I'm normally reluctant to highlight non-high school season activities, as the primary focus of the blog is high school swimming.
But this bears mentioning. At the Short Course National Championships being held in Federal Way, Wash., Elmbrook Swim Club's Kelsey Hojan-Clark (a junior at Brookfield Academy) yesterday swam a 4:47.96 in the 500 free to finish 14th in the event. That's under the all-time 500 free time swum by a Wisconsin high schooler (4:48.60, swum by Madison East's Aja Van Hout last year at the D1 state meet).
Hojan-Clark, who smashed the D2 state record in the 500 free last month with a time of 4:50.19, swam a 4:49.07 in the short-couse meet prelims, then came back to cut more than a second off that time. You can watch the race here; Hojan-Clark is in Lane 8 at the top of the picture:
http://www.swimnetwork.com/videos/v/20091203/women_s_500yd_free_b_final-17427.html
Showing posts with label D2 girls. Show all posts
Showing posts with label D2 girls. Show all posts
Friday, December 4, 2009
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Kelsey Hojan-Clark repeats as MJS swimmer of the year
It's two in a row for Brookfield Academy junior Kelsey Hojan-Clark; just like last year, she's been named the Swimmer of the Year by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. See this:
http://www.jsonline.com/sports/preps/73077602.html
Here's the understatement of the year, found near the end of the story:
"Hojan-Clark, who is receiving some interest from Division I schools..."
You think?
http://www.jsonline.com/sports/preps/73077602.html
Here's the understatement of the year, found near the end of the story:
"Hojan-Clark, who is receiving some interest from Division I schools..."
You think?
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Scenes from the state meet
Here are a few photos from the Division 2 state meet (I was timing at the D1 meet, so was unable to grab any photos from that meet; click on the photos to enlarge):
Members of the Sturgeon Bay/Sevastopol swim team take a peek at their medals as they await the trophy presentation after capturing their first Div. 2 state title.
The trophy hoisted high above.
Red-clad Sturgeon Bay/Sevastopol fans cheer on their team after the trophy presentation.
The state swim meet is loud, intense, and a constant din of cheering and noise. It can be hard for swimmers to find a quiet spot to focus on their race. Here's Monona Grove's Kelsey Millin (blue cap), sitting along the benches that line the UW Natatorium behind the starting blocks, trying to catch a few quiet moments before her race in the 100-yard butterfly. She finished third in the event.
Members of the Sturgeon Bay/Sevastopol swim team take a peek at their medals as they await the trophy presentation after capturing their first Div. 2 state title.
The trophy hoisted high above.
Red-clad Sturgeon Bay/Sevastopol fans cheer on their team after the trophy presentation.
The state swim meet is loud, intense, and a constant din of cheering and noise. It can be hard for swimmers to find a quiet spot to focus on their race. Here's Monona Grove's Kelsey Millin (blue cap), sitting along the benches that line the UW Natatorium behind the starting blocks, trying to catch a few quiet moments before her race in the 100-yard butterfly. She finished third in the event.
Update:
Peter Zuzga, a photographer for the MyCommunityNow website (the website of suburban newspapers printed by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel), has a wonderful collection of photos of Milwaukee-area swimmers from the Div. 2 state meet here:
http://www.mycommunitynow.com/multimedia/photos/70103597.htmlSaturday, November 14, 2009
Clipping along to victory -- D2 state meet recap
Give credit where it's due -- of the five D2 teams seeded to finish within 33 points of each other before the night began, Sturgeon Bay/Sevastopol swam the best all meet long, and came away deservedly with its first state championship.
The win was a sweet one for a Clippers team that came in with high hopes for a top finish at last year's state meet, only to end up 14th. The team swam great all year -- in all candor, consistently posting the best times of D2 teams throughout the year -- and the key question coming into Friday night: Could they bring it for the big meet? They did, in flying colors, in a tightly contested meet that wasn't settled until the meet-ending 400 free relay.
Of course, it helps when you add a freshman to your squad the caliber of Savanna Townsend. It was truly a team effort on SB/S's part -- they qualified nine individuals, and had six swimmers participating on their three relays -- but Savanna Townsend stood out during the meet. She won the 50 free, finished a close second in the 100 free, anchored the team's record-breaking 200 free relay with a scintillating 23.14 split (the fastest of the night in the event by more than half-a-second), and secured the first-place trophy with a 51.77 anchor leg on the 400 free relay that clinched 6th place in the relay and the team's 15-point win over three-time defending champs DeForest.
"Savanna's been a championship swimmer for a long time," said a dripping wet head coach Mike McHugh after the meet. "We knew she had the potential."
And give credit to McHugh, as well. Coaches (in all sports, really) receive both too much credit and too much blame for their team's performances. But McHugh made a crucial line-up switch before sectionals that paid off for the Clippers. He took junior Michaela Rabas out of the 200 IM for sectional -- where McHugh figured she would've qualified for state -- and put her on three relays, including the meet-ending 400 free relay. McHugh said the move cost the team points at sectionals, where the team finished third at Plymouth behind Whitefish Bay and Shorewood, but assured the Clippers would have three relays competing at what was expected to be -- and turned out to be -- a very close meet.
"Without Michaela on that relay, we probably don't win state," he said. "We gave up a sectional title to try to win state."
McHugh's decision to load up the freestyle sprints also paid off in a big way. He loaded up the 50 and 100 frees at sectionals with eight entries, and got six through to state (3 each in the 50 and 100). Seeded to score 52 points at state, the Clipper sprinters scored 64 -- a big portion of their margin over DeForest. Before the season began, McHugh took a close look at last year's D2 state meet, reviewed who was graduating and returning in various events, assessed his team's strengths, and figured freestyle sprints were the way to go.
"It was just a logical move," he said.
So congratulations to Sturgeon Bay/Sevastopol, and look out next year as well -- the team returns a good share of the swimmers who led the team to the title.
As for DeForest and Whitefish Bay, the teams swam nearly exactly as seeded -- 186 points for DeForest (seeded at 182), and 179.9.5 for Whitefish Bay (seeded at 178). DeForest coach Sue Winckler said she was happy with how her team swam.
"Our girls swam well; we moved up in points," she said. "But Sturgeon Bay moved up a little more. We had a lot of fast swims."
Other meet highlights:
-- Performance of the night: A tie between Brookfield Academy junior Kelsey Hojan-Clark's 500 free win and Sturgeon Bay/Sevastopol's 200 free relay. Is there a better swimmer in D2 than Hojan-Clark? Maybe a better question -- is there a better swimmer in the entire state? After first setting a state record in the 200 free by 8/10's of a second with a time of 1:49.13, Hojan-Clark obliterated the 500 record with a time of 4:50.19, nearly four seconds under the previous state record (both of them dating to 1996 and held by Shorewood's Jamie Belfor, generally recognized as one the best D2 swimmers in state history). Her 14+ second victory was hardly boring; with each lap, Hojan-Clark extended her lead to a rising chorus of cheers from an appreciative audience at the Nat. It was a stunning swim; only Madison East star Aja Van Hout, two-time winner of the D1 500 free, has ever swum a faster 500 free in state history. And Hojan-Clark swam the race alone for the last 400 yards against some high-caliber swimmers, including runner-up Casey Wolters of DeForest and Shorewood's Clare Chamberlain.
As for the Clippers' 200 free relay, here's the thing -- its record time of 1:36.02 actually could've been faster. With leadoff swimmer Sierra Townsend giving the team a lead with a 24.15 start -- and the team desperately needing the 40 team points it would get from winning the relay -- relay swimmers Rabas, McKenzie Trelka, and Savanna Townsend took fairly conservative relay starts, making sure not to DQ (in a meet that did see two relay DQs). The Clippers' relay was already more than half-a-second under the existing state record coming into the meet with a seed time of 1:38.43; McHugh predicted before the meet they could maybe get that down to 1:37.50. McHugh had to do a double-take when he looked at the scoreboard following the relay win. "I was just absolutely floored."
-- Race of the night: In a meet with a lot of close races, the best came early, when Milton senior Jennah Haney edged out Shorewood's Chamberlain in the 200 IM. Haney came in with the top seed, but Chamberlain was the two-time defending state champ in the event. The two pulled away from the field quickly, and when Chamberlain turned for the third leg of the event, the breaststroke, she was ahead by nearly a second. But Haney, one of D2's best breaststrokers, ripped off a 35.82 leg on the breaststroke, making up ground on Chamberlain, a very good breaststroker herself. When the two turned for the final 50-yard free sprint, Chamberlain held the slightest of edges, and still had the lead coming off the final turn. But Haney nudged ahead with 15 yards to go, and held off Chamberlain 2:04.83 to 2:04.98. Here's a video of Haney talking about her win:
http://host.madison.com/html_6f7b6cc8-d0d4-11de-9bd3-001cc4c002e0.html
-- Swimmer of the night: It has to go to Hojan-Clark with her two record-setting wins, but Sauk Prairie junior Alison Meng deserves mention for her two wins in the 100 fly and 100 backstroke. In the fly, she bested a field that saw four swimmers go under 58 seconds and nine under 1 minute. In the back, she won a tightly contested race that included defending state champ Siri Smits. Meng also helped Sauk to a 2nd-place finish in the medley relay and a 4th in the 400 free relay.
