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!
Friday, November 13, 2009
Thursday, November 12, 2009
The Mikrut DQ explained
Lindsey Mikrut, a senior swimmer for Badger/Big Foot/Williams Bay, was disqualified from participating at Saturday's sectional swim meet at Kenosha Bradford High School after it was discovered she had shaved at the meet site. Her DQ raised one question from a blog commentator about the rule.
It's contained in the National Federation of State High School Associations' Swimming and Diving and Water Polo rulebook. Rule 3-5, article 7, says: "No team personnel/competitor shall perform any on-site shaving before, during or after the meet. PENALTY: Team personnel/competitors shall be disqualified from further participation for on-site shaving."
A veteran WIAA swim official who I contacted characterized the rule as a "well-understood restriction" that has been on the books for many years.
Mikrut entered the sectional meet as the top-seeded swimmer in the 100 fly and third-seeded in the 200 IM. She finished 4th last year at state in the 100 fly, and was a key member of the team's state-winning medley relay, swimming the fly leg on the relay. She is still eligible to swim on B/B/WB's medley and 200 free relays at the D1 state meet.
It's contained in the National Federation of State High School Associations' Swimming and Diving and Water Polo rulebook. Rule 3-5, article 7, says: "No team personnel/competitor shall perform any on-site shaving before, during or after the meet. PENALTY: Team personnel/competitors shall be disqualified from further participation for on-site shaving."
A veteran WIAA swim official who I contacted characterized the rule as a "well-understood restriction" that has been on the books for many years.
Mikrut entered the sectional meet as the top-seeded swimmer in the 100 fly and third-seeded in the 200 IM. She finished 4th last year at state in the 100 fly, and was a key member of the team's state-winning medley relay, swimming the fly leg on the relay. She is still eligible to swim on B/B/WB's medley and 200 free relays at the D1 state meet.
D1 state meet preview
The D1 state meet is Saturday afternoon; here's hoping swim fans can find a parking space within a mile of the Natatorium to take in what should be a great meet. Here's a few things to look for:
-- Hartland Arrowhead is seeded to win the meet by 135 points; with all 16 of its swimmers qualified for the state meet, and two divers to boot, HA is a pretty sure bet to come away with its 7th title in eight years. This may not be the equal of Arrowhead's great 2003 and 2005 teams, but it is a very good and very deep squad. Last year, HA squeaked out a 16-point win over Madison East; its margin of victory Saturday is likely to be much higher.
-- The race for second looks quite close, with Muskego and Waukesha South/Mukwonago seeded within six points of each other for second place, Madison East seeded in 4th, and teams such as Wausau East, Eau Claire Memorial, Madison Memorial and Badger/Big Foot/Williams Bay looking to grab a piece of state hardware. It will be interesting to see if WS/M and Muskego can avoid last year's fate, when both teams dropped down for their seed positions and finished 4th and 5th, respectively. Relays of course will play a big role -- WS/M, Muskego and Madison Memorial qualified all three of their relays among the teams contending for 2nd.
-- Will youth be served? Only one senior -- Muskego's Brittany Walsh -- earned a top seed at the D1 state meet, and that was by the slimmest of margins (.01 seconds) over Madison East junior and defending champion Aja Van Hout. One thing I noticed while going over the heat sheets for the state meet -- this is a meet filled with a bunch of very good juniors.
-- How low can she go? Last year, Van Hout smashed the state record in the 500 free by more than five seconds, swimming a 4:48.60. The year before that, as a freshman, she won the 500 in 4:58.68 -- or 10 seconds slower than her sophomore time. Another prodigious time drop by Van Hout would bring into the conversation the national public high school record in the event -- 4:34.78, set last year by North Dakota native and Auburn recruit Dagny Knutson. Van Hout's winning time last year in the 200 IM (2:01.69) was nearly five seconds faster than her winning time as a freshman and within three-tenths of a second of the state record time set by Arrowhead's Andrea Boritzke. Can she break the magical 2-minute barrier in the IM, a feat reserved for very few high school swimmers? Van Hout's never lost an individual race at state; she's halfway toward accomplishing what only two swimmers in the history of the state have done -- win eight individual state titles.
-- Winning four gold medals is a rare accomplishment at a state meet. Can Arrowhead junior Emma Goral pull it off? She's seeded to do so -- Goral will swim on all three of Arrowhead's relays, all of which earned top seeds for the state meet. She's also seeded #1 in the 100 butterfly, an event she's won the past two years.
-- Can Madison Memorial senior Jackie Powell hold off the young guns coming after her in the 200 free? She's the defending champion in the event, having won it last year by a convincing 1.78 seconds. She'll tangle with sophomores Kayla Skenandore of WS/M ( who earned the top seed in the event) and Haley Pietila of Arrowhead (last year's runner-up), as well as rising freshman Natalie Neuwirth of Stevens Point, who has been swimming lights out the past two weeks.
-- Can Wisconsin Rapids junior Becca Weiland complete her comeback with a double win in the freestyle sprints? Weiland made a big splash at the D1 state meet two years ago with 3rd-place finishes in both the 50 and 100 frees. But a bad knee sidelined her last year from competing at sectionals. This year, she's back and has been the state's top sprinter all season long, earning top seeds at the state meet in the 50 and 100 frees. In the 100 free, she'll tangle with Arrowhead's Pietila and freshman Julia Mikota, who will bracket her in lanes 3 and 5. In the 50 free, Weiland will see a bunch of familiar faces -- conference rivals Lea Keonig and Lauren Sichterman from Wausau East earned the #2 and #3 seeds and will swim right next to Weiland.
