To all readers of the Wisconsin high school swim blog:
After considerable deliberation during the spring and summer, I've decided to move this blog to the website run by the Wisconsin Interscholastic Swim Coaches Assocation website -- http://www.wisca.net/. The reasons for the move are several:
-- The WISCA website and the high school swim blog are the only two websites fully and exclusively devoted to the sport of Wisconsin high school swimming. My sense is that fans and supporters of high school swimming in the state seek out these two websites for information, and it made sense in many regards to merge the blog with the WISCA website.
-- Hosting the blog at the WISCA website will provide ease of access and a "one-stop shopping" website for high school swim information -- whether it be the popular top-30 times of the WISCA website, or the commentary and analysis provided by the blog.
-- I, along with WISCA's administrators, see great potential for making both the blog and the WISCA website better, with expanded and more in-depth coverage -- for instance, a possible "meet results" section, expanding on the meet results posted on the blog during the 2009-10 boys season; live blogging of state swim meets; and perhaps even video-casting of meets.
One significant change will be that blog readers will have to be registered members of the WISCA website. It does involve a cost, but we (myself and WISCA's administrators) feel the cost of a public membership to WISCA ($10 annually) will be well worth it in terms of expanded and better coverage of Wisconsin high school swimming. Registration details for the WISCA website are available here:
http://www.wisca.net/register.php
Finally, I'd like to say that the move to the WISCA website will in no way change the editorial independence of the blog. I would not have agreed to the move if that was not the case. I plan to keep the tone and direction of the blog as has it has been for the past two years -- focusing on the accomplishments of swimmers, supportive of swimming generally, and a positive source of information about high school swimming. We may examine important issues in the high school swim community from time to time, but the blog will first and foremost focus on the accomplishments and efforts of high school sports' hardest-working athletes.
I hope you'll join me at our new home; look for this year's season previews soon. Your enthusiastic support of the blog has made all of this possible, and motivated me to keep trying to improve it. As always, I welcome your ideas and thoughts, and please feel free to send them (supportive, critical, or just plain old informative) to:
wimcdade@tds.net
Thanks for your support of Wisconsin high school swimming, and this blog.
Sincerely,
Phil McDade
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Old state swim meet broadcasts
A blog reader (from Arizona!) emails to ask if anyone out there in the swimming world knows whether television broadcasts of the Wisconsin high school swim meet from 1977-80 are available anywhere. The reader says the state meet (back when it was a one-division format) was broadcast on the old Ch. 18 in Milwaukee (WVTV), but thought it also might have been broadcast statewide.
Any ideas? Maybe the Milwaukee Public Library? I'll do some checking as well, but anyone with any suggestions -- drop me a line or comment and I'll try to run it down.
Any ideas? Maybe the Milwaukee Public Library? I'll do some checking as well, but anyone with any suggestions -- drop me a line or comment and I'll try to run it down.
Friday, February 26, 2010
See you in the fall
Although I may occasionally post something in the next several months, this blog will go on its annual hiatus until the start of the girls' fall season in August.
I just wanted to take a quick minute to thank all of the coaches, parents, swimmers and readers of the blog who have taken an interest in it. In particular, I'd like to thank the growing legions of folks who email with results, tips, anecdotes, comments, and information about high school swimming. All of them may not make it into the blog, but all are truly appreciated, and help inform me and provide a broader perspective on this wonderful sport.
As I say to nearly everyone who talks to me about it, it's fun to do, and your enthusiasm and support help keep it going. See you in the fall!
(And I'd be happy to chat with anyone about it, regardless of what you think of it. I'll be hanging around -- as I suspect lots of blog readers will be -- at both the 12 & U and 13 & over USA state meets in the next several days, starting tonight at the UW Natatorium.
I just wanted to take a quick minute to thank all of the coaches, parents, swimmers and readers of the blog who have taken an interest in it. In particular, I'd like to thank the growing legions of folks who email with results, tips, anecdotes, comments, and information about high school swimming. All of them may not make it into the blog, but all are truly appreciated, and help inform me and provide a broader perspective on this wonderful sport.
As I say to nearly everyone who talks to me about it, it's fun to do, and your enthusiasm and support help keep it going. See you in the fall!
(And I'd be happy to chat with anyone about it, regardless of what you think of it. I'll be hanging around -- as I suspect lots of blog readers will be -- at both the 12 & U and 13 & over USA state meets in the next several days, starting tonight at the UW Natatorium.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Swim meets aired on TV
Thanks to commentator for providing details on the boys state swim meet television schedule. Here it is:
The meets will air on FS Wisconsin:
The Division 1 meet will be aired on March 1 at 7 p.m.
The Division 2 meet will be aired on March 2 at 7 p.m.
Check local cable listings for the channel in your area.
http://www.wiaawi.org/releases/2009-10/bswimrelease.pdf
The meets will air on FS Wisconsin:
The Division 1 meet will be aired on March 1 at 7 p.m.
The Division 2 meet will be aired on March 2 at 7 p.m.
Check local cable listings for the channel in your area.
http://www.wiaawi.org/releases/2009-10/bswimrelease.pdf
Leftovers from the boys season
Here are a few leftovers and tidbits from the just-completed boys high school season:
Seedings
-- Attached are some links to two documents -- the D1 and D2 boys state meets that compare seed-time points (what teams would've scored had the meet gone perfectly to seed times) vs. the actual outcomes. For simplicity sake, I've downloaded just the scoring differential. i.e., how many more or fewer points teams scored at the state meets compared to their seeding. Thus, it provides a quick glance at which teams "seeded up" at the meets, and which ones did not.
Here are links to the final team scores from the WIAA website:
http://www.wiaawi.org/results/swimmingboys/2010/d1stateteamresults.htm
http://www.wiaawi.org/results/swimmingboys/2010/d2stateteamresults.htm
Simply add or subtract the final team results to the numbers provided in the links below to see whether a particular team did compared to their seed times at the meet.
(Why post this? I've found, in talking to and reading about coaches, that they almost all tell their swimmers to try to swim their best times, and let the results take care of themselves. Swimming's great virtue is that it allows a measure of assessing improvement (or not), regardless of the outcome of a particular swim or meet. Thus, I thought it a worthwhile exercise.)
D1:
State 2010 D1 Boys - Difference
D2
State 2010 D2 Boys - Difference
Thoughts:
-- Hard to imagine Greenfield/Greendale didn't set some kind of record in seeding up 99 points. The bulk of those additional points -- 66 -- came from coach Dale Schrank's strategy of spreading out his top three swimmers -- Mike Lucchesi, Matt Jungers, and Jack Lennertz -- on all three relays at sectionals (which helped secure a sectional title for the team at its home pool), and then placing the big three on just two relays at state. Still, arranging that is one thing, and going out and swimming as well as G/G did is another. A terrific meet from those swimmers.
-- For the second straight state meet, both Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights and Wausau East moved up in a big way. Last year, Sauk went up 49.5 points to capture second place at state; this year, the four-man team went up 48 points to finish in fifth place overall. WEast went up 46.5 points last year to finish third overall; this year, the team went up 41 points to grab a top-1o finish.
-- Wonder why McFarland is so good? Yes, they have top-tier talent, and a lot of it, which helps qualify solid relays for state. But once the Spartans arrive at the Natatorium, they always swim really well. McFarland came into the state meet seeded to win by nearly 100 points, and promptly added 30+ points to their seeded total. There's a reason these guys have won four straight D2 state championships. Maybe some of that great state-meet tapering is rubbing off on their rivals -- it's notable (to me at least) that the top-four placing teams in D2 this year (McFarland, Whitefish Bay, Monona Grove, and Shorewood) all swam very well at the state meet, with all of them seeding up by 18 points or more. Even with McFarland's recent domination, it's a good sign that other teams in D2 are rising up to the challenge of swimming well at the most important meet of the season.
State meet combined
The WISCA website has posted its analysis of the outcome of the state swim meet had both divisions entirely been combined. Out of respect for the website (access to the analysis is available to members and coaches), I won't reveal the outcome -- only to say it's both interesting and quite close.
As a takeoff on that exercise, for the past two years I've looked at the outcome of the D1 state meet had just McFarland moved up to the big-school division. Reason? Both of the past two D1 state meets have been closely contested, with historically low winning totals (Madison Memorial had 200.5 last year; Waukesha South/Catholic Memorial won this year with 197 points). Meanwhile, McFarland has run up huge winning margins the past two years. In addition, the WIAA does allow teams in all sports to voluntarily move up a division for competitive reasons (I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon with the Spartans, but I also don't think the WIAA will move to a one-division format in swimming. Thus, the analysis with McFarland's times placed in the D1 meet.)
Last year, McFarland would've won the D1 state meet. See:
http://wiscswim.blogspot.com/2009/02/and-best-boys-swim-team-in-state.html
This year, Waukesha South/Catholic Memorial would've still won -- by 1.5 points. My tally has WS/CM scoring 181 points, and McFarland 179.5. McFarland's terrific relays (86 points to 66 for WS/CM) and solid free sprinters would've been trumped by WS/CM's superior depth in events like the 200/500 frees, 100 fly, and 100 breaststroke.
D2 coaches (and swimmers) -- pat yourselves on the back
D1, of course, has the larger programs, and more depth, among the two divisions of swimming. It's not surprising the big schools have what are acknowledged as some of the best coaches in the state.
But I found this interesting little nugget in reviewing state meet results. Based strictly on seed times, and state meet performances, D2 relays outperformed their D1 counterparts by a wide margin this past weekend.
I looked at the top-16 relays that placed at state in both divisions. Here's what I found:
-- Seven of the D1 medley relays that placed in the top 16 cut time at state; nine added time. In D2, 12 of the 13 medley relays that scored points (there were three DQs) cut time.
-- 11 of the top-16 D1 200 free relays cut time; five added time. In D2, 13 of the 16 200 free relays cut time.
-- 11 of the top-16 D1 400 free relays cut time; five added time. In D2, 14 of the 15 200 free relays (one DQ) cut time.
In other words, 60 percent of the D1 relay teams at state that placed in the top 16 cut time. In D2, 89 percent of the relays cut time. A pretty impressive showing by the smaller schools -- and coaches.
TV broadcasts of state swim meets
A faithful blog reader emails to ask if I know when the boys swim meets will be broadcast on TV. I don't, and a check of schedules on Madison-area cable stations doesn't reveal anything, at least that I can find.
Anyone know? If so, shoot me an email or comment, and I'll post for every broadcast/cable area of the state that I receive. DVDs of both boys state meets can be ordered through this website: http://www.prepfilms.com/
Seedings
-- Attached are some links to two documents -- the D1 and D2 boys state meets that compare seed-time points (what teams would've scored had the meet gone perfectly to seed times) vs. the actual outcomes. For simplicity sake, I've downloaded just the scoring differential. i.e., how many more or fewer points teams scored at the state meets compared to their seeding. Thus, it provides a quick glance at which teams "seeded up" at the meets, and which ones did not.
Here are links to the final team scores from the WIAA website:
http://www.wiaawi.org/results/swimmingboys/2010/d1stateteamresults.htm
http://www.wiaawi.org/results/swimmingboys/2010/d2stateteamresults.htm
Simply add or subtract the final team results to the numbers provided in the links below to see whether a particular team did compared to their seed times at the meet.
(Why post this? I've found, in talking to and reading about coaches, that they almost all tell their swimmers to try to swim their best times, and let the results take care of themselves. Swimming's great virtue is that it allows a measure of assessing improvement (or not), regardless of the outcome of a particular swim or meet. Thus, I thought it a worthwhile exercise.)
D1:
State 2010 D1 Boys - Difference
D2
State 2010 D2 Boys - Difference
Thoughts:
-- Hard to imagine Greenfield/Greendale didn't set some kind of record in seeding up 99 points. The bulk of those additional points -- 66 -- came from coach Dale Schrank's strategy of spreading out his top three swimmers -- Mike Lucchesi, Matt Jungers, and Jack Lennertz -- on all three relays at sectionals (which helped secure a sectional title for the team at its home pool), and then placing the big three on just two relays at state. Still, arranging that is one thing, and going out and swimming as well as G/G did is another. A terrific meet from those swimmers.
-- For the second straight state meet, both Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights and Wausau East moved up in a big way. Last year, Sauk went up 49.5 points to capture second place at state; this year, the four-man team went up 48 points to finish in fifth place overall. WEast went up 46.5 points last year to finish third overall; this year, the team went up 41 points to grab a top-1o finish.
-- Wonder why McFarland is so good? Yes, they have top-tier talent, and a lot of it, which helps qualify solid relays for state. But once the Spartans arrive at the Natatorium, they always swim really well. McFarland came into the state meet seeded to win by nearly 100 points, and promptly added 30+ points to their seeded total. There's a reason these guys have won four straight D2 state championships. Maybe some of that great state-meet tapering is rubbing off on their rivals -- it's notable (to me at least) that the top-four placing teams in D2 this year (McFarland, Whitefish Bay, Monona Grove, and Shorewood) all swam very well at the state meet, with all of them seeding up by 18 points or more. Even with McFarland's recent domination, it's a good sign that other teams in D2 are rising up to the challenge of swimming well at the most important meet of the season.
State meet combined
The WISCA website has posted its analysis of the outcome of the state swim meet had both divisions entirely been combined. Out of respect for the website (access to the analysis is available to members and coaches), I won't reveal the outcome -- only to say it's both interesting and quite close.
As a takeoff on that exercise, for the past two years I've looked at the outcome of the D1 state meet had just McFarland moved up to the big-school division. Reason? Both of the past two D1 state meets have been closely contested, with historically low winning totals (Madison Memorial had 200.5 last year; Waukesha South/Catholic Memorial won this year with 197 points). Meanwhile, McFarland has run up huge winning margins the past two years. In addition, the WIAA does allow teams in all sports to voluntarily move up a division for competitive reasons (I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon with the Spartans, but I also don't think the WIAA will move to a one-division format in swimming. Thus, the analysis with McFarland's times placed in the D1 meet.)