-- Good egg award: Whitefish Bay senior Maggie Smith might've been justified in feeling some disappointment on the night; after all, she swam a career-best 23.89 in the 50 free only to finish runner-up in the event for the third year in a row. But Smith's three anchor relay legs produced two gold medals in the medley and 400 free relays, and a podium finish (6th) in the 200 free relay. Her terrific 51.18 anchor leg on the 400 free relay brought her team back from third place in the relay to a second relay win on the night. It left Smith departing the Natatorium for the last time in her high school career, arm in arm with her relay teammates, singing songs as they headed for the locker room. That's a champion in anyone's book.
The win was a sweet one for a Clippers team that came in with high hopes for a top finish at last year's state meet, only to end up 14th. The team swam great all year -- in all candor, consistently posting the best times of D2 teams throughout the year -- and the key question coming into Friday night: Could they bring it for the big meet? They did, in flying colors, in a tightly contested meet that wasn't settled until the meet-ending 400 free relay.
Of course, it helps when you add a freshman to your squad the caliber of Savanna Townsend. It was truly a team effort on SB/S's part -- they qualified nine individuals, and had six swimmers participating on their three relays -- but Savanna Townsend stood out during the meet. She won the 50 free, finished a close second in the 100 free, anchored the team's record-breaking 200 free relay with a scintillating 23.14 split (the fastest of the night in the event by more than half-a-second), and secured the first-place trophy with a 51.77 anchor leg on the 400 free relay that clinched 6th place in the relay and the team's 15-point win over three-time defending champs DeForest.
"Savanna's been a championship swimmer for a long time," said a dripping wet head coach Mike McHugh after the meet. "We knew she had the potential."
And give credit to McHugh, as well. Coaches (in all sports, really) receive both too much credit and too much blame for their team's performances. But McHugh made a crucial line-up switch before sectionals that paid off for the Clippers. He took junior Michaela Rabas out of the 200 IM for sectional -- where McHugh figured she would've qualified for state -- and put her on three relays, including the meet-ending 400 free relay. McHugh said the move cost the team points at sectionals, where the team finished third at Plymouth behind Whitefish Bay and Shorewood, but assured the Clippers would have three relays competing at what was expected to be -- and turned out to be -- a very close meet.
"Without Michaela on that relay, we probably don't win state," he said. "We gave up a sectional title to try to win state."
McHugh's decision to load up the freestyle sprints also paid off in a big way. He loaded up the 50 and 100 frees at sectionals with eight entries, and got six through to state (3 each in the 50 and 100). Seeded to score 52 points at state, the Clipper sprinters scored 64 -- a big portion of their margin over DeForest. Before the season began, McHugh took a close look at last year's D2 state meet, reviewed who was graduating and returning in various events, assessed his team's strengths, and figured freestyle sprints were the way to go.
"It was just a logical move," he said.
So congratulations to Sturgeon Bay/Sevastopol, and look out next year as well -- the team returns a good share of the swimmers who led the team to the title.
As for DeForest and Whitefish Bay, the teams swam nearly exactly as seeded -- 186 points for DeForest (seeded at 182), and 179.9.5 for Whitefish Bay (seeded at 178). DeForest coach Sue Winckler said she was happy with how her team swam.
"Our girls swam well; we moved up in points," she said. "But Sturgeon Bay moved up a little more. We had a lot of fast swims."
Other meet highlights:
-- Performance of the night: A tie between Brookfield Academy junior Kelsey Hojan-Clark's 500 free win and Sturgeon Bay/Sevastopol's 200 free relay. Is there a better swimmer in D2 than Hojan-Clark? Maybe a better question -- is there a better swimmer in the entire state? After first setting a state record in the 200 free by 8/10's of a second with a time of 1:49.13, Hojan-Clark obliterated the 500 record with a time of 4:50.19, nearly four seconds under the previous state record (both of them dating to 1996 and held by Shorewood's Jamie Belfor, generally recognized as one the best D2 swimmers in state history). Her 14+ second victory was hardly boring; with each lap, Hojan-Clark extended her lead to a rising chorus of cheers from an appreciative audience at the Nat. It was a stunning swim; only Madison East star Aja Van Hout, two-time winner of the D1 500 free, has ever swum a faster 500 free in state history. And Hojan-Clark swam the race alone for the last 400 yards against some high-caliber swimmers, including runner-up Casey Wolters of DeForest and Shorewood's Clare Chamberlain.
As for the Clippers' 200 free relay, here's the thing -- its record time of 1:36.02 actually could've been faster. With leadoff swimmer Sierra Townsend giving the team a lead with a 24.15 start -- and the team desperately needing the 40 team points it would get from winning the relay -- relay swimmers Rabas, McKenzie Trelka, and Savanna Townsend took fairly conservative relay starts, making sure not to DQ (in a meet that did see two relay DQs). The Clippers' relay was already more than half-a-second under the existing state record coming into the meet with a seed time of 1:38.43; McHugh predicted before the meet they could maybe get that down to 1:37.50. McHugh had to do a double-take when he looked at the scoreboard following the relay win. "I was just absolutely floored."
-- Race of the night: In a meet with a lot of close races, the best came early, when Milton senior Jennah Haney edged out Shorewood's Chamberlain in the 200 IM. Haney came in with the top seed, but Chamberlain was the two-time defending state champ in the event. The two pulled away from the field quickly, and when Chamberlain turned for the third leg of the event, the breaststroke, she was ahead by nearly a second. But Haney, one of D2's best breaststrokers, ripped off a 35.82 leg on the breaststroke, making up ground on Chamberlain, a very good breaststroker herself. When the two turned for the final 50-yard free sprint, Chamberlain held the slightest of edges, and still had the lead coming off the final turn. But Haney nudged ahead with 15 yards to go, and held off Chamberlain 2:04.83 to 2:04.98. Here's a video of Haney talking about her win:
http://host.madison.com/html_6f7b6cc8-d0d4-11de-9bd3-001cc4c002e0.html
-- Swimmer of the night: It has to go to Hojan-Clark with her two record-setting wins, but Sauk Prairie junior Alison Meng deserves mention for her two wins in the 100 fly and 100 backstroke. In the fly, she bested a field that saw four swimmers go under 58 seconds and nine under 1 minute. In the back, she won a tightly contested race that included defending state champ Siri Smits. Meng also helped Sauk to a 2nd-place finish in the medley relay and a 4th in the 400 free relay.
-- Good egg award: Whitefish Bay senior Maggie Smith might've been justified in feeling some disappointment on the night; after all, she swam a career-best 23.89 in the 50 free only to finish runner-up in the event for the third year in a row. But Smith's three anchor relay legs produced two gold medals in the medley and 400 free relays, and a podium finish (6th) in the 200 free relay. Her terrific 51.18 anchor leg on the 400 free relay brought her team back from third place in the relay to a second relay win on the night. It left Smith departing the Natatorium for the last time in her high school career, arm in arm with her relay teammates, singing songs as they headed for the locker room. That's a champion in anyone's book.
Friday, November 13, 2009
D2 state meet live
It's official -- SB/S wins with 201 points, ending DeForest's three-year run as state champs. Norskies finish 2nd with 186, , Whitefish Bay 3rd with 179.5, Shorewood 4th with 167, Milton 5th with 153, and Sauk in 6th with 141. Great meet; thanks for tuning in.
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That should do it; final results aren't in, but Sturgeon Bay should have their first-ever D2 title. They finished 6th overall in the 400 free, with DeForest 4th. Whitefish Bay gets another great anchor leg from senior Maggie Smith to pull out the win. Sauk Prairie 2nd, and Shorewood comes out of the first heat to grab third in the relay.
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DeForest has to win the 400 free relay, and SB/S finish 9th or lower, to overcome SB/S lead. It's SB/S at 175, with DeForest at 156. DeForest is seeded 2nd in the 400 free relay, SB/S 5th.