-- The most highly anticipated race of the night probably comes in the second-to-last event -- the 100-yard breaststroke. Badger/Big Foot/Williams Bay senior Emily Russart hopes to capture her third state title in a row. Standing in her way is Eau Claire Memorial freshman Leah Pronschinske, who earned the meet's top seed (1:03.22 to Russart's 1:03.78). Pronschinske's debut at the state meet has been highly anticipated; she earned an Olympic Trials cut as an 8th grader. These two tangled in October at the Wisconsin Girls Invitational at the Natatorium; Russart won by .01 seconds. The rematch should be just as good.
-- Can anyone upend Arrowhead's top-seeded relays? Their 400 free relay looks to be the strongest of the three, with three of the top eight seeded swimmers in the 100 free, plus Goral, swimming on it. In the medley, Arrowhead has a seed time nearly two seconds faster than anyone else, but sitting right next to them in lanes 3 and 5 are the last two teams to win this event at state -- defending champs Badger/Big Foot/Williams Bay in lane 5, and Madison East in lane 3. East features two of the swimmers who helped the team win the relay in 2007 -- Becca Soderholm on fly and Ivy Martin anchoring -- plus the addition of Van Hout on breaststroke. It will be interesting to see how B/B/WB reacts after last week's sectional meet -- star butterflier Lindsey Mikrut was DQ'd from the meet for shaving on-site; sophomore Amie Zick replaced her on the fly leg and swam a tremendous leg to earn B/B/WB a #2 seed for the event. Mikrut can swim the relay, but won't be swimming any individual events at state. Will it serve as extra motivation to help defend her team's relay title? As for the 200 free relay, Arrowhead again owns a more-than-a-second seed-time advantage on the field. But Wausau East returns the entire line-up for the 200 free that finished a surprising second in this event last year at state. Wisconsin Rapids has the #3 seed in the event, and that means Weiland anchoring. If I was the anchor swimmer on any of the 200 free relays, I'd want to have a big lead before she jumped in the water.
-- Hartland Arrowhead is seeded to win the meet by 135 points; with all 16 of its swimmers qualified for the state meet, and two divers to boot, HA is a pretty sure bet to come away with its 7th title in eight years. This may not be the equal of Arrowhead's great 2003 and 2005 teams, but it is a very good and very deep squad. Last year, HA squeaked out a 16-point win over Madison East; its margin of victory Saturday is likely to be much higher.
-- The race for second looks quite close, with Muskego and Waukesha South/Mukwonago seeded within six points of each other for second place, Madison East seeded in 4th, and teams such as Wausau East, Eau Claire Memorial, Madison Memorial and Badger/Big Foot/Williams Bay looking to grab a piece of state hardware. It will be interesting to see if WS/M and Muskego can avoid last year's fate, when both teams dropped down for their seed positions and finished 4th and 5th, respectively. Relays of course will play a big role -- WS/M, Muskego and Madison Memorial qualified all three of their relays among the teams contending for 2nd.
-- Will youth be served? Only one senior -- Muskego's Brittany Walsh -- earned a top seed at the D1 state meet, and that was by the slimmest of margins (.01 seconds) over Madison East junior and defending champion Aja Van Hout. One thing I noticed while going over the heat sheets for the state meet -- this is a meet filled with a bunch of very good juniors.
-- How low can she go? Last year, Van Hout smashed the state record in the 500 free by more than five seconds, swimming a 4:48.60. The year before that, as a freshman, she won the 500 in 4:58.68 -- or 10 seconds slower than her sophomore time. Another prodigious time drop by Van Hout would bring into the conversation the national public high school record in the event -- 4:34.78, set last year by North Dakota native and Auburn recruit Dagny Knutson. Van Hout's winning time last year in the 200 IM (2:01.69) was nearly five seconds faster than her winning time as a freshman and within three-tenths of a second of the state record time set by Arrowhead's Andrea Boritzke. Can she break the magical 2-minute barrier in the IM, a feat reserved for very few high school swimmers? Van Hout's never lost an individual race at state; she's halfway toward accomplishing what only two swimmers in the history of the state have done -- win eight individual state titles.
-- Winning four gold medals is a rare accomplishment at a state meet. Can Arrowhead junior Emma Goral pull it off? She's seeded to do so -- Goral will swim on all three of Arrowhead's relays, all of which earned top seeds for the state meet. She's also seeded #1 in the 100 butterfly, an event she's won the past two years.
-- Can Madison Memorial senior Jackie Powell hold off the young guns coming after her in the 200 free? She's the defending champion in the event, having won it last year by a convincing 1.78 seconds. She'll tangle with sophomores Kayla Skenandore of WS/M ( who earned the top seed in the event) and Haley Pietila of Arrowhead (last year's runner-up), as well as rising freshman Natalie Neuwirth of Stevens Point, who has been swimming lights out the past two weeks.
