (2:03.57) and 500 free (4:58.71), swam lead-off on the winning 400 free relay (3:35.09), and breaststroke on East's winning 200 medley relay (1:48.94). East also got individual wins from Ivy Martin in the 50 free, Becca Soderholm in the 100 fly, and Chelsea Soderholm in the 100 back.
Cedarburg
Mequon Homestead topped Sheboygan North 368-309, with Menomonee Falls/Hamilton in third with 295 points. In the best race of the meet, Homestead's Kayla Dlugopolski captured one of her team's two individual wins in a tight duel with Cedarburg's Molly Piepenburg in the 500 free, winning by less than two-tenths of a second in 5:05.07. Sheboygan North's Parker Wolf won four times, with wins in the 50 and 100 frees, an anchor leg on the team's first-place 200 free relay, and the fly leg on the winning medley relay. Nicolet freshman Calli Head announced her arrival on the state diving scene with a win and a score of 461.15, second overall in the state to three-time defending state champ Kylie Rosenstock (473.20).
Kenosha Bradford
The Burlington swim co-op, which last year didn't send anyone to the state meet, changed that around this year with a sectional win, 372.5-271 over Badger/Big Foot/Williams Bay. Freshman Anna Brooks won the 200 IM (2:06.90), took second in the 500 free, and anchored the team's winning 400 free relay (3:38.77). Badger, meanwhile, got wins from both its medley and 200 free relays (they are the defending state champs in the medley), along with wins from Maddie Clark (50/100 frees) and Emily Russart (100 breaststroke -- 1:03.78). Russart's win in the breaststroke sets up the much-anticipated showdown in the event between her and Eau Claire Memorial's Pronschinske. Racine Case senior Paige Welaski had a solid meet with wins in the 200 free (1:55.00) and 500 free (5:03.17).
HA has been the dominant team in D1 all season long, and nothing they did Saturday disproved the notion that the real race at the state meet will be for the runner-up trophy. The medley relay of Kate Jones, Caryn Knight, Emma Goral and Haley Pietila got things off to a fast start for HA, winning in 1:46.28, more than two seconds faster than the best time posted this season by any medley relay in the state. Jones (back), Goral (fly), and Pietila (100 free) all posted individual wins with times that will move them into the inner lanes of the last, fastest heat at state. Freshman star Julia Mikota added the team's 4th individual win in the 50 free. Overall, it was just a dominant day by HA, as none of the team's swimmers finished lower than 5th in an event.
But, as is usually the case at the very fast Waukesha South pool, there were plenty of other fireworks. Waukesha South/Mukwanogo and Muskego ended up tied for second with 334 points, and each got some outstanding swims. For Waukesha South/Mukwonago, sophomore Kayla Skenandore had a terrific meet, winning the 200 free over Pietila by more than a second (1:51.07), and giving two-time defending state champ Emmal Goral a scare in the 100 fly, just getting edged 56.37-56.66 in a fast race that saw five swimmers go under 59 seconds. WS/M teammate Pamela Breitrick won the 200 IM. Muskego's distance aces Brittany Walsh and Jessica Wolf went 1-2 in the 500 and both went under 5 minutes (4:58.70 for Walsh, 4:59.90 for Wolf), while teammate Sami Powchowski won the 100 breaststroke. Both the runner-up teams qualified all three of their relays into the state meet.
Highlights from other sectionals:
Hudson
Wausau East topped Eau Claire Memorial 330-303.5 in a meet that, as expected, saw some very fast free sprint races. Wisconsin Rapids junior Becca Weiland won the 50 free (23.50) over WEast teammates Leo Koenig and Lauren Sichterman in a race that saw all three swimmers go under 24 seconds.Weiland came back with a win in the 100 free (51.53) and stamped herself as a real threat to capture the two sprint races at the D1 state meet. Weiland also anchored her team to a win in the 200 free relay in the race of the meet, as Rapids and WEast battled closely throughout the relay, with Rapids eeking out a win 1:38.35-1:38.49. WEast had earlier edged out Rapids in the 200 medley relay 1:49.64-1:50.08. Stevens Point freshman Natalie Neuwirth had a terrific sectional, winning the 200 free by more than four seconds (1:52.59) and finishing 2nd in the 100 free. Eau Claire Memorial freshman Leah Pronschinske was a double winner, in the 200 IM and 100 breaststroke; her time of 1:03.22 in the breaststroke will earn her the top seed
at the state meet.
Neenah
Aided by a 1-2 finish by freshman divers Greysen Hertting and Mollie Patzke, the host Rockets easily won a sectional title 355-276.5 over runner-up Oshkosh West. Appleton East enjoyed a solid day in the relays, winning both the 200 and 400 free relays, while the 100 butterfly race was as good as advertised -- five swimmers broke 1 minute in the race, led by Green Bay Southwest/West's Kendra Rottier, who won it in 58.69.
Middleton
Madison Memorial used its usual combination of solid depth and oustanding work by senior Jackie Powell to win the sectional title with 349 points. Madison West, which swam very well all day long, edged Middleton for second place, 289-288. Powell took the 200 and 100 free titles, and anchored Memorial's winning 200 free relay. Madison East won seven of the 11 swimming events, with junior ace Aja Van Hout having a hand in four of them. Van Hout won both the 200 IM (2:03.57) and 500 free (4:58.71), swam lead-off on the winning 400 free relay (3:35.09), and breaststroke on East's winning 200 medley relay (1:48.94). East also got individual wins from Ivy Martin in the 50 free, Becca Soderholm in the 100 fly, and Chelsea Soderholm in the 100 back.
Cedarburg
Mequon Homestead topped Sheboygan North 368-309, with Menomonee Falls/Hamilton in third with 295 points. In the best race of the meet, Homestead's Kayla Dlugopolski captured one of her team's two individual wins in a tight duel with Cedarburg's Molly Piepenburg in the 500 free, winning by less than two-tenths of a second in 5:05.07. Sheboygan North's Parker Wolf won four times, with wins in the 50 and 100 frees, an anchor leg on the team's first-place 200 free relay, and the fly leg on the winning medley relay. Nicolet freshman Calli Head announced her arrival on the state diving scene with a win and a score of 461.15, second overall in the state to three-time defending state champ Kylie Rosenstock (473.20).
Kenosha Bradford
The Burlington swim co-op, which last year didn't send anyone to the state meet, changed that around this year with a sectional win, 372.5-271 over Badger/Big Foot/Williams Bay. Freshman Anna Brooks won the 200 IM (2:06.90), took second in the 500 free, and anchored the team's winning 400 free relay (3:38.77). Badger, meanwhile, got wins from both its medley and 200 free relays (they are the defending state champs in the medley), along with wins from Maddie Clark (50/100 frees) and Emily Russart (100 breaststroke -- 1:03.78). Russart's win in the breaststroke sets up the much-anticipated showdown in the event between her and Eau Claire Memorial's Pronschinske. Racine Case senior Paige Welaski had a solid meet with wins in the 200 free (1:55.00) and 500 free (5:03.17).
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