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Emily McClellan of Delevan-Darien, who's been terrific all season long, comes back and takes the 100 breaststroke in 1:04.97. Plymouth's Kate Criter led most of the race, only to finish 3rd. Wauk. Catholic Memorial's Anna Meinholz finishes 3rd, with Milton's Jennah Haney in 4th. 400 free relay coming up.
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Team scores thru the backstroke -- St. Bay -- 175; DeForest 144, Shorewood 135, Milton 134, Whitefish Bay 125.5, Sauk 107. St. Bay has no breaststrokers, while Milton has Jennah Haney contending for a title, and DeForest has Lindsey Verhulst. St. Bay/S looks to have the lead leading into the 400 free relay.
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Sauk Prairie junior Alison Meng continues her great night, with another win, this in the 100 back. She edges Milton's Katelyn Holmquist and Grafton's Sadie Nening. Defending champ Siri Smits of Berlin/Green Lake finishes 5th. Meng goes 57.19 in what was a very close race with the top three separated by less than three-tenths of a second.
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Sturgeon Bay/S just rips off a magnificant win in the 200 free relay -- 1:36.02, breaking the previous state record set last year by Monona Grove by nearly three seconds. This relay has been terrific all season, but what a race! And with pretty safe relay starts -- no real risk-taking by the SB/S swimmers. DeForest 2nd, Elkhorn 3rd, Edgewood 4th. SB/S, if they can get some decent results out of their backstrokers, may be headed for the state title. But DeForest is still there.
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Watching Kelsey Hojan-Clark swim is like watching a perfectly tuned athlete. She wins the 500 free, smashing the state record, in 4:50.19, nearly four seconds under the former state record. Casey Wolter for DeForest finishes 2nd, in 5:04.65, while Clare Chamberlain finishes 3rd. A magnificant night from Hojan-Clark -- two state records, taken from what is generally considered one of D2's all-time best swimmers, Jamie Belfor of Shorewood.
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The team race is close, but Sturgeon Bay/Sevastopol, which has been swimming well all night long, is now in first with 120 points, followed by Shorewood 100, DeForest 93, Whitefish Bay 87.5, Milton 84, Sauk 83, Grafton 81. SB/S has its big relays to come -- the 200 free relay and the 400 free relay. But watch Milton -- they have a lot of back-half points seeded in this meet.
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Elli Sellinger of Shorewood moved over to the 100 free this year, and it proved the right move for the senior. She wins the 100 free in 52.69; Savanna Townsend of SB/S 2nd, with Kelsey Kohlbeck of Sauk in 3rd and Sierra Townsend of SB/S -- who held the lead for much of the race swimming in lane 1 -- in 4th. Top-seeded Chelsea Statz of DeForest moves down to 5th.
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In a race with four swimmers under 58 seconds, Sauk's Alison Meng wins the 100 fly in 57.06. DeForest's Leah Winckler moves up two spots to finish 2nd, with MG's Kelsey Millin in 3rd, and Elkhorn's Terrin Seaver 4th.
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Two great races just concluded. Milton's Jennah Haney beats two-time defending champ Clare Chamberlain in the 200 IM, 2:04.83 to 2:04.98. The two were neck and neck virtually the entire race, with Chamberlain holding a slight edge off the turn for the final 50 free. But Haney came down the final 15 yards and just out-touched her rival from Shorewood. Delavan-Darien's Emily McClellan 3rd, 2:08.41.
The, freshman Savanna Townsend of SB/S just edged Whitefish Bay's Maggie Smith in the 50 free -- 23.86 to 23.89. It's the third year in a row that Smith has finished 2nd in the event. Alli Bellford of New Berlin Eisenhower 3rd, while Sauk's Kelsey Kohlbeck and SB/S's McKenzie Trelka moved out of the first heat to take top-6 finishes in the 50 free.
Team scores thru the 50: Milton -- 84; Grafton (with 33 diving points) 78; SB/S -- 71; Whitefish Bay -- 71; Shorewood -- 67; DeForest -- 62. All seem to be swimming well; DeForest is creeping up from its seeds, but so is SB/S and Milton.
Brookfield Academy's Kelsey Hojan-Clark with an amazing swim -- 1:49.13, breaks all-time record set by Shorewood's Jamie Belfor in 1996. Dominating win; Shorewood's Elli Sellinger 2nd in 1:55. DeForest's Wolter and Statz moved up in their seedings, finishing 3rd and 5th. An incredible swim by the junior from Brookfield Academy.
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Whitefish Bay off to a great start with a win the medley -- 1:48.47. St. Bay 2nd, Milton moves up from 8th seed to finish 3rd. Great anchor leg by Whitefish Bay's Maggie Smith. DeForest moved up as well, from 16th seed to finish 13th.
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Full results for all 16 divers, and team scores through the first event, are now up on the WIAA website.
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The first event -- the 200 medley relay -- might provide some hints as to how this very tight meet will go. All five of the highest-seeded teams in the meet -- Sturgeon Bay/Sevatopol, DeForest, Whitefish Bay, Milton and Shorewood -- all have relays in the medley. All but DeForest are in the second, faster heat.
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We're about 30 minutes away from the start of the swim meet; proving that swimmers are multi-dimensional, one of the senior captains of the Monona Grove girls swim team -- Abby Graf -- will sing the national anthem for tonight's swim meet.
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Senior Kristin Capcik of Milwaukee Lutheran caps a fine career with a win in the D2 diving competition. She edges Whitnall's Rachel Stave by about six points to win. Capcik was 2nd last year and 4th as a sophomore. Grafton's McElligot and Zarem go 3-4, and their 33 points is two more than Grafton was seeded to score in the dive portion of the meet. New Berlin West sophomore Katie Hausmann gets 5th, while Edgewood sophomore Sheridan Hearn gets the last spot on the podium with a 6th place finish.
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Dive meet is over; results soon. A pile of swimmers are waiting to get into the Nat locker rooms in the annual jam-up at the downstairs doors.
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As the swim meet progresses, feel free to ask questions and comments as to particular swimmers. I'll try to get to them as time allows. Send to comments (as opposed to the personal email address posted here) on this blog item. We'll track down results; the WIAA plans to post results as well on it website.
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Grafton divers Molly McElligot and Katelyn Zarem hold down the 3rd and 4th place spots as the final round of diving takes place.
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Capcik of Milwaukee Lutheran has taken the lead in diving, drawing a big cheer from the Milwaukee Lutheran fans here at the Nat. Stave of Whitnall is second. Three dives to go before the dive meet concludes.
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We're going to reformat; all new posts will be on the top of the post, instead of scrolling down to see new posts. Also, please induge mis-spellings, typos and whatnot -- the swim meet will be fast-paced, so a few errors may creep in. Divers are wrapping up; swimmers are making their way into the Nat, and a good crowd is already here -- with DeForest fans sitting in their traditional spot nearest the starting blocks.
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OK, we're blogging the state meet live. It's 2:50 p.m., and the D2 divers are underway. Whitnall freshman Rachel Stave is the top-seeded diver, with a sectional score of 429.75. In the random order of diving, she's 4th among the 16 divers. Kristin Capcik, a senior from Milwaukee Lutheran, is seeded second. She was runner-up last year, and the highest-placing finisher returning from last year's state dive meet.
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We're halfway through diving; Stave, Capcik and Edgewood's Sheridan Hearn are all among the top 5 as of right now.
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That should do it; final results aren't in, but Sturgeon Bay should have their first-ever D2 title. They finished 6th overall in the 400 free, with DeForest 4th. Whitefish Bay gets another great anchor leg from senior Maggie Smith to pull out the win. Sauk Prairie 2nd, and Shorewood comes out of the first heat to grab third in the relay.
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DeForest has to win the 400 free relay, and SB/S finish 9th or lower, to overcome SB/S lead. It's SB/S at 175, with DeForest at 156. DeForest is seeded 2nd in the 400 free relay, SB/S 5th.
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Emily McClellan of Delevan-Darien, who's been terrific all season long, comes back and takes the 100 breaststroke in 1:04.97. Plymouth's Kate Criter led most of the race, only to finish 3rd. Wauk. Catholic Memorial's Anna Meinholz finishes 3rd, with Milton's Jennah Haney in 4th. 400 free relay coming up.
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Team scores thru the backstroke -- St. Bay -- 175; DeForest 144, Shorewood 135, Milton 134, Whitefish Bay 125.5, Sauk 107. St. Bay has no breaststrokers, while Milton has Jennah Haney contending for a title, and DeForest has Lindsey Verhulst. St. Bay/S looks to have the lead leading into the 400 free relay.
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Sauk Prairie junior Alison Meng continues her great night, with another win, this in the 100 back. She edges Milton's Katelyn Holmquist and Grafton's Sadie Nening. Defending champ Siri Smits of Berlin/Green Lake finishes 5th. Meng goes 57.19 in what was a very close race with the top three separated by less than three-tenths of a second.