-- Can Wisconsin Rapids junior Becca Weiland complete her comeback with a double win in the freestyle sprints? Weiland made a big splash at the D1 state meet two years ago with 3rd-place finishes in both the 50 and 100 frees. But a bad knee sidelined her last year from competing at sectionals. This year, she's back and has been the state's top sprinter all season long, earning top seeds at the state meet in the 50 and 100 frees. In the 100 free, she'll tangle with Arrowhead's Pietila and freshman Julia Mikota, who will bracket her in lanes 3 and 5. In the 50 free, Weiland will see a bunch of familiar faces -- conference rivals Lea Keonig and Lauren Sichterman from Wausau East earned the #2 and #3 seeds and will swim right next to Weiland.
-- The most highly anticipated race of the night probably comes in the second-to-last event -- the 100-yard breaststroke. Badger/Big Foot/Williams Bay senior Emily Russart hopes to capture her third state title in a row. Standing in her way is Eau Claire Memorial freshman Leah Pronschinske, who earned the meet's top seed (1:03.22 to Russart's 1:03.78). Pronschinske's debut at the state meet has been highly anticipated; she earned an Olympic Trials cut as an 8th grader. These two tangled in October at the Wisconsin Girls Invitational at the Natatorium; Russart won by .01 seconds. The rematch should be just as good.
-- Can anyone upend Arrowhead's top-seeded relays? Their 400 free relay looks to be the strongest of the three, with three of the top eight seeded swimmers in the 100 free, plus Goral, swimming on it. In the medley, Arrowhead has a seed time nearly two seconds faster than anyone else, but sitting right next to them in lanes 3 and 5 are the last two teams to win this event at state -- defending champs Badger/Big Foot/Williams Bay in lane 5, and Madison East in lane 3. East features two of the swimmers who helped the team win the relay in 2007 -- Becca Soderholm on fly and Ivy Martin anchoring -- plus the addition of Van Hout on breaststroke. It will be interesting to see how B/B/WB reacts after last week's sectional meet -- star butterflier Lindsey Mikrut was DQ'd from the meet for shaving on-site; sophomore Amie Zick replaced her on the fly leg and swam a tremendous leg to earn B/B/WB a #2 seed for the event. Mikrut can swim the relay, but won't be swimming any individual events at state. Will it serve as extra motivation to help defend her team's relay title? As for the 200 free relay, Arrowhead again owns a more-than-a-second seed-time advantage on the field. But Wausau East returns the entire line-up for the 200 free that finished a surprising second in this event last year at state. Wisconsin Rapids has the #3 seed in the event, and that means Weiland anchoring. If I was the anchor swimmer on any of the 200 free relays, I'd want to have a big lead before she jumped in the water.
D2 state meet preview
The D2 state meet is Friday night; here's a preview of what to look for in what figures to be a very close team competition.
-- Can DeForest make it four in a row? The Norskies have won the last three state championships; last year they overwhelmed the field with 15 individual qualifiers and three solid relays. This year figures to be more like 2006, when five teams finished within 33 points of each other and the Norskies pulled it out in the very last event by winning the 400 free relay. DeForest has nine individual qualifiers, along with all three relays, but only sophomore Chelsea Statz earned a top seed for the team (100 free). Still, this is a squad filled with veteran swimmers who know the pressures of the state meet, and DeForest -- which was posting some fair-to-middling times mid-season -- always seems to swim well this time of year. With three teams (Sturgeon Bay/Sevastopol, DeForest and Whitefish Bay) seeded within six points of each other for the top spot (see: http://wiscswim.blogspot.com/2009/11/d1-and-d2-meets-seeded.html ), this meet is way too close to call. But DeForest will certainly be in the mix, and has its four very best swimmers -- Statz and fellow sophomore Leah Winckler, junior Casey Wolter, and senior Lindsey Verhulst -- slated to swim the meet-ending 400 free relay. Shades of 2006? We'll find out.
-- Can Sturgeon Bay/Sevastopol sprint its way to the state championship? The Clippers are loaded in the sprints, with three qualifiers each in the 50 and 100 frees, a 200 free relay that's already under the state-record time in the event, a second-seeded 200 medley relay, and a 400 free relay that earned a #5 seed. Sisters Sierra and Savanna Townsend will lead a squad looking for a bit of redemption after last year, when SB/S came to the Natatorium with high hopes but performed below expectations. Coach Mike McHuhugh is making sure one thing is changed this year; all of the Clippers will be wearing the fastest suits available for the state meet."I just don't think you can compete without them, so we're going to bite the bullet and spend the money to get them," McHugh told the Door County Advocate. "Whoever's going to show up at state without a suit is going to be at a distinct disadvantage. I really think the speed suits make a massive difference. We were primed last year and swam well, but without speed suits it was like going to a gunfight with a knife. We were unable to beat the suit last year. We just can't take that hit again."
-- Can Whitefish Bay senior Maggie Smith finally win an individual state title, and in doing so lead her team to a state title? Whitefish Bay has traditionally been one of the strongest girls programs in the state, but it's never won a state title. The Blue Dukes finished as runner-up in 2006 and 2007. Smith won a gold medal on that 2006 team as a freshman, when she anchored a 200 free relay that won by just .04 seconds. But she's been shut out since, finishing as runner-up the past two years in the 50 free. She's got the top seed in the 50 free this year, and in a true display of taking one for the team, gave up the 100 free (where she's finished T-5th and 3rd the past two state meets) to anchor all three of the Blue Dukes' state-qualifying relays. The move paid off, as Whitefish Bay earned the top seed in both the medley and 400 free relays. The Blue Dukes swam as well or better than any D2 team in the state at last week's sectionals; can they bring it again?