Last year, McFarland would've won the D1 state meet. See:
http://wiscswim.blogspot.com/2009/02/and-best-boys-swim-team-in-state.html
This year, Waukesha South/Catholic Memorial would've still won -- by 1.5 points. My tally has WS/CM scoring 181 points, and McFarland 179.5. McFarland's terrific relays (86 points to 66 for WS/CM) and solid free sprinters would've been trumped by WS/CM's superior depth in events like the 200/500 frees, 100 fly, and 100 breaststroke.
D2 coaches (and swimmers) -- pat yourselves on the back
D1, of course, has the larger programs, and more depth, among the two divisions of swimming. It's not surprising the big schools have what are acknowledged as some of the best coaches in the state.
But I found this interesting little nugget in reviewing state meet results. Based strictly on seed times, and state meet performances, D2 relays outperformed their D1 counterparts by a wide margin this past weekend.
I looked at the top-16 relays that placed at state in both divisions. Here's what I found:
-- Seven of the D1 medley relays that placed in the top 16 cut time at state; nine added time. In D2, 12 of the 13 medley relays that scored points (there were three DQs) cut time.
-- 11 of the top-16 D1 200 free relays cut time; five added time. In D2, 13 of the 16 200 free relays cut time.
-- 11 of the top-16 D1 400 free relays cut time; five added time. In D2, 14 of the 15 200 free relays (one DQ) cut time.
In other words, 60 percent of the D1 relay teams at state that placed in the top 16 cut time. In D2, 89 percent of the relays cut time. A pretty impressive showing by the smaller schools -- and coaches.
TV broadcasts of state swim meets
A faithful blog reader emails to ask if I know when the boys swim meets will be broadcast on TV. I don't, and a check of schedules on Madison-area cable stations doesn't reveal anything, at least that I can find.
Anyone know? If so, shoot me an email or comment, and I'll post for every broadcast/cable area of the state that I receive. DVDs of both boys state meets can be ordered through this website: http://www.prepfilms.com/
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Swimmers of the year
Time for year-end accolades:
D1
Swimmer(s) of the year: Try as I might, I simply can't separate the accomplishments this year of seniors Matt Friede and Tyler Lentz of Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights. In the words of the great philosopher Forrest Gump, they go together like peas and carrots. In their three years at Sauk, the twosome combined to win six individual state titles and were the major forces on four state-title relays (and another that came within .01 seconds of a fifth title). This year, they put together one of the great performances by teammates seen at a state meet -- Friede capturing the 50 and 100 free titles, and setting a state record in the 50 free (20.44, topping the 20.47 set in 2004 by Kyle Bubolz, one of the great Wisconsin high school swimmers of recent vintage), and Lentz swimming the third-fastest 200 IM in state history and then coming back to easily win the 100 back by more than two seconds. Then there were their contributions on Sauk's relays; a first-place medley relay out of lane 1, and then a remarkable near-repeat of their second-heat 400 free relay triumph of last year that fell just one-hundreth of a second shy of a four-gold medal day. Great careers capped by a great final meet. Runner-up: Madison Memorial's Michael Drives ended his terrific career, appropriately enough, on the winner's podium at the state meet following Memorial's thrilling win in the 400 free relay. Drives won three gold medals on the day, adding wins in the 200 and 500 frees with some of the fastest times ever posted by a D1 swimmer. Drives leaves Memorial as one of the state's most decorated swimmers, with four gold individual gold medals, one relay gold medal, and a member of Memorial squads that won two state team titles, and two runner-up trophies, during his career. Throughout it all, he remained humble in victory, gracious to others, and the very role model of a student-athlete -- he is off to West Point this fall. One suspects Drives preferred spending his last moments at a high school swim meet surrounded by teammates, celebrating a win accomplished together, instead of standing there by himself.
Relay of the year: At a state meet with three terrific relay performances, Sauk's first place in the medley wins out. Coming into the meet as the 7th seed, and swimming out of lane 1, the team of Stephen Hanko, Lentz, Paul Ballweg and Friede topped a #1 seeded Hartland Arrowhead medley that had been undefeated all season, and did it by two full seconds. Lentz and Friede, of course, were the relay's heavyweights, but the contributions of Hanko and Ballweg shouldn't be overlooked. Hanko opened with a 25.17 split on the back, only about a half-second behind Arrowhead, which gave Lentz the opening he needed to put his team in the lead after his breaststroke leg. All Ballweg had to do was keep his relay within striking distance of the lead, as Friede was clearly the fastest anchor in the field. Ballweg did better than that, his 23.95 fly leg giving Friede a lead that you knew he wouldn't give up. Sauk's two-second win was its fourth relay win in the past three years; Friede anchored all of them.
Race of the year: It'd be hard to top the craziness of the meet-ending 400 free relay, so we won't try. Three relays, three different heats, separated by three-hundredths of a second. Could it get any better? It may be years before Wisconsin swim fans see anything as entertaining as this year's 400 free relay at the state meet. So here's to: Greenfield/Greendale's team of Mark Liederbach, Mike Lucchesi, Matt Jungers, and Jack Lennertz, 3:09.27 (third place); Sauk's team of Lentz, Ballweg, Hanko, and Friede, 3:09.25 (runner-up); and the winning Memorial relay of Michael Salerno, Patrick Franken, Drives, and Ben Anderson, 3:09.24. Guys, it was quite a show.
Rookie of the year: Alex DeLakis of the Eau Claire Memorial/North co-op became the first freshman in three years to win in individual event at the state meet with his win in the 100 breaststroke, and he did it in thrilling fashion. DeLakis, third after 50 yards, delivered a 30.02 final split to earn a .58-second win over Wisconsin Rapids' Ryan Korslin. DeLakis added a runner-up finish in the 200 IM for an Eau Claire squad that finished 7th at state. Runner-up: Waukesha South/Catholic Memorial freshman Alex Swain played a central role in the Blackshirts' run to the state title. He scored six points in the 50 and 100 frees and -- just as importantly -- was a key cog in WS/CM qualifying all three relays to the state meet with final-heat seed times. Swimming the lead-off leg on both free relays, Swain helped the 200 relay finish 6th, and the 400 relay finish 7th at state.
D2
Swimmer of the year: On a team with a ton of very good swimmers, McFarland sophomore Ryan O'Donnell stood out this year, and capped a great season with a state meet for the ages. Two individual wins (200 IM, 100 fly, with the fly time of 49.74 breaking a 15-year-old state record), two relay wins, both in record time. O'Donnell comes from great lineage -- brothers Derrick and Brandon also won individual state titles -- but Ryan may turn out to be the best of the three. A truly dominating performance that surprised even his father. "I wasn't expecting this," said his father, Larry, amid the McFarland fans celebrating the team's fourth straight state title. Runner-up: Four years ago, Madison Edgewood's Chase Stephens was a skinny, tall freshman who had trouble executing a basic flip turn -- and couldn't break 56 seconds in the 100 free at the sectional meet. He ended his high school career with three gold medals around his neck -- wins in the 200 and 100 frees, and a meet-fastest 45.85 anchor leg that clinched Edgewood's win in the 400 free relay. Any swimmer who achieves a state title has worked hard, but few have had such a meteoric rise as Stephens. He's off to Northwestern this fall to continue his swim career.
Relay of the year: McFarland came into the D2 state meet having won the medley relay three years in a row. Could they make it four? No problem. Sparked by O'Donnell's dominating lead-off leg in the backstroke, McFarland breezed to a 4+ second win in the relay, and broke the previous state record by nearly eight-tenths of a second. Senior Peter Grenzow achieved (we think) state history by anchoring the same relay to victory four years in a row. How fast was O'Donnell's opening 23.46 back leg? Faster -- by more than a second -- than anyone swam in the D1 or D2 meets. It would've finished T-13th in the 50 free at the D2 state meet. (And don't look, but the first three medley relay swimmers for McFarland -- O'Donnell, Jacob Mandli on breaststroke, and Colin Morgan on fly -- are all sophomores.)
Race of the year: In a race that lived up to its pre-meet billing, the 100 fly proved to be the fastest and best race of the state meet, with both O'Donnell (49.74) and Brookfield Academy's Jack Donovan (49.87) going under the previous state record of 49.99 held by Hudson's John Cahoy from 1995. Both O'Donnell and third-place finisher Drew teDuits of Edgewood switched into the event this year, and all three swimmers came into the final turn with a chance to win. But O'Donnell's tremendous push off the wall gave him the slighest of leads when he finally emerged above water, and he held off the on-coming Donovan. The race was so fast that Shorewood's Stephen Meyer, who cut more than four seconds off his seed time and finished 4th with a time of 51.01, would've finished second in the D1 state meet.
Rookie of the year: Grafton's Al Nenning, another competitor from a great swim family, showed he'll be a force in D2 swimming in future years with podium finishes in both the 200 IM (6th) and 100 back (5th). He was the only D2 freshman to qualify in two individual events this year. Runners-up: Two tall freshman -- Fort Atkinson's Lee Hollman, and Monona Grove's Mitchell Paull -- will be seeing a lot of each other in the coming years. The Badger Conference South swimmers both qualified for the 100 back in their freshman years, and both earned spots on state-qualifying relays for their teams.
D1
Swimmer(s) of the year: Try as I might, I simply can't separate the accomplishments this year of seniors Matt Friede and Tyler Lentz of Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights. In the words of the great philosopher Forrest Gump, they go together like peas and carrots. In their three years at Sauk, the twosome combined to win six individual state titles and were the major forces on four state-title relays (and another that came within .01 seconds of a fifth title). This year, they put together one of the great performances by teammates seen at a state meet -- Friede capturing the 50 and 100 free titles, and setting a state record in the 50 free (20.44, topping the 20.47 set in 2004 by Kyle Bubolz, one of the great Wisconsin high school swimmers of recent vintage), and Lentz swimming the third-fastest 200 IM in state history and then coming back to easily win the 100 back by more than two seconds. Then there were their contributions on Sauk's relays; a first-place medley relay out of lane 1, and then a remarkable near-repeat of their second-heat 400 free relay triumph of last year that fell just one-hundreth of a second shy of a four-gold medal day. Great careers capped by a great final meet. Runner-up: Madison Memorial's Michael Drives ended his terrific career, appropriately enough, on the winner's podium at the state meet following Memorial's thrilling win in the 400 free relay. Drives won three gold medals on the day, adding wins in the 200 and 500 frees with some of the fastest times ever posted by a D1 swimmer. Drives leaves Memorial as one of the state's most decorated swimmers, with four gold individual gold medals, one relay gold medal, and a member of Memorial squads that won two state team titles, and two runner-up trophies, during his career. Throughout it all, he remained humble in victory, gracious to others, and the very role model of a student-athlete -- he is off to West Point this fall. One suspects Drives preferred spending his last moments at a high school swim meet surrounded by teammates, celebrating a win accomplished together, instead of standing there by himself.
Relay of the year: At a state meet with three terrific relay performances, Sauk's first place in the medley wins out. Coming into the meet as the 7th seed, and swimming out of lane 1, the team of Stephen Hanko, Lentz, Paul Ballweg and Friede topped a #1 seeded Hartland Arrowhead medley that had been undefeated all season, and did it by two full seconds. Lentz and Friede, of course, were the relay's heavyweights, but the contributions of Hanko and Ballweg shouldn't be overlooked. Hanko opened with a 25.17 split on the back, only about a half-second behind Arrowhead, which gave Lentz the opening he needed to put his team in the lead after his breaststroke leg. All Ballweg had to do was keep his relay within striking distance of the lead, as Friede was clearly the fastest anchor in the field. Ballweg did better than that, his 23.95 fly leg giving Friede a lead that you knew he wouldn't give up. Sauk's two-second win was its fourth relay win in the past three years; Friede anchored all of them.
Race of the year: It'd be hard to top the craziness of the meet-ending 400 free relay, so we won't try. Three relays, three different heats, separated by three-hundredths of a second. Could it get any better? It may be years before Wisconsin swim fans see anything as entertaining as this year's 400 free relay at the state meet. So here's to: Greenfield/Greendale's team of Mark Liederbach, Mike Lucchesi, Matt Jungers, and Jack Lennertz, 3:09.27 (third place); Sauk's team of Lentz, Ballweg, Hanko, and Friede, 3:09.25 (runner-up); and the winning Memorial relay of Michael Salerno, Patrick Franken, Drives, and Ben Anderson, 3:09.24. Guys, it was quite a show.
Rookie of the year: Alex DeLakis of the Eau Claire Memorial/North co-op became the first freshman in three years to win in individual event at the state meet with his win in the 100 breaststroke, and he did it in thrilling fashion. DeLakis, third after 50 yards, delivered a 30.02 final split to earn a .58-second win over Wisconsin Rapids' Ryan Korslin. DeLakis added a runner-up finish in the 200 IM for an Eau Claire squad that finished 7th at state. Runner-up: Waukesha South/Catholic Memorial freshman Alex Swain played a central role in the Blackshirts' run to the state title. He scored six points in the 50 and 100 frees and -- just as importantly -- was a key cog in WS/CM qualifying all three relays to the state meet with final-heat seed times. Swimming the lead-off leg on both free relays, Swain helped the 200 relay finish 6th, and the 400 relay finish 7th at state.