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Sturgeon Bay/S just rips off a magnificant win in the 200 free relay -- 1:36.02, breaking the previous state record set last year by Monona Grove by nearly three seconds. This relay has been terrific all season, but what a race! And with pretty safe relay starts -- no real risk-taking by the SB/S swimmers. DeForest 2nd, Elkhorn 3rd, Edgewood 4th. SB/S, if they can get some decent results out of their backstrokers, may be headed for the state title. But DeForest is still there.
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Watching Kelsey Hojan-Clark swim is like watching a perfectly tuned athlete. She wins the 500 free, smashing the state record, in 4:50.19, nearly four seconds under the former state record. Casey Wolter for DeForest finishes 2nd, in 5:04.65, while Clare Chamberlain finishes 3rd. A magnificant night from Hojan-Clark -- two state records, taken from what is generally considered one of D2's all-time best swimmers, Jamie Belfor of Shorewood.
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The team race is close, but Sturgeon Bay/Sevastopol, which has been swimming well all night long, is now in first with 120 points, followed by Shorewood 100, DeForest 93, Whitefish Bay 87.5, Milton 84, Sauk 83, Grafton 81. SB/S has its big relays to come -- the 200 free relay and the 400 free relay. But watch Milton -- they have a lot of back-half points seeded in this meet.
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Elli Sellinger of Shorewood moved over to the 100 free this year, and it proved the right move for the senior. She wins the 100 free in 52.69; Savanna Townsend of SB/S 2nd, with Kelsey Kohlbeck of Sauk in 3rd and Sierra Townsend of SB/S -- who held the lead for much of the race swimming in lane 1 -- in 4th. Top-seeded Chelsea Statz of DeForest moves down to 5th.
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In a race with four swimmers under 58 seconds, Sauk's Alison Meng wins the 100 fly in 57.06. DeForest's Leah Winckler moves up two spots to finish 2nd, with MG's Kelsey Millin in 3rd, and Elkhorn's Terrin Seaver 4th.
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Two great races just concluded. Milton's Jennah Haney beats two-time defending champ Clare Chamberlain in the 200 IM, 2:04.83 to 2:04.98. The two were neck and neck virtually the entire race, with Chamberlain holding a slight edge off the turn for the final 50 free. But Haney came down the final 15 yards and just out-touched her rival from Shorewood. Delavan-Darien's Emily McClellan 3rd, 2:08.41.
The, freshman Savanna Townsend of SB/S just edged Whitefish Bay's Maggie Smith in the 50 free -- 23.86 to 23.89. It's the third year in a row that Smith has finished 2nd in the event. Alli Bellford of New Berlin Eisenhower 3rd, while Sauk's Kelsey Kohlbeck and SB/S's McKenzie Trelka moved out of the first heat to take top-6 finishes in the 50 free.
Team scores thru the 50: Milton -- 84; Grafton (with 33 diving points) 78; SB/S -- 71; Whitefish Bay -- 71; Shorewood -- 67; DeForest -- 62. All seem to be swimming well; DeForest is creeping up from its seeds, but so is SB/S and Milton.
Brookfield Academy's Kelsey Hojan-Clark with an amazing swim -- 1:49.13, breaks all-time record set by Shorewood's Jamie Belfor in 1996. Dominating win; Shorewood's Elli Sellinger 2nd in 1:55. DeForest's Wolter and Statz moved up in their seedings, finishing 3rd and 5th. An incredible swim by the junior from Brookfield Academy.
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Whitefish Bay off to a great start with a win the medley -- 1:48.47. St. Bay 2nd, Milton moves up from 8th seed to finish 3rd. Great anchor leg by Whitefish Bay's Maggie Smith. DeForest moved up as well, from 16th seed to finish 13th.
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Full results for all 16 divers, and team scores through the first event, are now up on the WIAA website.
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The first event -- the 200 medley relay -- might provide some hints as to how this very tight meet will go. All five of the highest-seeded teams in the meet -- Sturgeon Bay/Sevatopol, DeForest, Whitefish Bay, Milton and Shorewood -- all have relays in the medley. All but DeForest are in the second, faster heat.
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We're about 30 minutes away from the start of the swim meet; proving that swimmers are multi-dimensional, one of the senior captains of the Monona Grove girls swim team -- Abby Graf -- will sing the national anthem for tonight's swim meet.
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Senior Kristin Capcik of Milwaukee Lutheran caps a fine career with a win in the D2 diving competition. She edges Whitnall's Rachel Stave by about six points to win. Capcik was 2nd last year and 4th as a sophomore. Grafton's McElligot and Zarem go 3-4, and their 33 points is two more than Grafton was seeded to score in the dive portion of the meet. New Berlin West sophomore Katie Hausmann gets 5th, while Edgewood sophomore Sheridan Hearn gets the last spot on the podium with a 6th place finish.
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Dive meet is over; results soon. A pile of swimmers are waiting to get into the Nat locker rooms in the annual jam-up at the downstairs doors.
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As the swim meet progresses, feel free to ask questions and comments as to particular swimmers. I'll try to get to them as time allows. Send to comments (as opposed to the personal email address posted here) on this blog item. We'll track down results; the WIAA plans to post results as well on it website.
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Grafton divers Molly McElligot and Katelyn Zarem hold down the 3rd and 4th place spots as the final round of diving takes place.
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Capcik of Milwaukee Lutheran has taken the lead in diving, drawing a big cheer from the Milwaukee Lutheran fans here at the Nat. Stave of Whitnall is second. Three dives to go before the dive meet concludes.
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We're going to reformat; all new posts will be on the top of the post, instead of scrolling down to see new posts. Also, please induge mis-spellings, typos and whatnot -- the swim meet will be fast-paced, so a few errors may creep in. Divers are wrapping up; swimmers are making their way into the Nat, and a good crowd is already here -- with DeForest fans sitting in their traditional spot nearest the starting blocks.
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OK, we're blogging the state meet live. It's 2:50 p.m., and the D2 divers are underway. Whitnall freshman Rachel Stave is the top-seeded diver, with a sectional score of 429.75. In the random order of diving, she's 4th among the 16 divers. Kristin Capcik, a senior from Milwaukee Lutheran, is seeded second. She was runner-up last year, and the highest-placing finisher returning from last year's state dive meet.
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We're halfway through diving; Stave, Capcik and Edgewood's Sheridan Hearn are all among the top 5 as of right now.
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Blogging from the D2 state meet
I'm going to attempt to live-blog the D2 state meet tonight. Instead of setting up a live-blogging device, I'll simply start a topic -- probably "D2 state meet live" and continually update it throughout the meet. I've never tried it before, and am hoping the Natatorium wi-fi works for me. We'll see how it goes.
Good luck to all state meet participants!
Good luck to all state meet participants!
Thursday, November 12, 2009
D2 state meet preview
The D2 state meet is Friday night; here's a preview of what to look for in what figures to be a very close team competition.
-- Can DeForest make it four in a row? The Norskies have won the last three state championships; last year they overwhelmed the field with 15 individual qualifiers and three solid relays. This year figures to be more like 2006, when five teams finished within 33 points of each other and the Norskies pulled it out in the very last event by winning the 400 free relay. DeForest has nine individual qualifiers, along with all three relays, but only sophomore Chelsea Statz earned a top seed for the team (100 free). Still, this is a squad filled with veteran swimmers who know the pressures of the state meet, and DeForest -- which was posting some fair-to-middling times mid-season -- always seems to swim well this time of year. With three teams (Sturgeon Bay/Sevastopol, DeForest and Whitefish Bay) seeded within six points of each other for the top spot (see: http://wiscswim.blogspot.com/2009/11/d1-and-d2-meets-seeded.html ), this meet is way too close to call. But DeForest will certainly be in the mix, and has its four very best swimmers -- Statz and fellow sophomore Leah Winckler, junior Casey Wolter, and senior Lindsey Verhulst -- slated to swim the meet-ending 400 free relay. Shades of 2006? We'll find out.
-- Can Sturgeon Bay/Sevastopol sprint its way to the state championship? The Clippers are loaded in the sprints, with three qualifiers each in the 50 and 100 frees, a 200 free relay that's already under the state-record time in the event, a second-seeded 200 medley relay, and a 400 free relay that earned a #5 seed. Sisters Sierra and Savanna Townsend will lead a squad looking for a bit of redemption after last year, when SB/S came to the Natatorium with high hopes but performed below expectations. Coach Mike McHuhugh is making sure one thing is changed this year; all of the Clippers will be wearing the fastest suits available for the state meet."I just don't think you can compete without them, so we're going to bite the bullet and spend the money to get them," McHugh told the Door County Advocate. "Whoever's going to show up at state without a suit is going to be at a distinct disadvantage. I really think the speed suits make a massive difference. We were primed last year and swam well, but without speed suits it was like going to a gunfight with a knife. We were unable to beat the suit last year. We just can't take that hit again."