-- Can Milton senior Jennah Haney cap her wonderful high school career with two individual titles? If she does, will it be enough to take her team to the D2 state title? Haney is seeded 1st in the 200 IM, where she'll be up against two-time defending champion Clare Chamberlain of Shorewood, and 2nd in the 100 breaststroke -- the event she won her first two years at state. Haney is the team elder on a squad that depends heavily on freshmen and sophomores; she'll also play a key role on two of Milton's three state-qualifying relays. Milton is seeded to finish 4th at the state meet, but close enough to the top teams that a big night from Haney could mean a move up.
-- Can Brookfield Academy's Kelsey Hojan-Clark chase down the state records she just missed last year? The defending champion in both the 200 and 500 free, Hojan-Clark missed state records last year by a third-of-a-second (200 free) and a quarter-of-a-second (500 free). Notable last year was that Hojan-Clark -- although wearing a full-body suit -- eschewed the controversial blue70 suit popular with so many swimmers at last year's state meet that prompted controversy and the eventual restrictions on suits for this season. She'll be chased by some top talent, including McFarland's Chloe Bartuska and Shorewood's Elli Sellinger in the 200, and Chamberlain and Wolter in the 500.
-- Could the race for the 100 butterfly be any closer? The three top seeds -- Elkhorn's Terrin Seaver, Sauk Prairie's Alison Meng, and Monona Grove's Kelsey Millin -- are collectively separated by a mere .07 seconds on their seed times. The field also includes top butterfliers like DeForest's Winckler and Berlin/Green Lake's Siri Smits, as well as last year's runner-up -- Plymouth's Kate Criter -- swimming out of lane 4 in the first heat.
-- One of the night's most intriguing races looks to be the 100 backstroke. Milton freshman Katelyn Holmquist comes in with the top seed, but she'll be bracketed in the final heat by a bevy of state meet veterans, including defending champ Smits, who last year set a D2 state record (55.83) with a time so fast it would've won last year's D1 title. Two other swimmers loom in outside lanes -- Grafton's Sadie Nenning in lane 1, last year's runner-up who won this race at state in 2006 and 2007, and in lane 7 Ashwaubenon's Erika Pliner, who has moved down from D1. At last year's D1 state meet, Pliner cut an amazing 3.13 seconds off her sectional seed time to finish 3rd at state with a time of 58.00.
-- They're baaaack. The best race at last year's state meet was the 100 breaststroke, where five swimmers broke the existing state record. All of them return -- first-place finisher Criter, Haney, Waukesha Catholic Memorial's Anna Meinholz, McFarland's Stirling Smith, and Delavan-Darien's Emily McClellan. McClellan, who finished 5th last year at state after breaking the state record out of the first heat, comes in as the favorite. She's beaten Haney, who has the #2 seed, three times this season in the event, including at last week's sectional meet. The breaststroke is particularly loaded this year, as 10 swimmers come in seeded under 1:10.00.
-- Finally, how fast will this year's meet be? Some have suggested not as fast as last year, which saw three state records fall and the utilization by numerous swimmers of the now-banned full-body suits. But remember this -- the meet features seven swimmers who have won individual state titles. Sturgeon Bay/Sevastopol has already swum a time in the 200 free relay more than half-a-second below the state record in the event. And the remarkable closeness of the meet suggests that no one will be holding back on "safe" relay starts, since all of the top teams competing for the state title will be battling each other in the relays. Expect another very fast meet.
-- Can DeForest make it four in a row? The Norskies have won the last three state championships; last year they overwhelmed the field with 15 individual qualifiers and three solid relays. This year figures to be more like 2006, when five teams finished within 33 points of each other and the Norskies pulled it out in the very last event by winning the 400 free relay. DeForest has nine individual qualifiers, along with all three relays, but only sophomore Chelsea Statz earned a top seed for the team (100 free). Still, this is a squad filled with veteran swimmers who know the pressures of the state meet, and DeForest -- which was posting some fair-to-middling times mid-season -- always seems to swim well this time of year. With three teams (Sturgeon Bay/Sevastopol, DeForest and Whitefish Bay) seeded within six points of each other for the top spot (see: http://wiscswim.blogspot.com/2009/11/d1-and-d2-meets-seeded.html ), this meet is way too close to call. But DeForest will certainly be in the mix, and has its four very best swimmers -- Statz and fellow sophomore Leah Winckler, junior Casey Wolter, and senior Lindsey Verhulst -- slated to swim the meet-ending 400 free relay. Shades of 2006? We'll find out.
-- Can Sturgeon Bay/Sevastopol sprint its way to the state championship? The Clippers are loaded in the sprints, with three qualifiers each in the 50 and 100 frees, a 200 free relay that's already under the state-record time in the event, a second-seeded 200 medley relay, and a 400 free relay that earned a #5 seed. Sisters Sierra and Savanna Townsend will lead a squad looking for a bit of redemption after last year, when SB/S came to the Natatorium with high hopes but performed below expectations. Coach Mike McHuhugh is making sure one thing is changed this year; all of the Clippers will be wearing the fastest suits available for the state meet."I just don't think you can compete without them, so we're going to bite the bullet and spend the money to get them," McHugh told the Door County Advocate. "Whoever's going to show up at state without a suit is going to be at a distinct disadvantage. I really think the speed suits make a massive difference. We were primed last year and swam well, but without speed suits it was like going to a gunfight with a knife. We were unable to beat the suit last year. We just can't take that hit again."