D2
Swimmer of the year: On a team with a ton of very good swimmers, McFarland sophomore Ryan O'Donnell stood out this year, and capped a great season with a state meet for the ages. Two individual wins (200 IM, 100 fly, with the fly time of 49.74 breaking a 15-year-old state record), two relay wins, both in record time. O'Donnell comes from great lineage -- brothers Derrick and Brandon also won individual state titles -- but Ryan may turn out to be the best of the three. A truly dominating performance that surprised even his father. "I wasn't expecting this," said his father, Larry, amid the McFarland fans celebrating the team's fourth straight state title. Runner-up: Four years ago, Madison Edgewood's Chase Stephens was a skinny, tall freshman who had trouble executing a basic flip turn -- and couldn't break 56 seconds in the 100 free at the sectional meet. He ended his high school career with three gold medals around his neck -- wins in the 200 and 100 frees, and a meet-fastest 45.85 anchor leg that clinched Edgewood's win in the 400 free relay. Any swimmer who achieves a state title has worked hard, but few have had such a meteoric rise as Stephens. He's off to Northwestern this fall to continue his swim career.
Relay of the year: McFarland came into the D2 state meet having won the medley relay three years in a row. Could they make it four? No problem. Sparked by O'Donnell's dominating lead-off leg in the backstroke, McFarland breezed to a 4+ second win in the relay, and broke the previous state record by nearly eight-tenths of a second. Senior Peter Grenzow achieved (we think) state history by anchoring the same relay to victory four years in a row. How fast was O'Donnell's opening 23.46 back leg? Faster -- by more than a second -- than anyone swam in the D1 or D2 meets. It would've finished T-13th in the 50 free at the D2 state meet. (And don't look, but the first three medley relay swimmers for McFarland -- O'Donnell, Jacob Mandli on breaststroke, and Colin Morgan on fly -- are all sophomores.)
Race of the year: In a race that lived up to its pre-meet billing, the 100 fly proved to be the fastest and best race of the state meet, with both O'Donnell (49.74) and Brookfield Academy's Jack Donovan (49.87) going under the previous state record of 49.99 held by Hudson's John Cahoy from 1995. Both O'Donnell and third-place finisher Drew teDuits of Edgewood switched into the event this year, and all three swimmers came into the final turn with a chance to win. But O'Donnell's tremendous push off the wall gave him the slighest of leads when he finally emerged above water, and he held off the on-coming Donovan. The race was so fast that Shorewood's Stephen Meyer, who cut more than four seconds off his seed time and finished 4th with a time of 51.01, would've finished second in the D1 state meet.
Rookie of the year: Grafton's Al Nenning, another competitor from a great swim family, showed he'll be a force in D2 swimming in future years with podium finishes in both the 200 IM (6th) and 100 back (5th). He was the only D2 freshman to qualify in two individual events this year. Runners-up: Two tall freshman -- Fort Atkinson's Lee Hollman, and Monona Grove's Mitchell Paull -- will be seeing a lot of each other in the coming years. The Badger Conference South swimmers both qualified for the 100 back in their freshman years, and both earned spots on state-qualifying relays for their teams.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Tragedy in Oshkosh; updated with memorial information
News of the worst kind comes from Oskhosh, where Natalie Bolin -- a star swimmer for the Oshkosh West girls swim team -- died from injuries suffered in a car accident Saturday night. Bolin and three others, including Leah Bolin, fellow Oshkosh West swimmer Jennifer Rothe, and Oshkosh North/Lourdes swimmer Rachel Revolinski, were apparently on their way back home after watching the Div. 1 boys state swim meet Saturday.
From the Oshkosh Northwestern:
http://www.thenorthwestern.com/article/20100221/OSH0101/100221022/1987/Update-Victim-identified-in-Saturday-night-crash-on-U.S.-Highway-41-as-Oshkosh-teen-Natalie-K.-Bolin
Word spread quickly through the Wisconsin swim community Sunday about the tragic accident. Bolin, a junior, had been a three-time state qualifier for her Oshkosh West team, following in the footsteps of her older sisters Ashley and Stephanie. All four of the girls in the accident were members of the Oshkosh YMCA Dolphins swim team, which posted this message on its home page:
http://www.oshyswimteam.org/Home.jsp?team=wioshy
The Dolphins website also has a link to information about a memorial that has been established in Natalie's name.
Also, this was recently posted on the Oshkosh Northwestern website regarding a Facebook page dedicated to Natlie:
http://www.thenorthwestern.com/section/blogs06?plckController=Blog&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&U=119a90bf-b481-4a01-804a-1b845f64e2ee&plckPostId=Blog%3a119a90bf-b481-4a01-804a-1b845f64e2eePost%3a25b8cc36-673e-4588-9ce6-79c10e6dc3e1&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest
Our deepest sympathies are extended to the Bolin family and the Oshkosh swim community.
From the Oshkosh Northwestern:
http://www.thenorthwestern.com/article/20100221/OSH0101/100221022/1987/Update-Victim-identified-in-Saturday-night-crash-on-U.S.-Highway-41-as-Oshkosh-teen-Natalie-K.-Bolin
Word spread quickly through the Wisconsin swim community Sunday about the tragic accident. Bolin, a junior, had been a three-time state qualifier for her Oshkosh West team, following in the footsteps of her older sisters Ashley and Stephanie. All four of the girls in the accident were members of the Oshkosh YMCA Dolphins swim team, which posted this message on its home page:
http://www.oshyswimteam.org/Home.jsp?team=wioshy
The Dolphins website also has a link to information about a memorial that has been established in Natalie's name.
Also, this was recently posted on the Oshkosh Northwestern website regarding a Facebook page dedicated to Natlie:
http://www.thenorthwestern.com/section/blogs06?plckController=Blog&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&U=119a90bf-b481-4a01-804a-1b845f64e2ee&plckPostId=Blog%3a119a90bf-b481-4a01-804a-1b845f64e2eePost%3a25b8cc36-673e-4588-9ce6-79c10e6dc3e1&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest
Our deepest sympathies are extended to the Bolin family and the Oshkosh swim community.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Another wild night at the D1 state meet
Another D1 state meet, another meet full of surprises. The state's largest schools took to the Natatorium and produced another night of podium finishes out of the first and second heats, a record swim in the 50 free, and maybe the strangest and wildest outcomes in both the 200 and 400 free relays seen at state.
Amid all the action, Waukesha South/Catholic Memorial emerged with the first state title in program history. The Blackshirts scored 197 points -- the lowest winning total in D1 since the WIAA adopted 16-place scoring in 1982 -- to top defending state champs Madison Memorial by 14 points. Led by Greenfield/Greendale's 173 points, six others teams scored more than 100 points in the meet, and with the low winning score it proved that D1's top talent in Wisconsin is dispersed throughout all corners of the state.
UPDATE: Coverage here from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:
http://www.jsonline.com/sports/preps/84873477.html
...and the Wisconsin State Journal:
http://host.madison.com/sports/high-school/swimming/article_15a3dcec-1b45-11df-8641-001cc4c002e0.html
WS/CM isn't a terribly deep team, swam well but not great at the meet, and didn't win a single race all night; it's the rare state champ that has its highest-finishing relay at state barely make the podium (its 200 free relay finished 6th, ahead of Madison East and Chippewa Falls/McDonnell Central by a mere .05 seconds). Instead, the Blackshirts relied on a handful of reliable and versatile swimmers who kept the team in the running for the first-place trophy all meet long. Ryan Finke (200 free), Eric Oberst (fly), Collin Neitzel (breaststroke), and the Max Evans-Nolan/Noah Potratz combo(500 free) produced top-six podium finishes for WS/CM, and the 22 points that Neitzel and Oberst produced in the breaststroke gave the team the margin it needed heading into the meet-ending 400 free relay. Seeded third in the relay, WS/CM needed a 10th-place finish to clinch the win, and its 7th-place finish did the job. So there must be something about the Natatorium that suits the Blackshirts; they stamped themselves as contendor for the D1 state title at the Madison West Invite in early January, when they topped Memorial by 5-1/2 points to win.
The Blackshirts' workmanlike victory stood in stark contract to the fireworks produced by Greenfield/Greendale and Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights, as the two co-ops lit up the scoreboad with first-place and podium finishes throughout the meet. G/G's Mike Lucchesi -- one-third of a powerful trio for the team that swam great all day -- got things off to great start for his team with a blistering 1:41.71 200 free out of the first heat. No one came close to it in the second heat, and only Memorial's Michael Drives and his 1:39.66 topped it in the third heat. Jack Lennertz came out of lane 6 in the second heat to claim third place overall in the 50 free, then led teammate Matt Jungers to a 1-2 finish in the fly. Jungers added a third in the 200 IM, while Lucchesi moved up three seed spots to claim fourth in the 100 free.
Sauk, meanwhile, showed it meant business in the first swimming event of the night. Swimming out of lane 1 in the final heat of the 200 medley relay, backstroker Stephen Hanko got his team off to a solid start and then let seniors Tyler Lentz and Matt Friede take over. Lentz split a blistering 26.39 on his breaststroke leg -- faster than the field by more than half-a-second -- and flier Paul Ballweg handed a slight lead off to Friede, one of the great relay swimmers in recent state history. Friede closed out the impressive two-second win (1:35.53) with a 20.02 free split. Lentz turned right around and defended his state title in the 200 IM with a 4+ second win (1:50.29) that ranks third all time in state history, behind only former Arrowhead star Ben Anderson. Lentz added a dominating, 2+ second win the 100 back. Friede, meanwhile, took home gold medals in the 100 and 50 frees, the latter with a record 20.44 that topped Kyle Bubolz' previous record of 20.47. Friede's 45.01 in the 100 is third-fastest in state history, behind only Bubolz and 2008 Olympic star Garrett Weber-Gale.
The meet's craziest moments came in the two free relays. In the 200 free relay, the on-fire G/G trio of Lucchesi, Jungers and Lennertz, joined by senior Mark Liederbach, swam out of lane 7 in the second heat and posted a 1:26.05, nearly two seconds faster than any seed time for the final-heat relays. The final heat turned into a tense, two-team battle between Memorial and Verona/Mount Horeb, and as the anchor swimmers entered the water, Verona's Derek Toomey found himself more than a second behind Memorial's Ben Anderson, who had earlier finished 5th in the 50 free. Toomey proceeded to uncork a 19.78 anchor leg, the fastest by a Wisconsin swimmer at the state meet in two years. When he out-touched Anderson at the end, Toomey let out a wild yelp, thinking he'd finally won gold after two excrutiatingly close seconds to Friede in the 50 and 100 frees. But then another look at the scoreboard showed the final time -- 1:26.26, or second to the G/G relay.
It was a hard pill to swallow for a swimmer who swam great all night -- Toomey's 50 (20.57) and 100 (45.19) free times are both among the six fastest times in state history. He capped his night with a brilliant 44.66 anchor leg on the 400 free relay that gave his Verona team, which swam really well all day, a fourth-place podium finish. But his performance showed that swimming is indeed a contest of inches and split-seconds -- Toomey's three second-place finishes were by a combined .53 seconds.
As for the 400 free relay, it may be a while before a state meet sees another race unfold like the one Saturday afternoon. G/G, swimming the same foursome that won the 200 free relay, took off in the first heat and posted a 3:09.27, well under any of the seed times posted by the remaining 16 relays. But looming in the second heat was Sauk, which won this relay a year ago swimming out of the second heat. With Friede putting in the fastest split of the night -- 44.63 -- Sauk touched out in 3:09.25, topping G/G by just .02 seconds and drawing a large roar from the crowd and astonishment from many of the coaches gathered on the deck of the Nat. Then it was up to Memorial to put a finishing touch on the event to beat all others -- after Drives gave his team the lead with powerful third leg, Anderson motored through his anchor leg. With the clock ticking down, the sophomore touched out in 3:09.24. "Did we win? Did we win?" the Spartan relay swimmers asked each other. Yes, you did -- by the thinnest margin in swimming.
Other meet highlights:
-- Eau Claire Memorial/North freshman Alex DeLakis became the first freshman in three years to win an individual state title with a 57.98 win in the 100 breaststroke. DeLakis trailed Wisconsin Rapids senior Ryan Korslin by nearly a second at the turn for the second half of the race, before closing with a very quick 30.02 to close out the win.
-- Drives took the 500 free by more than seven seconds in 4:31.58 after his earlier win in the 200 free. He now owns two of the three fastest times in state history in both events.
-- Mequon Homestead junior Erik Larsen upset defending state champ Nathan Cox of Menomonee Falls/Germantown/Hamilton in diving, outscoring Cox 406.05-379.65.
Amid all the action, Waukesha South/Catholic Memorial emerged with the first state title in program history. The Blackshirts scored 197 points -- the lowest winning total in D1 since the WIAA adopted 16-place scoring in 1982 -- to top defending state champs Madison Memorial by 14 points. Led by Greenfield/Greendale's 173 points, six others teams scored more than 100 points in the meet, and with the low winning score it proved that D1's top talent in Wisconsin is dispersed throughout all corners of the state.
UPDATE: Coverage here from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:
http://www.jsonline.com/sports/preps/84873477.html
...and the Wisconsin State Journal:
http://host.madison.com/sports/high-school/swimming/article_15a3dcec-1b45-11df-8641-001cc4c002e0.html
WS/CM isn't a terribly deep team, swam well but not great at the meet, and didn't win a single race all night; it's the rare state champ that has its highest-finishing relay at state barely make the podium (its 200 free relay finished 6th, ahead of Madison East and Chippewa Falls/McDonnell Central by a mere .05 seconds). Instead, the Blackshirts relied on a handful of reliable and versatile swimmers who kept the team in the running for the first-place trophy all meet long. Ryan Finke (200 free), Eric Oberst (fly), Collin Neitzel (breaststroke), and the Max Evans-Nolan/Noah Potratz combo(500 free) produced top-six podium finishes for WS/CM, and the 22 points that Neitzel and Oberst produced in the breaststroke gave the team the margin it needed heading into the meet-ending 400 free relay. Seeded third in the relay, WS/CM needed a 10th-place finish to clinch the win, and its 7th-place finish did the job. So there must be something about the Natatorium that suits the Blackshirts; they stamped themselves as contendor for the D1 state title at the Madison West Invite in early January, when they topped Memorial by 5-1/2 points to win.