-- Can Whitefish Bay senior Maggie Smith finally win an individual state title, and in doing so lead her team to a state title? Whitefish Bay has traditionally been one of the strongest girls programs in the state, but it's never won a state title. The Blue Dukes finished as runner-up in 2006 and 2007. Smith won a gold medal on that 2006 team as a freshman, when she anchored a 200 free relay that won by just .04 seconds. But she's been shut out since, finishing as runner-up the past two years in the 50 free. She's got the top seed in the 50 free this year, and in a true display of taking one for the team, gave up the 100 free (where she's finished T-5th and 3rd the past two state meets) to anchor all three of the Blue Dukes' state-qualifying relays. The move paid off, as Whitefish Bay earned the top seed in both the medley and 400 free relays. The Blue Dukes swam as well or better than any D2 team in the state at last week's sectionals; can they bring it again?
-- Can Milton senior Jennah Haney cap her wonderful high school career with two individual titles? If she does, will it be enough to take her team to the D2 state title? Haney is seeded 1st in the 200 IM, where she'll be up against two-time defending champion Clare Chamberlain of Shorewood, and 2nd in the 100 breaststroke -- the event she won her first two years at state. Haney is the team elder on a squad that depends heavily on freshmen and sophomores; she'll also play a key role on two of Milton's three state-qualifying relays. Milton is seeded to finish 4th at the state meet, but close enough to the top teams that a big night from Haney could mean a move up.
-- Can Brookfield Academy's Kelsey Hojan-Clark chase down the state records she just missed last year? The defending champion in both the 200 and 500 free, Hojan-Clark missed state records last year by a third-of-a-second (200 free) and a quarter-of-a-second (500 free). Notable last year was that Hojan-Clark -- although wearing a full-body suit -- eschewed the controversial blue70 suit popular with so many swimmers at last year's state meet that prompted controversy and the eventual restrictions on suits for this season. She'll be chased by some top talent, including McFarland's Chloe Bartuska and Shorewood's Elli Sellinger in the 200, and Chamberlain and Wolter in the 500.
-- Could the race for the 100 butterfly be any closer? The three top seeds -- Elkhorn's Terrin Seaver, Sauk Prairie's Alison Meng, and Monona Grove's Kelsey Millin -- are collectively separated by a mere .07 seconds on their seed times. The field also includes top butterfliers like DeForest's Winckler and Berlin/Green Lake's Siri Smits, as well as last year's runner-up -- Plymouth's Kate Criter -- swimming out of lane 4 in the first heat.
-- One of the night's most intriguing races looks to be the 100 backstroke. Milton freshman Katelyn Holmquist comes in with the top seed, but she'll be bracketed in the final heat by a bevy of state meet veterans, including defending champ Smits, who last year set a D2 state record (55.83) with a time so fast it would've won last year's D1 title. Two other swimmers loom in outside lanes -- Grafton's Sadie Nenning in lane 1, last year's runner-up who won this race at state in 2006 and 2007, and in lane 7 Ashwaubenon's Erika Pliner, who has moved down from D1. At last year's D1 state meet, Pliner cut an amazing 3.13 seconds off her sectional seed time to finish 3rd at state with a time of 58.00.
-- They're baaaack. The best race at last year's state meet was the 100 breaststroke, where five swimmers broke the existing state record. All of them return -- first-place finisher Criter, Haney, Waukesha Catholic Memorial's Anna Meinholz, McFarland's Stirling Smith, and Delavan-Darien's Emily McClellan. McClellan, who finished 5th last year at state after breaking the state record out of the first heat, comes in as the favorite. She's beaten Haney, who has the #2 seed, three times this season in the event, including at last week's sectional meet. The breaststroke is particularly loaded this year, as 10 swimmers come in seeded under 1:10.00.
-- Finally, how fast will this year's meet be? Some have suggested not as fast as last year, which saw three state records fall and the utilization by numerous swimmers of the now-banned full-body suits. But remember this -- the meet features seven swimmers who have won individual state titles. Sturgeon Bay/Sevastopol has already swum a time in the 200 free relay more than half-a-second below the state record in the event. And the remarkable closeness of the meet suggests that no one will be holding back on "safe" relay starts, since all of the top teams competing for the state title will be battling each other in the relays. Expect another very fast meet.
-- Can DeForest make it four in a row? The Norskies have won the last three state championships; last year they overwhelmed the field with 15 individual qualifiers and three solid relays. This year figures to be more like 2006, when five teams finished within 33 points of each other and the Norskies pulled it out in the very last event by winning the 400 free relay. DeForest has nine individual qualifiers, along with all three relays, but only sophomore Chelsea Statz earned a top seed for the team (100 free). Still, this is a squad filled with veteran swimmers who know the pressures of the state meet, and DeForest -- which was posting some fair-to-middling times mid-season -- always seems to swim well this time of year. With three teams (Sturgeon Bay/Sevastopol, DeForest and Whitefish Bay) seeded within six points of each other for the top spot (see: http://wiscswim.blogspot.com/2009/11/d1-and-d2-meets-seeded.html ), this meet is way too close to call. But DeForest will certainly be in the mix, and has its four very best swimmers -- Statz and fellow sophomore Leah Winckler, junior Casey Wolter, and senior Lindsey Verhulst -- slated to swim the meet-ending 400 free relay. Shades of 2006? We'll find out.
-- Can Sturgeon Bay/Sevastopol sprint its way to the state championship? The Clippers are loaded in the sprints, with three qualifiers each in the 50 and 100 frees, a 200 free relay that's already under the state-record time in the event, a second-seeded 200 medley relay, and a 400 free relay that earned a #5 seed. Sisters Sierra and Savanna Townsend will lead a squad looking for a bit of redemption after last year, when SB/S came to the Natatorium with high hopes but performed below expectations. Coach Mike McHuhugh is making sure one thing is changed this year; all of the Clippers will be wearing the fastest suits available for the state meet."I just don't think you can compete without them, so we're going to bite the bullet and spend the money to get them," McHugh told the Door County Advocate. "Whoever's going to show up at state without a suit is going to be at a distinct disadvantage. I really think the speed suits make a massive difference. We were primed last year and swam well, but without speed suits it was like going to a gunfight with a knife. We were unable to beat the suit last year. We just can't take that hit again."
-- Can Whitefish Bay senior Maggie Smith finally win an individual state title, and in doing so lead her team to a state title? Whitefish Bay has traditionally been one of the strongest girls programs in the state, but it's never won a state title. The Blue Dukes finished as runner-up in 2006 and 2007. Smith won a gold medal on that 2006 team as a freshman, when she anchored a 200 free relay that won by just .04 seconds. But she's been shut out since, finishing as runner-up the past two years in the 50 free. She's got the top seed in the 50 free this year, and in a true display of taking one for the team, gave up the 100 free (where she's finished T-5th and 3rd the past two state meets) to anchor all three of the Blue Dukes' state-qualifying relays. The move paid off, as Whitefish Bay earned the top seed in both the medley and 400 free relays. The Blue Dukes swam as well or better than any D2 team in the state at last week's sectionals; can they bring it again?
-- Can Milton senior Jennah Haney cap her wonderful high school career with two individual titles? If she does, will it be enough to take her team to the D2 state title? Haney is seeded 1st in the 200 IM, where she'll be up against two-time defending champion Clare Chamberlain of Shorewood, and 2nd in the 100 breaststroke -- the event she won her first two years at state. Haney is the team elder on a squad that depends heavily on freshmen and sophomores; she'll also play a key role on two of Milton's three state-qualifying relays. Milton is seeded to finish 4th at the state meet, but close enough to the top teams that a big night from Haney could mean a move up.
-- Can Brookfield Academy's Kelsey Hojan-Clark chase down the state records she just missed last year? The defending champion in both the 200 and 500 free, Hojan-Clark missed state records last year by a third-of-a-second (200 free) and a quarter-of-a-second (500 free). Notable last year was that Hojan-Clark -- although wearing a full-body suit -- eschewed the controversial blue70 suit popular with so many swimmers at last year's state meet that prompted controversy and the eventual restrictions on suits for this season. She'll be chased by some top talent, including McFarland's Chloe Bartuska and Shorewood's Elli Sellinger in the 200, and Chamberlain and Wolter in the 500.