-- Can Whitefish Bay senior Maggie Smith finally win an individual state title, and in doing so lead her team to a state title? Whitefish Bay has traditionally been one of the strongest girls programs in the state, but it's never won a state title. The Blue Dukes finished as runner-up in 2006 and 2007. Smith won a gold medal on that 2006 team as a freshman, when she anchored a 200 free relay that won by just .04 seconds. But she's been shut out since, finishing as runner-up the past two years in the 50 free. She's got the top seed in the 50 free this year, and in a true display of taking one for the team, gave up the 100 free (where she's finished T-5th and 3rd the past two state meets) to anchor all three of the Blue Dukes' state-qualifying relays. The move paid off, as Whitefish Bay earned the top seed in both the medley and 400 free relays. The Blue Dukes swam as well or better than any D2 team in the state at last week's sectionals; can they bring it again?
-- Can Milton senior Jennah Haney cap her wonderful high school career with two individual titles? If she does, will it be enough to take her team to the D2 state title? Haney is seeded 1st in the 200 IM, where she'll be up against two-time defending champion Clare Chamberlain of Shorewood, and 2nd in the 100 breaststroke -- the event she won her first two years at state. Haney is the team elder on a squad that depends heavily on freshmen and sophomores; she'll also play a key role on two of Milton's three state-qualifying relays. Milton is seeded to finish 4th at the state meet, but close enough to the top teams that a big night from Haney could mean a move up.
-- Can Brookfield Academy's Kelsey Hojan-Clark chase down the state records she just missed last year? The defending champion in both the 200 and 500 free, Hojan-Clark missed state records last year by a third-of-a-second (200 free) and a quarter-of-a-second (500 free). Notable last year was that Hojan-Clark -- although wearing a full-body suit -- eschewed the controversial blue70 suit popular with so many swimmers at last year's state meet that prompted controversy and the eventual restrictions on suits for this season. She'll be chased by some top talent, including McFarland's Chloe Bartuska and Shorewood's Elli Sellinger in the 200, and Chamberlain and Wolter in the 500.
-- Could the race for the 100 butterfly be any closer? The three top seeds -- Elkhorn's Terrin Seaver, Sauk Prairie's Alison Meng, and Monona Grove's Kelsey Millin -- are collectively separated by a mere .07 seconds on their seed times. The field also includes top butterfliers like DeForest's Winckler and Berlin/Green Lake's Siri Smits, as well as last year's runner-up -- Plymouth's Kate Criter -- swimming out of lane 4 in the first heat.
-- One of the night's most intriguing races looks to be the 100 backstroke. Milton freshman Katelyn Holmquist comes in with the top seed, but she'll be bracketed in the final heat by a bevy of state meet veterans, including defending champ Smits, who last year set a D2 state record (55.83) with a time so fast it would've won last year's D1 title. Two other swimmers loom in outside lanes -- Grafton's Sadie Nenning in lane 1, last year's runner-up who won this race at state in 2006 and 2007, and in lane 7 Ashwaubenon's Erika Pliner, who has moved down from D1. At last year's D1 state meet, Pliner cut an amazing 3.13 seconds off her sectional seed time to finish 3rd at state with a time of 58.00.
-- They're baaaack. The best race at last year's state meet was the 100 breaststroke, where five swimmers broke the existing state record. All of them return -- first-place finisher Criter, Haney, Waukesha Catholic Memorial's Anna Meinholz, McFarland's Stirling Smith, and Delavan-Darien's Emily McClellan. McClellan, who finished 5th last year at state after breaking the state record out of the first heat, comes in as the favorite. She's beaten Haney, who has the #2 seed, three times this season in the event, including at last week's sectional meet. The breaststroke is particularly loaded this year, as 10 swimmers come in seeded under 1:10.00.
-- Finally, how fast will this year's meet be? Some have suggested not as fast as last year, which saw three state records fall and the utilization by numerous swimmers of the now-banned full-body suits. But remember this -- the meet features seven swimmers who have won individual state titles. Sturgeon Bay/Sevastopol has already swum a time in the 200 free relay more than half-a-second below the state record in the event. And the remarkable closeness of the meet suggests that no one will be holding back on "safe" relay starts, since all of the top teams competing for the state title will be battling each other in the relays. Expect another very fast meet.
From club to high school
Commentators to the blog have on occasion debated the pull of club swimming vs. competing for your high school. It's a decision faced by only a handful of high school athletes -- soccer and volleyball come to mind -- as those sports offer high-level club competition at the same time as the high school seasons.