The Blackshirts' workmanlike victory stood in stark contract to the fireworks produced by Greenfield/Greendale and Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights, as the two co-ops lit up the scoreboad with first-place and podium finishes throughout the meet. G/G's Mike Lucchesi -- one-third of a powerful trio for the team that swam great all day -- got things off to great start for his team with a blistering 1:41.71 200 free out of the first heat. No one came close to it in the second heat, and only Memorial's Michael Drives and his 1:39.66 topped it in the third heat. Jack Lennertz came out of lane 6 in the second heat to claim third place overall in the 50 free, then led teammate Matt Jungers to a 1-2 finish in the fly. Jungers added a third in the 200 IM, while Lucchesi moved up three seed spots to claim fourth in the 100 free.
Sauk, meanwhile, showed it meant business in the first swimming event of the night. Swimming out of lane 1 in the final heat of the 200 medley relay, backstroker Stephen Hanko got his team off to a solid start and then let seniors Tyler Lentz and Matt Friede take over. Lentz split a blistering 26.39 on his breaststroke leg -- faster than the field by more than half-a-second -- and flier Paul Ballweg handed a slight lead off to Friede, one of the great relay swimmers in recent state history. Friede closed out the impressive two-second win (1:35.53) with a 20.02 free split. Lentz turned right around and defended his state title in the 200 IM with a 4+ second win (1:50.29) that ranks third all time in state history, behind only former Arrowhead star Ben Anderson. Lentz added a dominating, 2+ second win the 100 back. Friede, meanwhile, took home gold medals in the 100 and 50 frees, the latter with a record 20.44 that topped Kyle Bubolz' previous record of 20.47. Friede's 45.01 in the 100 is third-fastest in state history, behind only Bubolz and 2008 Olympic star Garrett Weber-Gale.
The meet's craziest moments came in the two free relays. In the 200 free relay, the on-fire G/G trio of Lucchesi, Jungers and Lennertz, joined by senior Mark Liederbach, swam out of lane 7 in the second heat and posted a 1:26.05, nearly two seconds faster than any seed time for the final-heat relays. The final heat turned into a tense, two-team battle between Memorial and Verona/Mount Horeb, and as the anchor swimmers entered the water, Verona's Derek Toomey found himself more than a second behind Memorial's Ben Anderson, who had earlier finished 5th in the 50 free. Toomey proceeded to uncork a 19.78 anchor leg, the fastest by a Wisconsin swimmer at the state meet in two years. When he out-touched Anderson at the end, Toomey let out a wild yelp, thinking he'd finally won gold after two excrutiatingly close seconds to Friede in the 50 and 100 frees. But then another look at the scoreboard showed the final time -- 1:26.26, or second to the G/G relay.
It was a hard pill to swallow for a swimmer who swam great all night -- Toomey's 50 (20.57) and 100 (45.19) free times are both among the six fastest times in state history. He capped his night with a brilliant 44.66 anchor leg on the 400 free relay that gave his Verona team, which swam really well all day, a fourth-place podium finish. But his performance showed that swimming is indeed a contest of inches and split-seconds -- Toomey's three second-place finishes were by a combined .53 seconds.
As for the 400 free relay, it may be a while before a state meet sees another race unfold like the one Saturday afternoon. G/G, swimming the same foursome that won the 200 free relay, took off in the first heat and posted a 3:09.27, well under any of the seed times posted by the remaining 16 relays. But looming in the second heat was Sauk, which won this relay a year ago swimming out of the second heat. With Friede putting in the fastest split of the night -- 44.63 -- Sauk touched out in 3:09.25, topping G/G by just .02 seconds and drawing a large roar from the crowd and astonishment from many of the coaches gathered on the deck of the Nat. Then it was up to Memorial to put a finishing touch on the event to beat all others -- after Drives gave his team the lead with powerful third leg, Anderson motored through his anchor leg. With the clock ticking down, the sophomore touched out in 3:09.24. "Did we win? Did we win?" the Spartan relay swimmers asked each other. Yes, you did -- by the thinnest margin in swimming.
Other meet highlights:
-- Eau Claire Memorial/North freshman Alex DeLakis became the first freshman in three years to win an individual state title with a 57.98 win in the 100 breaststroke. DeLakis trailed Wisconsin Rapids senior Ryan Korslin by nearly a second at the turn for the second half of the race, before closing with a very quick 30.02 to close out the win.
-- Drives took the 500 free by more than seven seconds in 4:31.58 after his earlier win in the 200 free. He now owns two of the three fastest times in state history in both events.
-- Mequon Homestead junior Erik Larsen upset defending state champ Nathan Cox of Menomonee Falls/Germantown/Hamilton in diving, outscoring Cox 406.05-379.65.
Madison.com to live blog the D1 state meet
For those unable to squeeze into the UW Natatorium today for the D1 swim and dive meet today, madison.com (the website of the Wisconsin State Journal) plans to live-blog the meet. Go here to find a link:
http://host.madison.com/sports/
http://host.madison.com/sports/
Spartans march on
Led by three record-breaking performances, McFarland rolled to its fourth straight Div. 2 state title Friday night at a very loud and boisterous UW Natatorium.
The Spartans rang up 340.5 points -- more than the 332 by last year's dominant squad -- to easily top Whitefish Bay (238). The Blue Dukes swam well all night long, and their runner-up trophy was well-deserved (and the team's fifth in the past seven years). But McFarland right now just has too much depth and firepower for the rest of the D2 field.
Monona Grove took third (187) in a spirited battle with Shorewood (187) and Madison Edgewood (176) for third.
Coverage, with lots of videos from winning Spartans, from the Wisconsin State Journal:
http://host.madison.com/sports/high-school/swimming/article_f6a17ce6-1de2-11df-9f97-001cc4c03286.html
Coverage here from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:
http://www.jsonline.com/sports/preps/84830737.html
Highlights:
-- McFarland got its first record of the night in the first swimming event, winning the 200 medley relay by a whopping 4+ seconds with a time of 1:36.36, topping Sturgeon Bay/Southern Door's record of 1:37.15 from 2005. Sophomore Ryan O'Donnell outsplit the field by more than a second with his 23.46 opening back leg, and fellow sophomores Jake Mandli (breaststroke), Collin Morgan (fly) and senior Peter Grenzow (free) had open water the rest of the race to chase the record. Grenzow earned a place in state history by anchoring the medley to four straight state titles.
-- O'Donnell can now lay claim to being D2's best swimmer after Friday night's performance. Besides leading off the medley, he took the 200 IM in 1:53.44 (6th-best all time in D2), beating Milton's Jeff Maxwell by 3+ seconds. He then took the 100 fly in a race that lived up to its billing as the best of the night. It was a race that featured O'Donnell matched up against Brookfield Academy's Jack Donovan and Edgewood's Drew teDuits. As the three swimmers hit the wall for the final turn, it looked to be anyone's race. But O'Donnell's tremendous push off the wall and underwater pull took him nearly halfway down the lane, and he emerged from under the water with the lead. He touched out in 49.74, just edging Donovan's 49.87 as both swimmers celebrated breaking the previous record of 49.99 (John Cahoy of Hudson) that had stood since 1995. teDuits finished third in 50.27, still the 6th fastest time ever posted in the D2 state meet. To cap his record-breaking night, O'Donnell led off the Spartans 200 free relay with a 50 free split of 21.24, which would've easily won the D2 50 free title (Berlin/Green Lake's Greg Hameister won it in 21.89). Morgan and seniors Brian Heiser and Grenzow took off with the lead and closed out in 1:26.42, just edging the Sturgeon Bay/Southern Door record time of 1:26.63.
-- Edgewood senior Chase Stephens capped his fine career with wins in the 200 and 100 frees. He jumped off to an early lead in the 200 free, and held off defending state champ Heiser to win in 1:41.44, 6th best all time. The Northwestern-bound Stephens followed the same strategy in the 100 free, getting an early lead and closing out Delavan-Darien's Alex Riegert and Hameister by more than a second with a winning time of 46.74. Teammate teDuits defended his title in the 100 back, but drew a combined cheer and groan from the crowd when he touched out in 49.63, just two-hundreths of a second off the D2 state record of 49.61 held by Verona Olympia Neil Walker from 1994. teDuits' backstroke time is second-fastest in state history, D1 or D2. teDuits and Stephens then combined with fellow Crusaders Mark Vukich and Eric Madsen to close out the meet by winning the 400 free relay in 3:11.71, topping McFarland (3:14.44). It's the first relay in two years the Spartans have lost at state. The 400 free relay win took some of the edge off a disappointing start on the night for the Crusaders, as their 5th-seeded medley relay DQ'd.
-- As expected, Milton's Jeff Maxwell dominated the field in the 500 free, winning by more than 12 seconds with a time of 4:38.48. It was Maxwell's second state title in the event; he finished fourth or better in the 500 all four years of his high school career. He's now off to UW-Milwaukee to continue swimming and study for a career in pharmaceuticals, and Wisconsin high school swimming will miss him -- one of the real class acts in the sport.
-- Delevan-Darien's Riegert defended his state title in the 100 breaststroke, his 58.15 easily topping Plymouth's Jesse Gambrell (59.72). Nervous father Chuck Riegert, with his trademark blue-and-yellow moustache, cheered on his son from high atop the Natatorium stands: "He just didn't want to lose," he said afterwards.
-- MG senior Trevor Sisson capped a terrific career with a win in diving, his 420.05 points topping Cudahy's Ryan Citro by 27.10 points. Sisson uncorked a triple on his second dive that drew plenty of 7s from the dive judges to move out to an early lead and was the dominant diver all meet long. Sisson had placed 9th, 4th, and 3rd in previous state meets, and ended his career atop the podium.
-- Finally (and apologies are in order, for I can't really be objective about this...), has any team come from further back in fewer years than Monona Grove? In 2007, the Silver Eagles finished 10th at the Baraboo sectional meet with 76 points; only five teams scored fewer points in sectional competition in the entire state that year than MG. Three years later, the team grabbed 3rd place at last night's state meet. Coaches Jason Roth and Joel Coyne (himself a former MG swim star) have resurrected a program that made a bunch of parents (myself among them) and supporters very proud last night. So (if you'll indulge me...) here's to MG state swimmers and divers Trevor and Patrick Sisson, Austin Anderson, Mitchell Paull, Alex Heyworth, Jack Allen, Ben Weinhaus, Aaron Pomeroy, and Jake McDade (yep, he's mine), along with alternates Tyler Roehr and Sam Curcio. In the words of the team's motto: "Yeah buddy!"
The Spartans rang up 340.5 points -- more than the 332 by last year's dominant squad -- to easily top Whitefish Bay (238). The Blue Dukes swam well all night long, and their runner-up trophy was well-deserved (and the team's fifth in the past seven years). But McFarland right now just has too much depth and firepower for the rest of the D2 field.
Monona Grove took third (187) in a spirited battle with Shorewood (187) and Madison Edgewood (176) for third.
Coverage, with lots of videos from winning Spartans, from the Wisconsin State Journal:
http://host.madison.com/sports/high-school/swimming/article_f6a17ce6-1de2-11df-9f97-001cc4c03286.html
Coverage here from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:
http://www.jsonline.com/sports/preps/84830737.html
Highlights:
-- McFarland got its first record of the night in the first swimming event, winning the 200 medley relay by a whopping 4+ seconds with a time of 1:36.36, topping Sturgeon Bay/Southern Door's record of 1:37.15 from 2005. Sophomore Ryan O'Donnell outsplit the field by more than a second with his 23.46 opening back leg, and fellow sophomores Jake Mandli (breaststroke), Collin Morgan (fly) and senior Peter Grenzow (free) had open water the rest of the race to chase the record. Grenzow earned a place in state history by anchoring the medley to four straight state titles.
-- O'Donnell can now lay claim to being D2's best swimmer after Friday night's performance. Besides leading off the medley, he took the 200 IM in 1:53.44 (6th-best all time in D2), beating Milton's Jeff Maxwell by 3+ seconds. He then took the 100 fly in a race that lived up to its billing as the best of the night. It was a race that featured O'Donnell matched up against Brookfield Academy's Jack Donovan and Edgewood's Drew teDuits. As the three swimmers hit the wall for the final turn, it looked to be anyone's race. But O'Donnell's tremendous push off the wall and underwater pull took him nearly halfway down the lane, and he emerged from under the water with the lead. He touched out in 49.74, just edging Donovan's 49.87 as both swimmers celebrated breaking the previous record of 49.99 (John Cahoy of Hudson) that had stood since 1995. teDuits finished third in 50.27, still the 6th fastest time ever posted in the D2 state meet. To cap his record-breaking night, O'Donnell led off the Spartans 200 free relay with a 50 free split of 21.24, which would've easily won the D2 50 free title (Berlin/Green Lake's Greg Hameister won it in 21.89). Morgan and seniors Brian Heiser and Grenzow took off with the lead and closed out in 1:26.42, just edging the Sturgeon Bay/Southern Door record time of 1:26.63.