-- Could the race for the 100 butterfly be any closer? The three top seeds -- Elkhorn's Terrin Seaver, Sauk Prairie's Alison Meng, and Monona Grove's Kelsey Millin -- are collectively separated by a mere .07 seconds on their seed times. The field also includes top butterfliers like DeForest's Winckler and Berlin/Green Lake's Siri Smits, as well as last year's runner-up -- Plymouth's Kate Criter -- swimming out of lane 4 in the first heat.
-- One of the night's most intriguing races looks to be the 100 backstroke. Milton freshman Katelyn Holmquist comes in with the top seed, but she'll be bracketed in the final heat by a bevy of state meet veterans, including defending champ Smits, who last year set a D2 state record (55.83) with a time so fast it would've won last year's D1 title. Two other swimmers loom in outside lanes -- Grafton's Sadie Nenning in lane 1, last year's runner-up who won this race at state in 2006 and 2007, and in lane 7 Ashwaubenon's Erika Pliner, who has moved down from D1. At last year's D1 state meet, Pliner cut an amazing 3.13 seconds off her sectional seed time to finish 3rd at state with a time of 58.00.
-- They're baaaack. The best race at last year's state meet was the 100 breaststroke, where five swimmers broke the existing state record. All of them return -- first-place finisher Criter, Haney, Waukesha Catholic Memorial's Anna Meinholz, McFarland's Stirling Smith, and Delavan-Darien's Emily McClellan. McClellan, who finished 5th last year at state after breaking the state record out of the first heat, comes in as the favorite. She's beaten Haney, who has the #2 seed, three times this season in the event, including at last week's sectional meet. The breaststroke is particularly loaded this year, as 10 swimmers come in seeded under 1:10.00.
-- Finally, how fast will this year's meet be? Some have suggested not as fast as last year, which saw three state records fall and the utilization by numerous swimmers of the now-banned full-body suits. But remember this -- the meet features seven swimmers who have won individual state titles. Sturgeon Bay/Sevastopol has already swum a time in the 200 free relay more than half-a-second below the state record in the event. And the remarkable closeness of the meet suggests that no one will be holding back on "safe" relay starts, since all of the top teams competing for the state title will be battling each other in the relays. Expect another very fast meet.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Division 2 sectional round-up
If Saturday's Div. 2 sectionals proved anything, it's that the race for the team title this year may be the closest in years. Several teams came out of sectional competition with a legitimate case for taking home the first-place trophy.
In the day's best competition, Whitefish Bay enjoyed an outstanding day in the Plymouth sectional, winning (326 points) a taught, three-way battle with Shorewood (317) and Sturgeon Bay/Sevastopol (312). WBay's Jim Davis stacked his relays, taking star sprinter Maggie Smith out of the 100 free and placing her as anchor on all three relays. It worked, as Smith brought home two relay wins for her team -- the medley in a thrilling match-up with SB/S (1:50.59 to 1:50.99), and the meet-clinching 400 free relay in an outstanding time of 3:36.74. For good measure, Smith won the 50 free (24.32, just edging SB/S freshman sensation Savanna Townsend by .03 seconds) and bringing home the 200 free relay in 3rd place.
WBay also got a surprising win from senior Annie Maercklein in the 100 breaststroke, where she edged out defending state champ Kate Criter in the race 1:07.02-1:07.18. But it was a true team win for WBay; nearly every single swimmer for the Blue Dukes improved her seed time and moved up to score points in the meet.
In a meet that featured several oustanding races, none was closer than the 100 free, where SB/S freshman Savanna Townsend edged Shorewood senior Elli Sellinger by a mere .01 seconds, 54.09-54.10. Townsend led a solid showing by SB/S's sprinters; the team qualified three swimmers for state in both the 50 and 100 frees. In addition, Savanna and her sister Sierra, joined by Micheala Rabas and McKenzie Trelka won the 200 free relay in 1:38.43, more than half-a-second under the current D2 state record in the event, set last year by Monona Grove. SB/S also finished second in both the 200 medley and 400 free relays; with their sprinting depth and strong relays, SB/S can certainly make an argument for being one of the strongest contenders for the D2 state title this coming week.
Also at the meet, defending state champ Kelsey Hojan-Clark of Brookfield Academy dominated both of her events, winning the 200 free (1:53.04) by more than three seconds over Sellinger, and the 500 free (5:00.46) by nearly nine seconds over last year's state runner-up, Claire Chamberlain of Shorewood. Chamberlain easily won the 200 IM; she'll be gunning for her third straight state title in the event this Friday.
Over at Baraboo, three-time defending state champ DeForest stated its case for a 4th consecutive title with a dominating performance, 331-276 over a Sauk Prairie squad that also swam extremely well. DeForest stacked its 200 and 400 free relays with its four best swimmers, and got wins from both relays with some very fast times (1:39.91 in the 200; 3:37.43 in the 400). All four of those relay swimmers produced an individual win as well -- Leah Winckler in the 200 IM, Lindsey Verhulst in the 50 free, Chelsea Statz in the 100 free, and Casey Wolter in the 500 free. Sauk's Alison Meng produced two wins -- 100 back (58.47) and the 100 fly (58.88), the latter in a thrilling three-way race with Monona Grove's Kelsey Millin and Winckler. Meng also led off Sauk's winning 200 medley relay. McFarland's Stirling Smith swam a very fast 1:06.05 to win the 100 breaststroke.
Milton edged Elkhorn 320-310 in another terrific sectional battle at Cudahy in a meet that saw the two teams go back and forth throughout the afternoon. Milton senior Jennah Haney led the way for her team, with a win in the 200 IM (2:06.93). She was joined by teammates Abby Holmquist, who won the 200 free (1:58.72), Stacey Kincade, who won the 500 free (5:21.70), and Katelyn Holmquist, who won the 100 back (57.37). The 100 breaststroke was the shining event of the meet, with Delavan-Darien's Emily McClellan (1:05.66) edging Haney (1:05.90) and Waukesha Catholic Memorial's Anna Meinholz (1:07.39) in a race that featured three of the five swimmers who broke last year's state record in the event. Elkhorn flexed its muscles in the relays, winning both the 200 and 400 free relays. Elkhorn senior Terrin Seaver earned the top seed in the butterfly at the state meet with a time of 58.85; she added a 2nd place in the 100 back. New Berlin West's Cory Wannamaker was a double-winner in the 50 and 100 frees.
At the UW-Stevens Point sectional, Berlin-Green Lake got a double win from Siri Smits (100 fly, 100 back) to capture the team title, 301-247 over runner-up Ashwaubenon. Smits and senior Erin Cox contributed legs on the team's winning medley and 400 free relays, and Cox added a win in the 200 IM. Ashwaubenon's Andrea Teske was a double winner in the 200 and 500 frees.
In the day's best competition, Whitefish Bay enjoyed an outstanding day in the Plymouth sectional, winning (326 points) a taught, three-way battle with Shorewood (317) and Sturgeon Bay/Sevastopol (312). WBay's Jim Davis stacked his relays, taking star sprinter Maggie Smith out of the 100 free and placing her as anchor on all three relays. It worked, as Smith brought home two relay wins for her team -- the medley in a thrilling match-up with SB/S (1:50.59 to 1:50.99), and the meet-clinching 400 free relay in an outstanding time of 3:36.74. For good measure, Smith won the 50 free (24.32, just edging SB/S freshman sensation Savanna Townsend by .03 seconds) and bringing home the 200 free relay in 3rd place.
WBay also got a surprising win from senior Annie Maercklein in the 100 breaststroke, where she edged out defending state champ Kate Criter in the race 1:07.02-1:07.18. But it was a true team win for WBay; nearly every single swimmer for the Blue Dukes improved her seed time and moved up to score points in the meet.
In a meet that featured several oustanding races, none was closer than the 100 free, where SB/S freshman Savanna Townsend edged Shorewood senior Elli Sellinger by a mere .01 seconds, 54.09-54.10. Townsend led a solid showing by SB/S's sprinters; the team qualified three swimmers for state in both the 50 and 100 frees. In addition, Savanna and her sister Sierra, joined by Micheala Rabas and McKenzie Trelka won the 200 free relay in 1:38.43, more than half-a-second under the current D2 state record in the event, set last year by Monona Grove. SB/S also finished second in both the 200 medley and 400 free relays; with their sprinting depth and strong relays, SB/S can certainly make an argument for being one of the strongest contenders for the D2 state title this coming week.
Also at the meet, defending state champ Kelsey Hojan-Clark of Brookfield Academy dominated both of her events, winning the 200 free (1:53.04) by more than three seconds over Sellinger, and the 500 free (5:00.46) by nearly nine seconds over last year's state runner-up, Claire Chamberlain of Shorewood. Chamberlain easily won the 200 IM; she'll be gunning for her third straight state title in the event this Friday.