Here's an article from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that focuses on that very decision by Waukesha South/Mukwonago sophomore Kayla Skenandore, who earned a top seed for this week's D1 state meet in the 200 free (and a #2 seed behind only defending champ Emma Goral of Hartland Arrowhead in the 100 fly). Skenandore skipped her freshman year of high school swimming to compete for Waukesha Express, one of the most competitive clubs in the state, but decided to compete for the Waukesha South/Mukwonago co-op this year.
http://www.jsonline.com/sports/preps/69821002.html
Here's an article from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that focuses on that very decision by Waukesha South/Mukwonago sophomore Kayla Skenandore, who earned a top seed for this week's D1 state meet in the 200 free (and a #2 seed behind only defending champ Emma Goral of Hartland Arrowhead in the 100 fly). Skenandore skipped her freshman year of high school swimming to compete for Waukesha Express, one of the most competitive clubs in the state, but decided to compete for the Waukesha South/Mukwonago co-op this year.
http://www.jsonline.com/sports/preps/69821002.html
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
From Thailand to the Natatorium
Here's a nice feature from the Sheboygan Press on Sheboygan North swimmer Suki Suwanparin, an exchange student from Thailand:
http://www.sheboyganpress.com/article/20091110/SHE020507/911100434/1089/SHE0205/Prep-profile--Suki-Suwanparin--Sheboygan-North
http://www.sheboyganpress.com/article/20091110/SHE020507/911100430/1089/SHE0205
Suwanparin, according to the Press, waited two weeks into the swim season to decide whether she should join the team because she had sat out from swimming for a year. Now she finds herself swimming four events at the D1 state meet this Saturday. She finished second to teammate Parker Wolf in the 50 free at the Cedarburg sectional, and ended up tied for the 21st overall seed in the 50 free for the state meet. She also swam leadoff on the team's 200 free relay, and anchored the medley and 400 free relays -- all of which qualified for state.
One more note -- she's never seen snow. And someone -- presumably including some of her Sheboygan North teammates -- has talked her into participating in the community's annual Polar Bear plunge into Lake Michigan on New Year's Day.
http://www.sheboyganpress.com/article/20091110/SHE020507/911100434/1089/SHE0205/Prep-profile--Suki-Suwanparin--Sheboygan-North
http://www.sheboyganpress.com/article/20091110/SHE020507/911100430/1089/SHE0205
Suwanparin, according to the Press, waited two weeks into the swim season to decide whether she should join the team because she had sat out from swimming for a year. Now she finds herself swimming four events at the D1 state meet this Saturday. She finished second to teammate Parker Wolf in the 50 free at the Cedarburg sectional, and ended up tied for the 21st overall seed in the 50 free for the state meet. She also swam leadoff on the team's 200 free relay, and anchored the medley and 400 free relays -- all of which qualified for state.
One more note -- she's never seen snow. And someone -- presumably including some of her Sheboygan North teammates -- has talked her into participating in the community's annual Polar Bear plunge into Lake Michigan on New Year's Day.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
The best swimmers you never hear about
The state swim meets are always full of good stories. Sure, the focus is on who's going to win the team competition, and the possible record-breaking performances. But there are a bunch of other competitors at the meet who deserve notice, as well. Here are a few worth a look:
-- Of the four Madison high schools, LaFollette's swim program sits in the heavy shadows cast by Memorial, West, and East, who have won 30 state titles among them and annually send dozens of swimmers to state. LaFollette hadn't sent a swimmer to the state meet since 2003. But that streak was broken this year by Lancer junior Britney Hilgendorf, who qualified in both the 200 IM and the 100 free. In the IM, the diminutive Hilgendorf came from the next-to-last heat at the Middleton sectional to qualify as the 23rd seed at the state meet. In the 100 free, she knocked more than a second off her sectional seed time to finish in 54.07 and grab the 18th seed at the state meet. It was sweet redemption for Hilgendorf, who last year finished .03 seconds away from qualifying for state in the 50 free. Ironically, the last Lancer swimmer to make the state meet, Caitlin Digney, serves as one of Hilgendorf's coaches for her summer swim club.
-- Two years ago, her school didn't even have a swim program. Now Lodi sophomore Sierra Sachtjen will be competing at the state swim meet -- Lodi's first-ever participant in the state meet for the nascent program. Sachtjen will compete in both the 100 free and the 100 back; she cut more than a second off her sectional seed time in the 100 free to qualify as the 9th seeded swimmer for the state meet. Lodi, with an enrollment of about 530 swimmers, is one of the smallest schools in the state to offer a non-co-op swim program.