-- Edgewood senior Chase Stephens capped his fine career with wins in the 200 and 100 frees. He jumped off to an early lead in the 200 free, and held off defending state champ Heiser to win in 1:41.44, 6th best all time. The Northwestern-bound Stephens followed the same strategy in the 100 free, getting an early lead and closing out Delavan-Darien's Alex Riegert and Hameister by more than a second with a winning time of 46.74. Teammate teDuits defended his title in the 100 back, but drew a combined cheer and groan from the crowd when he touched out in 49.63, just two-hundreths of a second off the D2 state record of 49.61 held by Verona Olympia Neil Walker from 1994. teDuits' backstroke time is second-fastest in state history, D1 or D2. teDuits and Stephens then combined with fellow Crusaders Mark Vukich and Eric Madsen to close out the meet by winning the 400 free relay in 3:11.71, topping McFarland (3:14.44). It's the first relay in two years the Spartans have lost at state. The 400 free relay win took some of the edge off a disappointing start on the night for the Crusaders, as their 5th-seeded medley relay DQ'd.
-- As expected, Milton's Jeff Maxwell dominated the field in the 500 free, winning by more than 12 seconds with a time of 4:38.48. It was Maxwell's second state title in the event; he finished fourth or better in the 500 all four years of his high school career. He's now off to UW-Milwaukee to continue swimming and study for a career in pharmaceuticals, and Wisconsin high school swimming will miss him -- one of the real class acts in the sport.
-- Delevan-Darien's Riegert defended his state title in the 100 breaststroke, his 58.15 easily topping Plymouth's Jesse Gambrell (59.72). Nervous father Chuck Riegert, with his trademark blue-and-yellow moustache, cheered on his son from high atop the Natatorium stands: "He just didn't want to lose," he said afterwards.
-- MG senior Trevor Sisson capped a terrific career with a win in diving, his 420.05 points topping Cudahy's Ryan Citro by 27.10 points. Sisson uncorked a triple on his second dive that drew plenty of 7s from the dive judges to move out to an early lead and was the dominant diver all meet long. Sisson had placed 9th, 4th, and 3rd in previous state meets, and ended his career atop the podium.
-- Finally (and apologies are in order, for I can't really be objective about this...), has any team come from further back in fewer years than Monona Grove? In 2007, the Silver Eagles finished 10th at the Baraboo sectional meet with 76 points; only five teams scored fewer points in sectional competition in the entire state that year than MG. Three years later, the team grabbed 3rd place at last night's state meet. Coaches Jason Roth and Joel Coyne (himself a former MG swim star) have resurrected a program that made a bunch of parents (myself among them) and supporters very proud last night. So (if you'll indulge me...) here's to MG state swimmers and divers Trevor and Patrick Sisson, Austin Anderson, Mitchell Paull, Alex Heyworth, Jack Allen, Ben Weinhaus, Aaron Pomeroy, and Jake McDade (yep, he's mine), along with alternates Tyler Roehr and Sam Curcio. In the words of the team's motto: "Yeah buddy!"
Thursday, February 18, 2010
D1 state meet -- what to watch for
The D1 boys state meet is Saturday, with diving at 10 a.m. and swimming at 3 p.m. (Lane assignments, seed times, and diving orders are here:)
http://www.wiaawi.org/swimmingboys/d1lanes.pdf
Here's a pre-meet rundown of what to expect:
-- This has the potential to be a very close and exciting state meet, with the top two teams -- Waukesha South/Catholic Memorial and Hartland Arrowhead -- separated based on seed times by only three points: http://wiscswim.blogspot.com/2010/02/div-1-state-meet-scored.html
Defending state champs Madison Memorial looms as the third-seeded team, and enters the meet with the state's best swimmer -- senior Michael Drives. Should WS/CM hold on to its seed placement and win, they'd become the first program to win a D1 state title -- other than Memorial and Arrowhead -- since 2001.
-- Can swimmers and relays win a state meet event without swimming in the final, fastest-seeded heat? It sure looks that way in D1 -- last fall, the girls D1 state meet produced two winners out of the second heat, and last year's D1 boys meet did so, too. There are a number of solid swimmers who didn't make the final heat of this meet; keep the winning time of the earlier heats in mind as the final heat finishes out.
-- How far will the meet-opening 200 medley relay go toward sorting out the top contenders? All four of the highest-seeded teams have a medley relay in the meet, with Arrowhead owning the top seed, Bay Port the 3rd seed, and WS/CM the 6th seed. Memorial looks to move up from its 14th seed in the second heat.
-- Can Danny Brebrick of Wausau East repeat his feat of last year, winning a race from the outer-most lane? He did it last year in the 100 free, coming out of lane 1. This year, he's swimming in Lane 8 in the 200 free in what may be the deepest event in the meet. Drives returns to the event after his record-breaking swim of last year, when his 1:38.02 set not only the state's all-time record, but the UW Natatorium pool record.
-- Can Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights win half the events at the state meet? Don't laugh -- the Eagles have three of the top seeds in the meet (Matt Friede in the 50 and 100 frees, and Tyler Lentz in the 200 IM). Lentz, one of the sharpest-looking swimmers all season long in D1, has the 6th-fastest seed time in the 100 back. Their medley relay has been sharp all season, and odds are few if any swimmers will split breaststroke and free legs faster than Lentz and Friede. If teammates Stephen Hanko (back) and Paul Ballweg (fly) can hold up their end, Sauk looks to be a real threat swimming out of lane 1. Then there is the 400 free relay. Sauk's revamped 400 free relay line-up last year, swimming in the second heat, got out to a huge lead and finished with a time no one in the final heat of last year's meet could match. Swimmers and coaches often talk about the "clean water" theory of swimming relays, where jumping out to a big lead can provide a smoother and faster trip. Sauk is in lane 4 of the second heat of the 400 free relay, and this team has shown it knows how to win relays at state.
-- Another event with the potential to play a big role in the outcome of the team race is the 500 free. Memorial's Drives enters the race with the top seed, and he'll be joined by sophomore Parick Franken, who had a very solid state meet last year and is seeded 10th this year, along with unseeded Rob Eckerle in the first heat. WS/CM counters with its terrific twosome of Noah Potratz (seeded 2nd) and Max Evans-Nolan (4th), who have been amazingly consistent all season long. Arrowhead has three seeded swimmers -- Chris Jenkyns (6th), Jake Prodoehl (7th) and Matt Ahnen (15th), all veterans of this race from a year ago. Bay Port's Andrew Sumnicht is seeded 13th in the race, while teammate Trent Kuffel is unseeded coming out of the first heat.
-- Don't count Arrowhead out of the team race until you count their backstrokers. In the 10th event of the meet, Jenkyns leads a contingent of five HA backstrokers seeded to score 57 points in the event. It's also the one event where chief rival for the title, WS/CM, has no entries.
-- Can Eau Claire freshman Alex DeLakis hold on to his top seed (58.67) in the 100 breaststroke? If so, he'd become the first freshman to win an individual state title in D1 since 2007. DeLakis will be chased by three other swimmers with seed times under a minute, but watch out for WS/CM's Collin Neitzel. He's seeded 5th, but won this event as a sophomore and finished fourth last year.
-- All of this is merely a precursor to the 400 free relay, which looks to be a real doozy and could decide the team title. Besides the aforementioned Sauk Prairie/ WH relay, the meet's final event figures to be a terrific race. Brookfield East/Central leads the way in the final heat with the fastest seed time (3:13.64); all eight relay teams are seeded within about two seconds of each other. Memorial, WS/CM, Arrowhead and Bay Port all have relays in the final heat, and will be joined by solid relay teams from Verona/Mount Horeb, New Berlin West/Eisenhower, and Appleton North/East. And watch for relay DQs in this event -- they have played a major outcome of the final team standings the past two state meets.
http://www.wiaawi.org/swimmingboys/d1lanes.pdf
Here's a pre-meet rundown of what to expect:
-- This has the potential to be a very close and exciting state meet, with the top two teams -- Waukesha South/Catholic Memorial and Hartland Arrowhead -- separated based on seed times by only three points: http://wiscswim.blogspot.com/2010/02/div-1-state-meet-scored.html
Defending state champs Madison Memorial looms as the third-seeded team, and enters the meet with the state's best swimmer -- senior Michael Drives. Should WS/CM hold on to its seed placement and win, they'd become the first program to win a D1 state title -- other than Memorial and Arrowhead -- since 2001.
-- Can swimmers and relays win a state meet event without swimming in the final, fastest-seeded heat? It sure looks that way in D1 -- last fall, the girls D1 state meet produced two winners out of the second heat, and last year's D1 boys meet did so, too. There are a number of solid swimmers who didn't make the final heat of this meet; keep the winning time of the earlier heats in mind as the final heat finishes out.
-- How far will the meet-opening 200 medley relay go toward sorting out the top contenders? All four of the highest-seeded teams have a medley relay in the meet, with Arrowhead owning the top seed, Bay Port the 3rd seed, and WS/CM the 6th seed. Memorial looks to move up from its 14th seed in the second heat.
-- Can Danny Brebrick of Wausau East repeat his feat of last year, winning a race from the outer-most lane? He did it last year in the 100 free, coming out of lane 1. This year, he's swimming in Lane 8 in the 200 free in what may be the deepest event in the meet. Drives returns to the event after his record-breaking swim of last year, when his 1:38.02 set not only the state's all-time record, but the UW Natatorium pool record.
-- Can Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights win half the events at the state meet? Don't laugh -- the Eagles have three of the top seeds in the meet (Matt Friede in the 50 and 100 frees, and Tyler Lentz in the 200 IM). Lentz, one of the sharpest-looking swimmers all season long in D1, has the 6th-fastest seed time in the 100 back. Their medley relay has been sharp all season, and odds are few if any swimmers will split breaststroke and free legs faster than Lentz and Friede. If teammates Stephen Hanko (back) and Paul Ballweg (fly) can hold up their end, Sauk looks to be a real threat swimming out of lane 1. Then there is the 400 free relay. Sauk's revamped 400 free relay line-up last year, swimming in the second heat, got out to a huge lead and finished with a time no one in the final heat of last year's meet could match. Swimmers and coaches often talk about the "clean water" theory of swimming relays, where jumping out to a big lead can provide a smoother and faster trip. Sauk is in lane 4 of the second heat of the 400 free relay, and this team has shown it knows how to win relays at state.
-- Another event with the potential to play a big role in the outcome of the team race is the 500 free. Memorial's Drives enters the race with the top seed, and he'll be joined by sophomore Parick Franken, who had a very solid state meet last year and is seeded 10th this year, along with unseeded Rob Eckerle in the first heat. WS/CM counters with its terrific twosome of Noah Potratz (seeded 2nd) and Max Evans-Nolan (4th), who have been amazingly consistent all season long. Arrowhead has three seeded swimmers -- Chris Jenkyns (6th), Jake Prodoehl (7th) and Matt Ahnen (15th), all veterans of this race from a year ago. Bay Port's Andrew Sumnicht is seeded 13th in the race, while teammate Trent Kuffel is unseeded coming out of the first heat.
-- Don't count Arrowhead out of the team race until you count their backstrokers. In the 10th event of the meet, Jenkyns leads a contingent of five HA backstrokers seeded to score 57 points in the event. It's also the one event where chief rival for the title, WS/CM, has no entries.
-- Can Eau Claire freshman Alex DeLakis hold on to his top seed (58.67) in the 100 breaststroke? If so, he'd become the first freshman to win an individual state title in D1 since 2007. DeLakis will be chased by three other swimmers with seed times under a minute, but watch out for WS/CM's Collin Neitzel. He's seeded 5th, but won this event as a sophomore and finished fourth last year.
-- All of this is merely a precursor to the 400 free relay, which looks to be a real doozy and could decide the team title. Besides the aforementioned Sauk Prairie/ WH relay, the meet's final event figures to be a terrific race. Brookfield East/Central leads the way in the final heat with the fastest seed time (3:13.64); all eight relay teams are seeded within about two seconds of each other. Memorial, WS/CM, Arrowhead and Bay Port all have relays in the final heat, and will be joined by solid relay teams from Verona/Mount Horeb, New Berlin West/Eisenhower, and Appleton North/East. And watch for relay DQs in this event -- they have played a major outcome of the final team standings the past two state meets.
D2 state meet -- what to watch for
The D2 boys state meet is Friday, with diving at 2:30 p.m. and swimming at 6:30 p.m. (Lane assignments, seed times, and diving orders are here:)http://www.wiaawi.org/swimmingboys/d2lanes.pdf
Here's a pre-meet rundown of what to expect:
-- McFarland is seeded to win its fourth straight state title:
http://wiscswim.blogspot.com/2010/02/div-2-state-meet-scored.html
If they accomplish yet another title, the Spartans would match the record of the Sturgeon Bay teams of 2003-06, which won four consecutive titles before McFarland went on its current run (SB won three of those titles as a co-op with Southern Door). One of the things that makes McFarland tough at state is their ability to jump off to an early lead, thus making all other teams chase after them. McFarland has won the medley relay three years in a row, the 200 IM the past two years, and usually scores more points than any other team in the 200 free (and this year returns defending state champ Brian Heiser in the event). With sprinters Andrew Hovel, Peter Grenzow and Colin Morgan seeded to score points in the 50 free, McFarland is set to repeat its formula of the past few years -- grab an early lead before the break and let others play catch-up. Should McFarland win the medley, Grenzow will have accomplished a rare feat (I'm not sure it's ever been done in either division) -- anchoring the same relay to a first-place finish four years in a row.
-- If Whitefish Bay and Madison Edgewood have any hopes of catching McFarland, they will need huge meets from their top swimmers -- the Crusaders' Chase Stephens (200/100 frees) and Drew teDuits (fly and back), and WBay's Chuckie Prestigiacomo (50/100 frees). Both teams qualified all three relays to state, so there is some opportunity to garner additional points by moving up in the relays. But looming in front of both teams will be McFarland -- the Spartans earned the top seed in each of the three relays.