Over at Baraboo, three-time defending state champ DeForest stated its case for a 4th consecutive title with a dominating performance, 331-276 over a Sauk Prairie squad that also swam extremely well. DeForest stacked its 200 and 400 free relays with its four best swimmers, and got wins from both relays with some very fast times (1:39.91 in the 200; 3:37.43 in the 400). All four of those relay swimmers produced an individual win as well -- Leah Winckler in the 200 IM, Lindsey Verhulst in the 50 free, Chelsea Statz in the 100 free, and Casey Wolter in the 500 free. Sauk's Alison Meng produced two wins -- 100 back (58.47) and the 100 fly (58.88), the latter in a thrilling three-way race with Monona Grove's Kelsey Millin and Winckler. Meng also led off Sauk's winning 200 medley relay. McFarland's Stirling Smith swam a very fast 1:06.05 to win the 100 breaststroke.
Milton edged Elkhorn 320-310 in another terrific sectional battle at Cudahy in a meet that saw the two teams go back and forth throughout the afternoon. Milton senior Jennah Haney led the way for her team, with a win in the 200 IM (2:06.93). She was joined by teammates Abby Holmquist, who won the 200 free (1:58.72), Stacey Kincade, who won the 500 free (5:21.70), and Katelyn Holmquist, who won the 100 back (57.37). The 100 breaststroke was the shining event of the meet, with Delavan-Darien's Emily McClellan (1:05.66) edging Haney (1:05.90) and Waukesha Catholic Memorial's Anna Meinholz (1:07.39) in a race that featured three of the five swimmers who broke last year's state record in the event. Elkhorn flexed its muscles in the relays, winning both the 200 and 400 free relays. Elkhorn senior Terrin Seaver earned the top seed in the butterfly at the state meet with a time of 58.85; she added a 2nd place in the 100 back. New Berlin West's Cory Wannamaker was a double-winner in the 50 and 100 frees.
At the UW-Stevens Point sectional, Berlin-Green Lake got a double win from Siri Smits (100 fly, 100 back) to capture the team title, 301-247 over runner-up Ashwaubenon. Smits and senior Erin Cox contributed legs on the team's winning medley and 400 free relays, and Cox added a win in the 200 IM. Ashwaubenon's Andrea Teske was a double winner in the 200 and 500 frees.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Senior profile -- Madison Edgewood's Kelsey Richards
The Badger Conference has been known in recent years for producing top-notch Div. 2 freestyle sprinters. In the past few years, Monroe's Ellie Radke, Monona Grove's Hayley Martin, and Sauk Prairie's Abby Diehl have all won D2 state titles in the 50 or 100 free races.
The latest Badger Conference sprinter joining the ranks of the state's top D2 sprinters is Madison Edgewood's Kelsey Richards. Richards, who focuses on both the 50 and 100 frees, has qualified individually for the D2 state meet each of her first three years, and last year finished 4th at state in the 50 and 8th in the 100. She also contributed strong relay legs on Edgewood's 200 (2nd place) and 400 (8th) free relays last year which hope to get back to state. She'll certainly be a threat to capture a sectional title in the sprints this Saturday at the Baraboo sectional.
Name: Kelsey Mercedes Richards
School: Edgewood High School
Year: Senior
Favorite Event to Swim: 50 free
Proudest Accomplishment as a Swimmer: I am most proud of how I have shared my love of swimming. I am a coach for the Nakoma Swim Team in the All City league. I love how I get to pass on my passion for swimming to the kids I coach. It is really fun and enjoyable to watch them fall in love with such a great sport.
Favorite Swimming Memory: Winning the 200 free relay at the Madison All City meet with my sister, Devon, and friends, Ruby and Ivy Martin. It was a blast to swim with such good friends and to have our own sister relay!
Favorite Non-Swimming Activity: Outside of swimming, I like to run a lot. I am on my school’s track team in the spring. I sprint in that sport as well. I also really like to read. My favorite book is the The Time Traveler’s Wife.
Favorite Food: Ice Cream, especially Shamrock Shakes
Favorite Movie: Breakfast at Tiffany’s; Mighty Ducks Trilogy
Music You Listen to Get Psyched Up for a Meet: “Remember the Name” By Fort Minor
Role Model: My grandparents, Noni and Papa, and my close friend, Cali Stephens, for too many reasons to count.
Favorite Swimmer: Jason Lezak, after that 400 freestyle relay at the Olympics how could you pick anyone else?!?
Family: Laura (Mom), Kendall (Dad), 2 younger sisters – Devon (16) and Samantha (14).
Plans after High School: Attend a university and continue working hard, whether I’m in the pool or in the classroom.
Career Goal: Narrow down my interests to a potential major. I’m very torn at the moment. Also, I’d really like to be a mom and have a family in the future.
Favorite Quote: “Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark, in the hopeless swaps of the not quite, the not yet, and the not at all. Do not let the hero in your soul perish in lonely frustration for the life you deserved and have never been able to reach. The world you desire can be won. It exists. It is real. It is possible. It is yours.” – Ayn Rand
The latest Badger Conference sprinter joining the ranks of the state's top D2 sprinters is Madison Edgewood's Kelsey Richards. Richards, who focuses on both the 50 and 100 frees, has qualified individually for the D2 state meet each of her first three years, and last year finished 4th at state in the 50 and 8th in the 100. She also contributed strong relay legs on Edgewood's 200 (2nd place) and 400 (8th) free relays last year which hope to get back to state. She'll certainly be a threat to capture a sectional title in the sprints this Saturday at the Baraboo sectional.
Name: Kelsey Mercedes Richards
School: Edgewood High School
Year: Senior
Favorite Event to Swim: 50 free
Proudest Accomplishment as a Swimmer: I am most proud of how I have shared my love of swimming. I am a coach for the Nakoma Swim Team in the All City league. I love how I get to pass on my passion for swimming to the kids I coach. It is really fun and enjoyable to watch them fall in love with such a great sport.
Favorite Swimming Memory: Winning the 200 free relay at the Madison All City meet with my sister, Devon, and friends, Ruby and Ivy Martin. It was a blast to swim with such good friends and to have our own sister relay!
Favorite Non-Swimming Activity: Outside of swimming, I like to run a lot. I am on my school’s track team in the spring. I sprint in that sport as well. I also really like to read. My favorite book is the The Time Traveler’s Wife.
Favorite Food: Ice Cream, especially Shamrock Shakes
Favorite Movie: Breakfast at Tiffany’s; Mighty Ducks Trilogy
Music You Listen to Get Psyched Up for a Meet: “Remember the Name” By Fort Minor
Role Model: My grandparents, Noni and Papa, and my close friend, Cali Stephens, for too many reasons to count.
Favorite Swimmer: Jason Lezak, after that 400 freestyle relay at the Olympics how could you pick anyone else?!?
Family: Laura (Mom), Kendall (Dad), 2 younger sisters – Devon (16) and Samantha (14).
Plans after High School: Attend a university and continue working hard, whether I’m in the pool or in the classroom.
Career Goal: Narrow down my interests to a potential major. I’m very torn at the moment. Also, I’d really like to be a mom and have a family in the future.
Favorite Quote: “Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark, in the hopeless swaps of the not quite, the not yet, and the not at all. Do not let the hero in your soul perish in lonely frustration for the life you deserved and have never been able to reach. The world you desire can be won. It exists. It is real. It is possible. It is yours.” – Ayn Rand
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Anatomy of a start
The 50-yard freestyle is the rawest and most elemental of swimming events. It’s a quick race -- one trip up the lane, and another back – with a razor-thin margin of error. It’s maybe the most nerve-wracking of all events; some swimmers candidly admit in private to not liking it much. Success often hinges on executing three elements – the start, the turn, and the finish. A late start, a slip on the turn, a gliding finish – all can spell the difference between finishing first, or not.
In the recently concluded Division 2 state meet, Monona Grove’s Hayley Martin entered the final heat as the favorite in the 50 free. She’d been undefeated all season in the event, earned the top seed for the meet, and drew the coveted lane 4. Next to her in lane 5 was chief rival Maggie Smith of Whitefish Bay, who had finished second in the event last year. Martin ended up winning, with a time of 24.19, just ahead of Smith’s 24.35, and she essentially won the race with her start.
