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.