-- For the first time in four years, the Milwaukee City Conference will have a swimmer at the state meet. Freshman Jaime Kohnke of the Milwaukee Riverside/Bay View co-op qualified in both the 200 and 500 frees. In the 200 free, Kohnke cut more than two-and-a-half seconds off her seed time at the Cedarburg sectional to grab the 23rd spot at the D1 state meet. She cut nearly three seconds off her 500 free time to qualify -- she'll be in fastest lane, 4, in the second heat of the D1 500. Earlier this year, we noted Kohnke's role in helping Riverside/Bay View to the city conference swim title:
http://wiscswim.blogspot.com/2009/10/milwaukee-riversidebay-view-wins-city.html
-- Madison West senior Kylie Rosenstock enters Saturday's state meet chasing history. She's looking to become the first D1 diver to ever capture four state titles; the D1 scoring record of 502.45 is probably also within the sites of the Stanford-bound Rosenstock. Wisconsin State Journal prep writer Rob Hernandez has a nice take on high school's loneliest sport and Rosenstock here:
http://host.madison.com/sports/columnists/rob_hernandez/article_1953dec4-cd97-11de-acec-001cc4c03286.html
-- Can a program develop into one of the state's best when the pool you practice in is nearly an hour away from your school? River Valley is trying. Surely there are few more dedicated swimmers in the state than those from the Spring Green-based high school. Lacking an indoor pool in Spring Green or at their school, the River Valley swimmers commute up to Baraboo to practice. How good are they? Among D2 schools, only seven qualified all three relays for state, and the list included the usual top-tier D2 teams -- DeForest, Whitefish Bay, Milton, and so on. Oh, and River Valley. The state berths weren't unprecedented; last year, River Valley qualified both its medley and 200 free relays to state. This year, the quintet of Samantha Ring, Karie Liegel, Rachel Puskula, Olivia Bergman, and Jaelin Crook comprised the three relays that made it to state; for good measure, Puskula qualified in the 100 butterfly. The team's fastest relay is its 200 free relay; seeded 8th for the state meet, the River Valley relay has a chance of nudging its way onto the podium. Not bad for a school with no pool (and most of the River Valley swimmers aren't going anywhere, either; only Bergman is a senior). Update: Here's an articile posted on the madison.com website about the traveling Spring Valley swimmers:
http://host.madison.com/sports/columnists/rob_hernandez/article_2b8ba3f8-cfcf-11de-9444-001cc4c03286.html
-- Another D2 school without a pool-- Pewaukee -- also had a very succesful sectional meet. We took notice of Pewaukee earlier this fall:
http://wiscswim.blogspot.com/2009/09/growing-sport-of-swimming-in-pewaukee.html
At the Cudahy sectional, sophomore Lacey Leist led the way with state-qualifying swims in the 200 free and 100 back; freshman Claire Fernandez cut more than 8 seconds from her seed time to earn a spot in the 500 free. The pair joined senior Carly Paget and junior Catherine Geanon in earning a spot in the state meet in the medley relay, while Leist, Fernandez and Paget joined junior Emily Nelson in earning a bid in the 200 free relay.
-- She's one of the top favorites entering the D1 state meet, but it bears mentioning that the presence of Wisconsin Rapids junior Becca Weiland at this year's state meet was no sure thing a year ago. Last year, Weiland was sidelined by a hurt shoulder, a particularly dangerous injury for swimmers. The constant pounding of yardage required to compete at the sport's highest levels can take a toll on swimmers, especially shoulders. Weiland sat out last year's sectional competition, but burned up the pool this year, earning the state's top seeds in both the 50 and 100 frees. Better yet, she'll be joined on Rapids' very competitive medley and 200 free relays by sophomore sister Racheal. Update: Becca's mom, Linda, writes to inform me it was a knee injury, not a shoulder injury, that sidelined her last year. Initial media reports said it had been a shoulder injury. Here's a nice story from the Wisconsin Rapids Tribune on her comeback:
http://www.wisconsinrapidstribune.com/article/20091112/WRT020507/911120669/-1/Varsity/Prep-swimming-Rapids-Becca-Weiland-makes-full-recovery-from-knee-injury
-- No individual swimmer will travel farther to Madison to compete in the state meet than Rice Lake's Nikki Martinez. Seeded 23rd overall among all D2 swimmers at sectionals in the 200 free,
Martinez cut more than two-and-a-half seconds off her seed time to finish runner-up at the Stevens Point sectional and qualify for the very last spot in the 200 free for the D2 state meet. She just missed qualifying in the 500 free as well, by less than half-a-second.
-- Finally (and with all due -- and sincere -- apologies to the hard-to-pronounce and hard-to-type Sara Brzozowski of Brookfield East, Kayla Dlugopolski of Mequon Homestead, and Emma Szczupakiewicz of Muskego) -- is there a better name in either of the state meets than Greenfield's Esmerelda Perez? I can't find one. I occasionally announce swim meets on the side, and I'm half-tempted to highjack the microphone for Perez' heat of the D1 100 butterfly. She's also a sectional champ, having won the Kenosha Bradford 100 fly title at last week's competition.
-- Of the four Madison high schools, LaFollette's swim program sits in the heavy shadows cast by Memorial, West, and East, who have won 30 state titles among them and annually send dozens of swimmers to state. LaFollette hadn't sent a swimmer to the state meet since 2003. But that streak was broken this year by Lancer junior Britney Hilgendorf, who qualified in both the 200 IM and the 100 free. In the IM, the diminutive Hilgendorf came from the next-to-last heat at the Middleton sectional to qualify as the 23rd seed at the state meet. In the 100 free, she knocked more than a second off her sectional seed time to finish in 54.07 and grab the 18th seed at the state meet. It was sweet redemption for Hilgendorf, who last year finished .03 seconds away from qualifying for state in the 50 free. Ironically, the last Lancer swimmer to make the state meet, Caitlin Digney, serves as one of Hilgendorf's coaches for her summer swim club.
-- Two years ago, her school didn't even have a swim program. Now Lodi sophomore Sierra Sachtjen will be competing at the state swim meet -- Lodi's first-ever participant in the state meet for the nascent program. Sachtjen will compete in both the 100 free and the 100 back; she cut more than a second off her sectional seed time in the 100 free to qualify as the 9th seeded swimmer for the state meet. Lodi, with an enrollment of about 530 swimmers, is one of the smallest schools in the state to offer a non-co-op swim program.