-- Watch out for McFarland's 200 free relay. Three of the members who brought home gold from the relay last year -- Heiser, Grenzow and Morgan -- are back on it, and sophomore Ryan O'Donnell will likely be on it as well and lead off. The state record of 1:26.63 is held by Sturgeon Bay/Southern Door, and after McFarland last year smashed the state record held by SB/SD in the 400 free relay, you've got to think the Spartans are hungry for another record. McFarland is also about a second away with its seed time from the medley relay record.
There are some terrific individual match-ups in the meet as well, among them:
-- The 200 free features defending state champ Heiser, who enters with the second-fastest seed time of 1:46.02, matched up against Stephens, who has the fastest seed time of 1:44.82. Brookfield Academy's Jack Donovan -- who had a terrific sectional meet last weekend -- is close behind at 1:46.34.
-- Three swimmers enter the 200 IM with seed times below 2 minutes, with O'Donnell leading the way with a 1:57.04. Milton's Jeff Maxwell and Brookfield Academy's Jonathan Marks are the next two fastest seeds. Maxwell has tried to chase down O'Donnell twice in the past month -- first at the Small School State Invitational, and then last weekend at the Baraboo sectional -- and come up second both times. Both are strong fliers and backstrokers; O'Donnell's underwater turns are the best in D2. If Marks can hang on through the initial fly and back legs, he could contend as well as he's a terrific breaststroker.
-- Berlin/Green Lake's Greg Hameister enters the 50 free with the fastest seed time by nearly three-fourths of a second, a lot in such a short race. This could be a blanket finish at the end; after Hameister, the next five fastest seeded swimmers are separated by a mere .12 seconds.
-- Is there a better potential race in either division than the 100 fly? Donovan, teDuits and O'Donnell own three of the four fastest seed times in the event for both D2 and D1 state meets; they are separated by less than a third of a second.
-- If the seed times hold up (never a sure bet), the 100 free could feature two state titleists -- Stephens (with the fastest 200 free seed) and Hameister (with the fastest 50 free seed) own the two fastest seed times in the 100 free. Heiser, 3rd in this event last year, leads seven other 100 free swimmers who swam in this race a year ago.
-- Maxwell owns the fastest seed time in the 500 free by more than 15 seconds. He's hoping to reclaim the state title he won in this event as a sophomore, but lost last year by a mere .23 seconds.
-- teDuits and Delavan-Darien's Alex Riegert look to defend their state titles from last year -- teDuits in the back and Riegert in the breaststroke. Here's a nice feature on Riegert from the Janesville Gazette:
http://gazettextra.com/news/2010/feb/11/shhhh-riegert-quiets-most-foes/
Here's hoping Chuck Riegert, Alex's dad, returns to the state meet stands sporting his blue-and-yellow (D-D school colors) moustache.
-- Can Monona Grove's Trevor Sisson continue his ascendency up the D2 state diving ladder and finally claim gold? Sisson was 9th at the state meet as a freshman, 4th as a sophomore, and 3rd last year. He's the highest returning finisher from last year's meet, and has been D2's leading diver all season. Cudahy's Ryan Citro, 6th last year, will give chase.
Here's a pre-meet rundown of what to expect:
-- McFarland is seeded to win its fourth straight state title:
http://wiscswim.blogspot.com/2010/02/div-2-state-meet-scored.html
If they accomplish yet another title, the Spartans would match the record of the Sturgeon Bay teams of 2003-06, which won four consecutive titles before McFarland went on its current run (SB won three of those titles as a co-op with Southern Door). One of the things that makes McFarland tough at state is their ability to jump off to an early lead, thus making all other teams chase after them. McFarland has won the medley relay three years in a row, the 200 IM the past two years, and usually scores more points than any other team in the 200 free (and this year returns defending state champ Brian Heiser in the event). With sprinters Andrew Hovel, Peter Grenzow and Colin Morgan seeded to score points in the 50 free, McFarland is set to repeat its formula of the past few years -- grab an early lead before the break and let others play catch-up. Should McFarland win the medley, Grenzow will have accomplished a rare feat (I'm not sure it's ever been done in either division) -- anchoring the same relay to a first-place finish four years in a row.
-- If Whitefish Bay and Madison Edgewood have any hopes of catching McFarland, they will need huge meets from their top swimmers -- the Crusaders' Chase Stephens (200/100 frees) and Drew teDuits (fly and back), and WBay's Chuckie Prestigiacomo (50/100 frees). Both teams qualified all three relays to state, so there is some opportunity to garner additional points by moving up in the relays. But looming in front of both teams will be McFarland -- the Spartans earned the top seed in each of the three relays.
-- Watch out for McFarland's 200 free relay. Three of the members who brought home gold from the relay last year -- Heiser, Grenzow and Morgan -- are back on it, and sophomore Ryan O'Donnell will likely be on it as well and lead off. The state record of 1:26.63 is held by Sturgeon Bay/Southern Door, and after McFarland last year smashed the state record held by SB/SD in the 400 free relay, you've got to think the Spartans are hungry for another record. McFarland is also about a second away with its seed time from the medley relay record.
There are some terrific individual match-ups in the meet as well, among them:
-- The 200 free features defending state champ Heiser, who enters with the second-fastest seed time of 1:46.02, matched up against Stephens, who has the fastest seed time of 1:44.82. Brookfield Academy's Jack Donovan -- who had a terrific sectional meet last weekend -- is close behind at 1:46.34.
-- Three swimmers enter the 200 IM with seed times below 2 minutes, with O'Donnell leading the way with a 1:57.04. Milton's Jeff Maxwell and Brookfield Academy's Jonathan Marks are the next two fastest seeds. Maxwell has tried to chase down O'Donnell twice in the past month -- first at the Small School State Invitational, and then last weekend at the Baraboo sectional -- and come up second both times. Both are strong fliers and backstrokers; O'Donnell's underwater turns are the best in D2. If Marks can hang on through the initial fly and back legs, he could contend as well as he's a terrific breaststroker.
-- Berlin/Green Lake's Greg Hameister enters the 50 free with the fastest seed time by nearly three-fourths of a second, a lot in such a short race. This could be a blanket finish at the end; after Hameister, the next five fastest seeded swimmers are separated by a mere .12 seconds.
-- Is there a better potential race in either division than the 100 fly? Donovan, teDuits and O'Donnell own three of the four fastest seed times in the event for both D2 and D1 state meets; they are separated by less than a third of a second.
-- If the seed times hold up (never a sure bet), the 100 free could feature two state titleists -- Stephens (with the fastest 200 free seed) and Hameister (with the fastest 50 free seed) own the two fastest seed times in the 100 free. Heiser, 3rd in this event last year, leads seven other 100 free swimmers who swam in this race a year ago.
-- Maxwell owns the fastest seed time in the 500 free by more than 15 seconds. He's hoping to reclaim the state title he won in this event as a sophomore, but lost last year by a mere .23 seconds.
-- teDuits and Delavan-Darien's Alex Riegert look to defend their state titles from last year -- teDuits in the back and Riegert in the breaststroke. Here's a nice feature on Riegert from the Janesville Gazette:
http://gazettextra.com/news/2010/feb/11/shhhh-riegert-quiets-most-foes/
Here's hoping Chuck Riegert, Alex's dad, returns to the state meet stands sporting his blue-and-yellow (D-D school colors) moustache.
-- Can Monona Grove's Trevor Sisson continue his ascendency up the D2 state diving ladder and finally claim gold? Sisson was 9th at the state meet as a freshman, 4th as a sophomore, and 3rd last year. He's the highest returning finisher from last year's meet, and has been D2's leading diver all season. Cudahy's Ryan Citro, 6th last year, will give chase.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Where have all the freshmen gone?
One interesting trend this year in boys swimming was the lack of break-out freshmen in both divisions. Sure, there were some -- notably Alex DeLakis of Eau Claire, Alex Swain of Waukesha South/Catholic Memorial, and Spencer Mattox of Janesville Craig in D1, and Al Nenning of Grafton in D2.
Boys, of course, develop later than girls, who sometimes show up at state meets as freshman and win state titles right off the bat. Still, it's notable how few freshman boys qualified individually for the state meet this year compared to the past few years.
Here's a look at the number of individual freshman qualifiers in the past four years:
D1:
2010 -- 7 individuals, three who qualified in two events.
2009 -- 10 total, eight in two events.
2008 -- 13 total, five in two events.
2007 -- 15 total, six in two events.
D2:
2010 -- 4 individuals, one who qualified in two events.
2009 -- 9 individuals, five in two events.
2008 -- 12 individuals, seven in two events.
2007 -- 10 individuals, four in two events.
Thoughts?
Boys, of course, develop later than girls, who sometimes show up at state meets as freshman and win state titles right off the bat. Still, it's notable how few freshman boys qualified individually for the state meet this year compared to the past few years.
Here's a look at the number of individual freshman qualifiers in the past four years:
D1:
2010 -- 7 individuals, three who qualified in two events.
2009 -- 10 total, eight in two events.
2008 -- 13 total, five in two events.
2007 -- 15 total, six in two events.
D2:
2010 -- 4 individuals, one who qualified in two events.
2009 -- 9 individuals, five in two events.
2008 -- 12 individuals, seven in two events.
2007 -- 10 individuals, four in two events.
Thoughts?
State meet swimmers worth knowing about
The focus at the state swim meet, of course, is on the winning teams and swimmers; after all, they keep time and score for a reason.
But hundreds of swimmers will take part in the D1 and D2 state meets, and it's worth noting those who may not grab the headlines once the meet is concluded. Here are some of their stories:
-- Last year, Fond du Lac's Jonathan Drewson was not really that close to qualifying for the state meet -- the 33rd fastest D1 swimmer in the state in the 100 free, and nearly a second away from qualifying for state. Now he finds himself in the fastest heat of the fastest, most nerve-wracking race of the meet -- the 50 free. At his sectional meet in Neenah, the senior qualified as the 6th seed for the state meet in the 50 free, and for good measure made it in the 100 free as well, as the 14th seed. Coverage here from the Fond du Lac Reporter:
http://www.fdlreporter.com/article/20100214/FON020507/2140716/1319/FON0205/Fond-du-Lac-s-Drewsen-to-State-in-50-free--100-free
-- It was no surprise that Watertown's Nick Wolhaupter made it to state this year; the junior has been one of the top D1 sprinters all season long. But teammate Erich Schnell came from way back at the uber-competitive Waukesha South sectional to qualify as well. Schnell was seeded T-11th at the sectional in the 50 free, and dropped 1.21 seconds off his seed time -- an eternity in the 50 free -- to qualify as the 13th overall seed in the event at state. Schnell also grabbed one of the last two spots in the 100 free at the state meet, dropping nearly two seconds off his seed time at sectionals to make it. Joining the two sprinters will be 500 free swimmer David Burleson and two relays as Watertown will be taking a large contingent of swimmers to the state meet. Coverage here from the Watertown Daily Times:
http://www.wdtimes.com/articles/2010/02/15/sports/sports1.txt
-- Can Verona/Mount Horeb senior Derek Toomey find redemption at the Natatorium? Two years ago, Toomey was working to break 51 seconds in the 100 free. Now through a lot of hard work and dedication, he's become one of D1's best sprinters. It's hard to imagine having a sectional meet both as good and frustrating at the same time as Toomey experienced last week at Middleton. Sprinting rival Matt Friede of Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights out-touched him for first place in the 50 and 100 frees by .09 and .14 seconds, respectively. Then Madison Memorial's Michael Drives out-touched him on the anchor legs of the 200 and 400 free relays by .04 and .03 seconds, respectively, the latter despite a scintillating 45.80 anchor leg by Toomey. That's four second-place finishes by a combined time of less than a third of a second. Toomey enters the state meet as the 2nd seed in the 50 free and 3rd seed in the 100 free, while the 200 and 400 free relays he anchors will be the 2nd and 4th seeds.
-- The last time a swimmer from Franklin scored points at the D1 state meet was in 2003. Franklin sophomore Josh Lefeber hopes to change that Saturday. He's Franklin's first multiple-event qualifier in at least a decade. He's seeded 19th in the 100 breaststroke after winning the sectional breaststroke title at Greenfield/Greendale, and 20th in the 200 IM.
-- Proving that good things come to those who wait, we present McFarland senior Miles Hegg. Swimming for the deepest team in D2, with a strong tradition of breaststrokers, Hegg had never cracked McFarland's sectional line-up in an individual or relay event. But he quietly put together a very solid year this season, and came into the sectional meet at Baraboo seeded 3rd in the 100 breaststroke. With just this one chance to qualify for state, he dropped nearly three seconds off his seed time, and ended up with the 9th overall seed at the D2 state meet.
-- Sturgeon Bay/Southern Door's Moe Alber came to the SB/SD team from Germany as an exchange student with experience in club swimming there. One notable difference with high school swimming here, Alber said in a feature story in the Door County Advocate, is the crowd's involvement and excitement compared to club meets in Germany. Wait until he shows up on deck Friday at the Natatorium, one of the most electric atmospheres of any state competition in Wisconsin. Alber will be swimming in three events at the D2 state meet for SB/SD; the Door County Advocate profiles the team's performance at last week's sectionals here:
http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=20102170462
-- Three years ago as a freshman, Whitewater's Drew Kuchan finished 23rd -- dead last -- at the Cudahy sectional meet in the 50 free, barely breaking 30 seconds. He finished next-to-last in the 100 free, as well. Now he'll be swimming Friday in the 100 fly -- Whitewater's first-ever participant in the D2 state meet. The senior dropped nearly three seconds from his seed time at sectionals -- going from a 59.90 to a 57.02 in the fly -- to make it as the 13th overall seed in the D2 state meet. UPDATE: A very good story from the Daily Union newspaper about Drew here: http://dailyunion.com/main.asp?SectionID=37&SubSectionID=111&ArticleID=4659
-- It helps to be tall in swimming; the long reach of a lengthy limb eats up yardage in ways shorter swimmers can't match. So here's a shout-out to Madison Edgewood's Eric Madsen and Waunakee's Ryan Duffy, neither of whom top out at much more than 5'6" (if that). Both will be competing at the D2 state meet in the 500 free for the first time. Madsen, a junior who has swum on Edgewood's state-qualifying 400 free relays the past two years, made it in an individual event for the first time by swimming a 5:05.17 at sectionals; he's seeded 10th at the D2 state meet. Duffy, a sophomore, had one of the more remarkable swims by any sectional competitor Saturday; seeded at a 5:20.64, he broke his career-best time by more than 20 seconds. His 4:59.79 earned him the 5th overall seed in the 500 free at the D2 state meet.