Here’s a look at the start of the 50 free final. Martin, in lane 4, is just about to enter the water. Smith, to her right in lane 5, also got off to a solid start, but was slightly behind Martin – a deficit she would never make up. To the left of Martin is Sturgeon Bay/Sevastopol’s Taylor Trelka, who finished T-7th, in part because of what her coach described to the Door County Advocate newspaper as an indifferent start: “"She got too high on her start and fell about a half-body length behind the leaders," said Mike McHugh. "She made up some ground, but that's a lot to overcome in a short race like that."
(Thanks to Chuck Martin, Hayley's father, for use of the photo.)
Saturday, November 15, 2008
D2 state meet recap
In what will be remembered as the fastest D2 state meet in history, two-time defending champ DeForest -- as expected -- won its third straight title without the aid of a single win in any event.
DeForest's depth overwhelmed the competition, as the Norskies scored 236.5 points to easily outdistance Grafton (180). DeForest's win was both impressive and somewhat underwhelming; the team scored nearly 30 points fewer than their seed times predicted (going into the meet, DeForest was seeded to score 263 points). The Norskies, who qualified 15 individual entries for the meet as well as all three relays, display a depth of talent that no D2 team can match. Several DeForest swimmers did improve their seed times, but their time drops weren't nearly at the level displayed by other swimmers at what was a very fast meet.
In the end, DeForest essentially won the state meet the week before, when they overwhelmed a very good Baraboo sectional and qualified nearly every swimmer they entered. There is more than one path to a state championship -- DeForest two years ago came from behind to win by having nearly every swimmer peak at state -- and the Norskies proved that loading up and swimming well the week before state is one way of doing it. Congratulations to the Norskies -- they graduated a lot of top-flight talent last year, but rallied around a strong returning corps of swimmers.
As for the rest of the D2 state meet:
-- It was fast and got faster as the night went on. A pretty good indication came in the 200 freestyle, when Brookfield Academy's Kelsey Hojan-Clark went 1:50.27 to win, just missing the all-time state D2 record by .33 seconds. She was followed closely by Shorewood's Elli Sellinger, who touched out in 1:50.87 -- both times were faster than any of the seed times for the D1 state meet in the 200 free.
-- Three all-time state records were broken: Monona Grove's 200 free relay (Kelsey Millin, Tess Becker, Elizabeth Emmerich, Hayley Martin, 1:38.95; 1:39.08 old record); Green Lake/Berlin's Siri Smits in the 100 backstroke (55.83; 56.48 old); and Plymouth freshman sensation Kate Criter in the 100 breaststroke (1:03.31; 1:05.54). The breaststroke was certainly the most impressive event of the night; Delavan-Darien's Emily McClellan broke the old state record swimming out of lane 5 in the first heat. Three other swimmers besides Kriter then topped the old record in the final heat. How fast was it? Two-time defending state champ Jennah Haney of Milton dropped more than two seconds off her seed time, beat the old state record by 1.8 seconds, and still finished runner-up to Criter. In addition, Shorewood's Clare Chamberlain came within .06 seconds of the all-time state record in the 200 IM (she swam a 2:03.95, cutting nearly seven seconds off her seed time), and Hojan-Clark just missed the state record in the 500 free with a time of 4:54.18 (.24 seconds off the record).
-- The night's most poignant moment came during the 100 free, won by Sauk Prairie's Abby Diehl. The 5th-seeded Diehl (who had an oustanding night) out-touched MG's Martin, who was coming off a win in the 50 free earlier in the meet and had dominated the 100 free all season long, by a mere four-hundreths of a second. Martin, initially disappointed in the loss, looked over to see who had beaten her, and then raced over to congratulate Diehl, like Martin a senior swimming in her last high school meet. The two have been competing against each other, at conference and sectional swim meets as well as state, for four years, and have developed a close friendship. After the race, as teams were gathering for the 200 free relay, Martin and Diehl sat off to the side, away from all of the other swimmers, chatting away. "She got a gold medal, and so do I," Martin said after the race. "I'm so proud of her." Both swimmers came away with a second gold medal, with Martin anchoring the winning MG 200 free relay, and Diehl splitting an anchor leg of 51.79 to lead her Sauk Prairie 400 free relay team to victory.
-- Why so fast? D2 swimming has gotten faster in the past several years, as qualifying times for state for the most part are lower than they were five years ago. It's pretty clear the benefits of year-round club swimming -- a staple of top D1 programs -- have filtered down to the D2 level, where most of the top swimmers come out of strong club programs. D2 has also benefitted from an influx of top-flight talent in the last two years; five of the eight individual events at the state meet this year were won by freshmen or sophomores. But it's also hard not to think the newly available fast suits don't have some role -- nearly all of the top finishers at the meet wore some version of the new suit technology, and the times posted (and the depth of fast times registered at the meet) leads one to conclude the suits do play a role in generating extra speed.
DeForest's depth overwhelmed the competition, as the Norskies scored 236.5 points to easily outdistance Grafton (180). DeForest's win was both impressive and somewhat underwhelming; the team scored nearly 30 points fewer than their seed times predicted (going into the meet, DeForest was seeded to score 263 points). The Norskies, who qualified 15 individual entries for the meet as well as all three relays, display a depth of talent that no D2 team can match. Several DeForest swimmers did improve their seed times, but their time drops weren't nearly at the level displayed by other swimmers at what was a very fast meet.
In the end, DeForest essentially won the state meet the week before, when they overwhelmed a very good Baraboo sectional and qualified nearly every swimmer they entered. There is more than one path to a state championship -- DeForest two years ago came from behind to win by having nearly every swimmer peak at state -- and the Norskies proved that loading up and swimming well the week before state is one way of doing it. Congratulations to the Norskies -- they graduated a lot of top-flight talent last year, but rallied around a strong returning corps of swimmers.
As for the rest of the D2 state meet:
-- It was fast and got faster as the night went on. A pretty good indication came in the 200 freestyle, when Brookfield Academy's Kelsey Hojan-Clark went 1:50.27 to win, just missing the all-time state D2 record by .33 seconds. She was followed closely by Shorewood's Elli Sellinger, who touched out in 1:50.87 -- both times were faster than any of the seed times for the D1 state meet in the 200 free.
-- Three all-time state records were broken: Monona Grove's 200 free relay (Kelsey Millin, Tess Becker, Elizabeth Emmerich, Hayley Martin, 1:38.95; 1:39.08 old record); Green Lake/Berlin's Siri Smits in the 100 backstroke (55.83; 56.48 old); and Plymouth freshman sensation Kate Criter in the 100 breaststroke (1:03.31; 1:05.54). The breaststroke was certainly the most impressive event of the night; Delavan-Darien's Emily McClellan broke the old state record swimming out of lane 5 in the first heat. Three other swimmers besides Kriter then topped the old record in the final heat. How fast was it? Two-time defending state champ Jennah Haney of Milton dropped more than two seconds off her seed time, beat the old state record by 1.8 seconds, and still finished runner-up to Criter. In addition, Shorewood's Clare Chamberlain came within .06 seconds of the all-time state record in the 200 IM (she swam a 2:03.95, cutting nearly seven seconds off her seed time), and Hojan-Clark just missed the state record in the 500 free with a time of 4:54.18 (.24 seconds off the record).
-- The night's most poignant moment came during the 100 free, won by Sauk Prairie's Abby Diehl. The 5th-seeded Diehl (who had an oustanding night) out-touched MG's Martin, who was coming off a win in the 50 free earlier in the meet and had dominated the 100 free all season long, by a mere four-hundreths of a second. Martin, initially disappointed in the loss, looked over to see who had beaten her, and then raced over to congratulate Diehl, like Martin a senior swimming in her last high school meet. The two have been competing against each other, at conference and sectional swim meets as well as state, for four years, and have developed a close friendship. After the race, as teams were gathering for the 200 free relay, Martin and Diehl sat off to the side, away from all of the other swimmers, chatting away. "She got a gold medal, and so do I," Martin said after the race. "I'm so proud of her." Both swimmers came away with a second gold medal, with Martin anchoring the winning MG 200 free relay, and Diehl splitting an anchor leg of 51.79 to lead her Sauk Prairie 400 free relay team to victory.
-- Why so fast? D2 swimming has gotten faster in the past several years, as qualifying times for state for the most part are lower than they were five years ago. It's pretty clear the benefits of year-round club swimming -- a staple of top D1 programs -- have filtered down to the D2 level, where most of the top swimmers come out of strong club programs. D2 has also benefitted from an influx of top-flight talent in the last two years; five of the eight individual events at the state meet this year were won by freshmen or sophomores. But it's also hard not to think the newly available fast suits don't have some role -- nearly all of the top finishers at the meet wore some version of the new suit technology, and the times posted (and the depth of fast times registered at the meet) leads one to conclude the suits do play a role in generating extra speed.
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