-- For the first time in four years, the Milwaukee City Conference will have a swimmer at the state meet. Freshman Jaime Kohnke of the Milwaukee Riverside/Bay View co-op qualified in both the 200 and 500 frees. In the 200 free, Kohnke cut more than two-and-a-half seconds off her seed time at the Cedarburg sectional to grab the 23rd spot at the D1 state meet. She cut nearly three seconds off her 500 free time to qualify -- she'll be in fastest lane, 4, in the second heat of the D1 500. Earlier this year, we noted Kohnke's role in helping Riverside/Bay View to the city conference swim title:
http://wiscswim.blogspot.com/2009/10/milwaukee-riversidebay-view-wins-city.html
-- Madison West senior Kylie Rosenstock enters Saturday's state meet chasing history. She's looking to become the first D1 diver to ever capture four state titles; the D1 scoring record of 502.45 is probably also within the sites of the Stanford-bound Rosenstock. Wisconsin State Journal prep writer Rob Hernandez has a nice take on high school's loneliest sport and Rosenstock here:
http://host.madison.com/sports/columnists/rob_hernandez/article_1953dec4-cd97-11de-acec-001cc4c03286.html
-- Can a program develop into one of the state's best when the pool you practice in is nearly an hour away from your school? River Valley is trying. Surely there are few more dedicated swimmers in the state than those from the Spring Green-based high school. Lacking an indoor pool in Spring Green or at their school, the River Valley swimmers commute up to Baraboo to practice. How good are they? Among D2 schools, only seven qualified all three relays for state, and the list included the usual top-tier D2 teams -- DeForest, Whitefish Bay, Milton, and so on. Oh, and River Valley. The state berths weren't unprecedented; last year, River Valley qualified both its medley and 200 free relays to state. This year, the quintet of Samantha Ring, Karie Liegel, Rachel Puskula, Olivia Bergman, and Jaelin Crook comprised the three relays that made it to state; for good measure, Puskula qualified in the 100 butterfly. The team's fastest relay is its 200 free relay; seeded 8th for the state meet, the River Valley relay has a chance of nudging its way onto the podium. Not bad for a school with no pool (and most of the River Valley swimmers aren't going anywhere, either; only Bergman is a senior). Update: Here's an articile posted on the madison.com website about the traveling Spring Valley swimmers:
http://host.madison.com/sports/columnists/rob_hernandez/article_2b8ba3f8-cfcf-11de-9444-001cc4c03286.html
-- Another D2 school without a pool-- Pewaukee -- also had a very succesful sectional meet. We took notice of Pewaukee earlier this fall:
http://wiscswim.blogspot.com/2009/09/growing-sport-of-swimming-in-pewaukee.html
At the Cudahy sectional, sophomore Lacey Leist led the way with state-qualifying swims in the 200 free and 100 back; freshman Claire Fernandez cut more than 8 seconds from her seed time to earn a spot in the 500 free. The pair joined senior Carly Paget and junior Catherine Geanon in earning a spot in the state meet in the medley relay, while Leist, Fernandez and Paget joined junior Emily Nelson in earning a bid in the 200 free relay.
-- She's one of the top favorites entering the D1 state meet, but it bears mentioning that the presence of Wisconsin Rapids junior Becca Weiland at this year's state meet was no sure thing a year ago. Last year, Weiland was sidelined by a hurt shoulder, a particularly dangerous injury for swimmers. The constant pounding of yardage required to compete at the sport's highest levels can take a toll on swimmers, especially shoulders. Weiland sat out last year's sectional competition, but burned up the pool this year, earning the state's top seeds in both the 50 and 100 frees. Better yet, she'll be joined on Rapids' very competitive medley and 200 free relays by sophomore sister Racheal. Update: Becca's mom, Linda, writes to inform me it was a knee injury, not a shoulder injury, that sidelined her last year. Initial media reports said it had been a shoulder injury. Here's a nice story from the Wisconsin Rapids Tribune on her comeback:
http://www.wisconsinrapidstribune.com/article/20091112/WRT020507/911120669/-1/Varsity/Prep-swimming-Rapids-Becca-Weiland-makes-full-recovery-from-knee-injury
-- No individual swimmer will travel farther to Madison to compete in the state meet than Rice Lake's Nikki Martinez. Seeded 23rd overall among all D2 swimmers at sectionals in the 200 free,
Martinez cut more than two-and-a-half seconds off her seed time to finish runner-up at the Stevens Point sectional and qualify for the very last spot in the 200 free for the D2 state meet. She just missed qualifying in the 500 free as well, by less than half-a-second.
-- Finally (and with all due -- and sincere -- apologies to the hard-to-pronounce and hard-to-type Sara Brzozowski of Brookfield East, Kayla Dlugopolski of Mequon Homestead, and Emma Szczupakiewicz of Muskego) -- is there a better name in either of the state meets than Greenfield's Esmerelda Perez? I can't find one. I occasionally announce swim meets on the side, and I'm half-tempted to highjack the microphone for Perez' heat of the D1 100 butterfly. She's also a sectional champ, having won the Kenosha Bradford 100 fly title at last week's competition.
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