But hundreds of swimmers will take part in the D1 and D2 state meets, and it's worth noting those who may not grab the headlines once the meet is concluded. Here are some of their stories:
-- Last year, Fond du Lac's Jonathan Drewson was not really that close to qualifying for the state meet -- the 33rd fastest D1 swimmer in the state in the 100 free, and nearly a second away from qualifying for state. Now he finds himself in the fastest heat of the fastest, most nerve-wracking race of the meet -- the 50 free. At his sectional meet in Neenah, the senior qualified as the 6th seed for the state meet in the 50 free, and for good measure made it in the 100 free as well, as the 14th seed. Coverage here from the Fond du Lac Reporter:
http://www.fdlreporter.com/article/20100214/FON020507/2140716/1319/FON0205/Fond-du-Lac-s-Drewsen-to-State-in-50-free--100-free
-- It was no surprise that Watertown's Nick Wolhaupter made it to state this year; the junior has been one of the top D1 sprinters all season long. But teammate Erich Schnell came from way back at the uber-competitive Waukesha South sectional to qualify as well. Schnell was seeded T-11th at the sectional in the 50 free, and dropped 1.21 seconds off his seed time -- an eternity in the 50 free -- to qualify as the 13th overall seed in the event at state. Schnell also grabbed one of the last two spots in the 100 free at the state meet, dropping nearly two seconds off his seed time at sectionals to make it. Joining the two sprinters will be 500 free swimmer David Burleson and two relays as Watertown will be taking a large contingent of swimmers to the state meet. Coverage here from the Watertown Daily Times:
http://www.wdtimes.com/articles/2010/02/15/sports/sports1.txt
-- Can Verona/Mount Horeb senior Derek Toomey find redemption at the Natatorium? Two years ago, Toomey was working to break 51 seconds in the 100 free. Now through a lot of hard work and dedication, he's become one of D1's best sprinters. It's hard to imagine having a sectional meet both as good and frustrating at the same time as Toomey experienced last week at Middleton. Sprinting rival Matt Friede of Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights out-touched him for first place in the 50 and 100 frees by .09 and .14 seconds, respectively. Then Madison Memorial's Michael Drives out-touched him on the anchor legs of the 200 and 400 free relays by .04 and .03 seconds, respectively, the latter despite a scintillating 45.80 anchor leg by Toomey. That's four second-place finishes by a combined time of less than a third of a second. Toomey enters the state meet as the 2nd seed in the 50 free and 3rd seed in the 100 free, while the 200 and 400 free relays he anchors will be the 2nd and 4th seeds.
-- The last time a swimmer from Franklin scored points at the D1 state meet was in 2003. Franklin sophomore Josh Lefeber hopes to change that Saturday. He's Franklin's first multiple-event qualifier in at least a decade. He's seeded 19th in the 100 breaststroke after winning the sectional breaststroke title at Greenfield/Greendale, and 20th in the 200 IM.
-- Proving that good things come to those who wait, we present McFarland senior Miles Hegg. Swimming for the deepest team in D2, with a strong tradition of breaststrokers, Hegg had never cracked McFarland's sectional line-up in an individual or relay event. But he quietly put together a very solid year this season, and came into the sectional meet at Baraboo seeded 3rd in the 100 breaststroke. With just this one chance to qualify for state, he dropped nearly three seconds off his seed time, and ended up with the 9th overall seed at the D2 state meet.
-- Sturgeon Bay/Southern Door's Moe Alber came to the SB/SD team from Germany as an exchange student with experience in club swimming there. One notable difference with high school swimming here, Alber said in a feature story in the Door County Advocate, is the crowd's involvement and excitement compared to club meets in Germany. Wait until he shows up on deck Friday at the Natatorium, one of the most electric atmospheres of any state competition in Wisconsin. Alber will be swimming in three events at the D2 state meet for SB/SD; the Door County Advocate profiles the team's performance at last week's sectionals here:
http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=20102170462
-- Three years ago as a freshman, Whitewater's Drew Kuchan finished 23rd -- dead last -- at the Cudahy sectional meet in the 50 free, barely breaking 30 seconds. He finished next-to-last in the 100 free, as well. Now he'll be swimming Friday in the 100 fly -- Whitewater's first-ever participant in the D2 state meet. The senior dropped nearly three seconds from his seed time at sectionals -- going from a 59.90 to a 57.02 in the fly -- to make it as the 13th overall seed in the D2 state meet. UPDATE: A very good story from the Daily Union newspaper about Drew here: http://dailyunion.com/main.asp?SectionID=37&SubSectionID=111&ArticleID=4659
-- It helps to be tall in swimming; the long reach of a lengthy limb eats up yardage in ways shorter swimmers can't match. So here's a shout-out to Madison Edgewood's Eric Madsen and Waunakee's Ryan Duffy, neither of whom top out at much more than 5'6" (if that). Both will be competing at the D2 state meet in the 500 free for the first time. Madsen, a junior who has swum on Edgewood's state-qualifying 400 free relays the past two years, made it in an individual event for the first time by swimming a 5:05.17 at sectionals; he's seeded 10th at the D2 state meet. Duffy, a sophomore, had one of the more remarkable swims by any sectional competitor Saturday; seeded at a 5:20.64, he broke his career-best time by more than 20 seconds. His 4:59.79 earned him the 5th overall seed in the 500 free at the D2 state meet.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Sectional qualifying by the numbers
Here's how many swimmers qualified for the boys state meets from each sectional:
D1
Waukesha South/Catholic Memorial -- 98
Middleton -- 71
Neenah -- 38
Hudson -- 37
Greenfield/Greendale -- 26
Marquette (Schroeder) -- 19
D2
Baraboo -- 73
Cudahy -- 52
Plymouth -- 39
Stevens Point -- 28
A few observations:
-- The two sectionals thought to be the deepest -- Waukesha South and Baraboo -- proved out, as both led the way in qualifying swimmers/relays to the state meet.
-- Greenfield/Greendale tied Waukesha South for qualifying the highest number of divers -- six from each sectional. Taking out divers, the G/G sectional qualified 20 swimmers/relays, and Marquette 17 (and each was guaranteed 11 swimmers/relays with the automatic qualifier provision). In the Marquette sectional, seven of the 11 swimming events saw only one swimmer/relay from the sectional -- the automatic winner -- qualify for the state meet. G/G had five solo event qualifiers. Given that Waukesha South qualified more than a third of the D1 field, it certainly raises a question about the competitive balance (or imbalance) of the three Milwaukee-area sectionals.
-- The depth of the Waukesha South sectional was exceptional. In four events -- the 200 free, the 50 free, the 100 free, and the 500 free -- the sectional qualified 10 swimmers, reaching well into the next-to-last heat at the sectional meet. The sectional also sent nine 200 free relays to state. The sectional qualified at least six swimmers, relays, or divers in every event.
-- Baraboo was not quite as deep as Waukesha South, but impressive nonetheless. The sectional qualified six or more swimmers and relays in every swimming event save one -- the breaststroke, where it sent five swimmers to state. Nine of the 50 free qualifiers to state came from Baraboo.
-- The Cudahy sectional will be sending nearly half of the D2 dive field -- seven divers total -- to the state meet. It was an event where Nicolet's presence in Division 2 was notable -- the school was moved down to D2 this year from the D1 sectional it used to host. Nicolet qualified three divers to the state meet.
D1
Waukesha South/Catholic Memorial -- 98
Middleton -- 71
Neenah -- 38
Hudson -- 37
Greenfield/Greendale -- 26
Marquette (Schroeder) -- 19
D2
Baraboo -- 73
Cudahy -- 52
Plymouth -- 39
Stevens Point -- 28
A few observations:
-- The two sectionals thought to be the deepest -- Waukesha South and Baraboo -- proved out, as both led the way in qualifying swimmers/relays to the state meet.
-- Greenfield/Greendale tied Waukesha South for qualifying the highest number of divers -- six from each sectional. Taking out divers, the G/G sectional qualified 20 swimmers/relays, and Marquette 17 (and each was guaranteed 11 swimmers/relays with the automatic qualifier provision). In the Marquette sectional, seven of the 11 swimming events saw only one swimmer/relay from the sectional -- the automatic winner -- qualify for the state meet. G/G had five solo event qualifiers. Given that Waukesha South qualified more than a third of the D1 field, it certainly raises a question about the competitive balance (or imbalance) of the three Milwaukee-area sectionals.
-- The depth of the Waukesha South sectional was exceptional. In four events -- the 200 free, the 50 free, the 100 free, and the 500 free -- the sectional qualified 10 swimmers, reaching well into the next-to-last heat at the sectional meet. The sectional also sent nine 200 free relays to state. The sectional qualified at least six swimmers, relays, or divers in every event.
-- Baraboo was not quite as deep as Waukesha South, but impressive nonetheless. The sectional qualified six or more swimmers and relays in every swimming event save one -- the breaststroke, where it sent five swimmers to state. Nine of the 50 free qualifiers to state came from Baraboo.
-- The Cudahy sectional will be sending nearly half of the D2 dive field -- seven divers total -- to the state meet. It was an event where Nicolet's presence in Division 2 was notable -- the school was moved down to D2 this year from the D1 sectional it used to host. Nicolet qualified three divers to the state meet.
A look at qualifying standards for 2010
It was a faster year for qualifying standards in D2, but not so much in D1.
Here's the link to this year's final qualifying times for swimming:
http://www.wiaawi.org/swimmingboys/standards.pdf
Here's a link to an earlier post with last year's standards:
http://wiscswim.blogspot.com/2010/01/2009-boys-qualifying-times.html
Thoughts:
-- Only three qualifying standards in D1 were faster this year -- the 200 free, the 200 IM, and the 200 free relay. The 200 free and 200 IM were notably faster (1:49.10 in the 200 free this year compared to 1:50.72, and 2:02.36 in the IM compared to 2:04.53). The IM in particular has gotten quite fast; between 2006 and 2009, the average qualifying time was 2:05.46, so in essence the time has dropped more than three seconds in two years. Half the 24-swimmer field in the IM qualified under 2 minutes, and some very good swimmers were squeezed out of qualifying for the event this year by the time drop. The 200 free time dropped by more than a second-and-a-half, but it should be noted that last year's qualifying time had been the slowest in four years. It was below 1:50 in both 2006 and 2007.
-- In D2, seven qualifying standards were faster this year. Backstroke was notably faster; after hanging around the low 59-second mark for the past four years, it dropped in 2010 to 57.60, virtually the same as the D1 qualifying mark of 57.56. In addition, it's worth noting the 200 IM qualifying time dropped again, this year by nearly half-a-second. That came on the heels of last year's time drop, which saw a time drop of nearly two-and-a-half seconds. So D2 IMers have to swim nearly three seconds faster than two years ago to qualify. Also, the medley relay qualifying time dropped alot this year. The final time of 1:46.13 was nearly two seconds faster than last year, as well as the previous three-year average of 1:48.17.
-- What explains the recent qualifying time drops in the 200 IM in both divisions? Maybe it's time to credit coaches. I've always thought the IM a tough event to coach (as well as to convince swimmers to swim), because swimmers and coaches can't simply focus on one or two strokes; they have to practice all four. And to compete at the state-meet level, swimmers have to be reasonably competent in all four strokes (there are plenty of swimmers who don't do the IM because they are weak in one of the strokes, often breaststroke). And it's a hard event to swim that takes alot out of swimmers.
-- D2 is clearly getting both faster and deeper. Seven qualifying time standards dropped this year, after all but one of the time standards were faster in 2009 compared to 2008. D2 also has the fastest overall qualifying time this year in both divisions in two events -- the back and fly. While it will never match the depth of times swum at D1, the qualifying times suggest the quality of swimming in D2 is certainly improving.
Here's the link to this year's final qualifying times for swimming:
http://www.wiaawi.org/swimmingboys/standards.pdf
Here's a link to an earlier post with last year's standards:
http://wiscswim.blogspot.com/2010/01/2009-boys-qualifying-times.html
Thoughts:
-- Only three qualifying standards in D1 were faster this year -- the 200 free, the 200 IM, and the 200 free relay. The 200 free and 200 IM were notably faster (1:49.10 in the 200 free this year compared to 1:50.72, and 2:02.36 in the IM compared to 2:04.53). The IM in particular has gotten quite fast; between 2006 and 2009, the average qualifying time was 2:05.46, so in essence the time has dropped more than three seconds in two years. Half the 24-swimmer field in the IM qualified under 2 minutes, and some very good swimmers were squeezed out of qualifying for the event this year by the time drop. The 200 free time dropped by more than a second-and-a-half, but it should be noted that last year's qualifying time had been the slowest in four years. It was below 1:50 in both 2006 and 2007.
-- In D2, seven qualifying standards were faster this year. Backstroke was notably faster; after hanging around the low 59-second mark for the past four years, it dropped in 2010 to 57.60, virtually the same as the D1 qualifying mark of 57.56. In addition, it's worth noting the 200 IM qualifying time dropped again, this year by nearly half-a-second. That came on the heels of last year's time drop, which saw a time drop of nearly two-and-a-half seconds. So D2 IMers have to swim nearly three seconds faster than two years ago to qualify. Also, the medley relay qualifying time dropped alot this year. The final time of 1:46.13 was nearly two seconds faster than last year, as well as the previous three-year average of 1:48.17.
-- What explains the recent qualifying time drops in the 200 IM in both divisions? Maybe it's time to credit coaches. I've always thought the IM a tough event to coach (as well as to convince swimmers to swim), because swimmers and coaches can't simply focus on one or two strokes; they have to practice all four. And to compete at the state-meet level, swimmers have to be reasonably competent in all four strokes (there are plenty of swimmers who don't do the IM because they are weak in one of the strokes, often breaststroke). And it's a hard event to swim that takes alot out of swimmers.
-- D2 is clearly getting both faster and deeper. Seven qualifying time standards dropped this year, after all but one of the time standards were faster in 2009 compared to 2008. D2 also has the fastest overall qualifying time this year in both divisions in two events -- the back and fly. While it will never match the depth of times swum at D1, the qualifying times suggest the quality of swimming in D2 is certainly improving.
Monday, February 15, 2010
A reminder on comments
As comments come into the blog during this hectic and intense week of the boys state meet, just a brief reminder about the tagline that appears on top of this blog: "Comments welcome, but should be in the spirit of good sportsmanship."
I've been moderating comments for the past week or so, and a few are bordering on, or over the edge of, that edict. So I'd simply ask that everyone remind themselves of the intent of the blog, and to avoid anything inflammatory, or accusatory, or not in the spirit of the statement above. Thanks for your consideration.
I've been moderating comments for the past week or so, and a few are bordering on, or over the edge of, that edict. So I'd simply ask that everyone remind themselves of the intent of the blog, and to avoid anything inflammatory, or accusatory, or not in the spirit of the statement above. Thanks for your consideration.
Is it the pool, the taper, or the competition?
With Waukesha South/Catholic Memorial and Hartland Arrowhead earning the top two seeded positions in the D1 state meet this Saturday:
http://wiscswim.blogspot.com/2010/02/div-1-state-meet-scored.html
it's worth asking the question:
Will the seed times earned by swimmers coming out of the Waukesha South/Catholic Memorial sectional (both teams swam there) hold up at the UW Natatorium?
I've explored this question before in some previous posts; see this link about last year's boys state meet:
http://wiscswim.blogspot.com/2009/02/about-that-waukesha-south-d1-sectional.html
Then there is this analysis about the Waukesh South sectional pool posted before last fall's girls state meet (which generated a lot of comments):
http://wiscswim.blogspot.com/2009/10/is-waukesha-south-pool-too-fast.html
In both cases (2009 boys state meet, as well as the 2008 girls state meet), several teams coming out of the Waukesha South sectional failed to maintain their seed placements. In addition, four of the six biggest seed placement drops (that is, swimmers not holding their seed placement) at the 2009 girls state meet came from teams that swam at the Waukesha South sectional -- Brookfield Central, Waukesha South/Mukwonago, Muskego and Hartland Arrowhead.
So, what gives? And will the same thing happen this year? Here are a few speculative answers and/or arguments:
-- As one coach told me this past fall, the UW Natatorium is the fastest pool most swimmers will swim in this year. That is, save for those who swim at the Waukesha South pool for sectionals. The WSouth pool is faster than the Nat, and thus swimmers coming from the sectional don't match their times (or, just as importantly for this argument, don't drop as much time as those from other sectionals).
-- The Waukesha South sectional is super-competitive, leaving coaches little choice but to taper or at least semi-taper many swimmers for the meet to give them a chance of making it to state. For the girls last fall, the Middleton sectional was arguably just about as competitive as the Waukesha South sectional. But this year for boys, WSouth was easily the deepest sectional in terms of swimmers qualifying for state.
-- It's easier for some swimmers -- particularly those from the Madison area -- to swim well at the Nat, because it's in effect a home meet, or close to it. In addition, Madison-area swimmers may have swum more often at the Nat, and thus are comfortable there (although it must be said that the Waukesha South/Catholic Memorial boys team won the Madison West Invite at the Nat this January.)
-- Other thoughts?
I'd welcome a reasoned debate about this via the comments section; I'd prefer that it not get into speculative discussion about who is or isn't tapered for state vs. sectionals (I've always thought that's hard to tell until swimmers actually swim the races.) I'd also prefer not to get into a discussion about which pools would make for a better state meet pool -- that's a different blog post.
Post away -- I'm moderating posts these days, and will put up any and all that provide some insight and candid observation on this.
http://wiscswim.blogspot.com/2010/02/div-1-state-meet-scored.html
it's worth asking the question:
Will the seed times earned by swimmers coming out of the Waukesha South/Catholic Memorial sectional (both teams swam there) hold up at the UW Natatorium?
I've explored this question before in some previous posts; see this link about last year's boys state meet:
http://wiscswim.blogspot.com/2009/02/about-that-waukesha-south-d1-sectional.html
Then there is this analysis about the Waukesh South sectional pool posted before last fall's girls state meet (which generated a lot of comments):
http://wiscswim.blogspot.com/2009/10/is-waukesha-south-pool-too-fast.html
In both cases (2009 boys state meet, as well as the 2008 girls state meet), several teams coming out of the Waukesha South sectional failed to maintain their seed placements. In addition, four of the six biggest seed placement drops (that is, swimmers not holding their seed placement) at the 2009 girls state meet came from teams that swam at the Waukesha South sectional -- Brookfield Central, Waukesha South/Mukwonago, Muskego and Hartland Arrowhead.
So, what gives? And will the same thing happen this year? Here are a few speculative answers and/or arguments:
-- As one coach told me this past fall, the UW Natatorium is the fastest pool most swimmers will swim in this year. That is, save for those who swim at the Waukesha South pool for sectionals. The WSouth pool is faster than the Nat, and thus swimmers coming from the sectional don't match their times (or, just as importantly for this argument, don't drop as much time as those from other sectionals).
-- The Waukesha South sectional is super-competitive, leaving coaches little choice but to taper or at least semi-taper many swimmers for the meet to give them a chance of making it to state. For the girls last fall, the Middleton sectional was arguably just about as competitive as the Waukesha South sectional. But this year for boys, WSouth was easily the deepest sectional in terms of swimmers qualifying for state.
-- It's easier for some swimmers -- particularly those from the Madison area -- to swim well at the Nat, because it's in effect a home meet, or close to it. In addition, Madison-area swimmers may have swum more often at the Nat, and thus are comfortable there (although it must be said that the Waukesha South/Catholic Memorial boys team won the Madison West Invite at the Nat this January.)
-- Other thoughts?
I'd welcome a reasoned debate about this via the comments section; I'd prefer that it not get into speculative discussion about who is or isn't tapered for state vs. sectionals (I've always thought that's hard to tell until swimmers actually swim the races.) I'd also prefer not to get into a discussion about which pools would make for a better state meet pool -- that's a different blog post.
Post away -- I'm moderating posts these days, and will put up any and all that provide some insight and candid observation on this.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Div. 2 state meet scored
Once again, the D2 state meet looks like it's McFarland's to lose. The three-time defending state champs are seeded to score 310 points, nearly 100 points ahead of second-seeded Whitefish Bay.
Here's the top-1o teams seeded:
McFarland -- 310
Whitefish Bay -- 212
Madison Edgewood -- 200
Monona Grove -- 169
Shorewood -- 157
Cedarburg -- 135
Berlin/Green Lake -- 129
Waunakee -- 119
Plymouth -- 115
Fort Atkinson -- 104
Analysis: When you get 17 of 18 individual entries to state, and end up with the top seed in all three relays, you're bound to be the favorites. That's McFarland this year, in a near carbon-copy of last year, when the Spartans also had all three relays top-seeded and qualified 17 entries to state. Say what you will about the Spartans' dominance of recent years -- and there's a clear sense among other teams at wanting to see a changing of the guard on top -- this team knows how to swim extremely well this time of year. I'm not sure I've seen a team in recent years -- D1 or D2 -- that prepares itself better for the stretch run of the swim season than McFarland. Edgewood and Whitefish Bay look to be battling it out for second place, with Monona Grove and Shorewood leading a group of teams looking for a top-five finish. Among the top nine seeded times, all qualified three relays to state, so look for the medleys, 200 and 400 free relays to play a big part in sorting out the final order of teams in D2.
D2 meet scored....
State2010D2Boys
Here's the top-1o teams seeded:
McFarland -- 310
Whitefish Bay -- 212
Madison Edgewood -- 200
Monona Grove -- 169
Shorewood -- 157
Cedarburg -- 135
Berlin/Green Lake -- 129
Waunakee -- 119
Plymouth -- 115
Fort Atkinson -- 104
Analysis: When you get 17 of 18 individual entries to state, and end up with the top seed in all three relays, you're bound to be the favorites. That's McFarland this year, in a near carbon-copy of last year, when the Spartans also had all three relays top-seeded and qualified 17 entries to state. Say what you will about the Spartans' dominance of recent years -- and there's a clear sense among other teams at wanting to see a changing of the guard on top -- this team knows how to swim extremely well this time of year. I'm not sure I've seen a team in recent years -- D1 or D2 -- that prepares itself better for the stretch run of the swim season than McFarland. Edgewood and Whitefish Bay look to be battling it out for second place, with Monona Grove and Shorewood leading a group of teams looking for a top-five finish. Among the top nine seeded times, all qualified three relays to state, so look for the medleys, 200 and 400 free relays to play a big part in sorting out the final order of teams in D2.
D2 meet scored....
State2010D2Boys
Div. 1 state meet scored
It what looks to be a very close contest, Waukesha South/Catholic Memorial is seeded three points ahead of Hartland Arrowhead going into Saturday's D1 state meet.
Here is the top 10, based strictly on seed times (with the obvious-but-needs-to-be-said caveat -- state meets are won in the water, not on spreadsheets):
Waukesha South/Catholic Memorial -- 214 points
Hartland Arrowhead -- 211
Madison Memorial -- 170
Bay Port -- 149
Eau Claire -- 134
Menomonee Falls/Germantown/Hamilton -- 132
Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights -- 118
Brookfield Central/East -- 118
Verona/Mount Horeb -- 110
Appleton North/East -- 101
Analysis: Maybe this comes down to WS/CM's great distance swimmers against Arrowhead's amazing collection of backstrokers. WS/CM's three swimmers in the 200 and 500 frees -- Noah Potratz, Max Evans-Nolan, and Ryan Finke in the 200, and Potratz and Evans-Nolan in the 500 -- are seeded to score 60 points. HA's five backstrokers, led by Chris Jenkyns, are seeded to score 57. Of course, relays will play a huge role in sorting out the points between two teams -- both placed all three relays into the meet, with WS/CM holding a slight edge in overall seed points.
Can defending state champs Memorial make up the difference? Maybe. The relatively low seeded winning score (214), along with 10 teams seeded to score more than 100 points, suggests a very dispersed talent pool this year in D1. That could help Memorial, as top swimmers and relays from other top-10 seeded teams could squeeze in amid the WS/CM-Arrowhead battle. Memorial will certainly need another big day from senior Michael Drives -- he's seeded first or second in both of his individual events and the relays (200/400 free) he anchored Saturday. Watch for Memorial's medley relay early in the meet; seeded to score six points (14th seed), it could be a harbinger of good things for the Spartans if it can move up. Bay Port has very good relay strength seeded in the meet, but needs its individual entries to move up if the Pirates want to break into the top three at the meet.
D1 meet seeded here (ignore the heading that says "2009 girls state"; this is D1 boys state 2010)...
State2010D1
Here is the top 10, based strictly on seed times (with the obvious-but-needs-to-be-said caveat -- state meets are won in the water, not on spreadsheets):
Waukesha South/Catholic Memorial -- 214 points
Hartland Arrowhead -- 211
Madison Memorial -- 170
Bay Port -- 149
Eau Claire -- 134
Menomonee Falls/Germantown/Hamilton -- 132
Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights -- 118
Brookfield Central/East -- 118
Verona/Mount Horeb -- 110
Appleton North/East -- 101
Analysis: Maybe this comes down to WS/CM's great distance swimmers against Arrowhead's amazing collection of backstrokers. WS/CM's three swimmers in the 200 and 500 frees -- Noah Potratz, Max Evans-Nolan, and Ryan Finke in the 200, and Potratz and Evans-Nolan in the 500 -- are seeded to score 60 points. HA's five backstrokers, led by Chris Jenkyns, are seeded to score 57. Of course, relays will play a huge role in sorting out the points between two teams -- both placed all three relays into the meet, with WS/CM holding a slight edge in overall seed points.
Can defending state champs Memorial make up the difference? Maybe. The relatively low seeded winning score (214), along with 10 teams seeded to score more than 100 points, suggests a very dispersed talent pool this year in D1. That could help Memorial, as top swimmers and relays from other top-10 seeded teams could squeeze in amid the WS/CM-Arrowhead battle. Memorial will certainly need another big day from senior Michael Drives -- he's seeded first or second in both of his individual events and the relays (200/400 free) he anchored Saturday. Watch for Memorial's medley relay early in the meet; seeded to score six points (14th seed), it could be a harbinger of good things for the Spartans if it can move up. Bay Port has very good relay strength seeded in the meet, but needs its individual entries to move up if the Pirates want to break into the top three at the meet.
D1 meet seeded here (ignore the heading that says "2009 girls state"; this is D1 boys state 2010)...
State2010D1
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