THE CHAMPIONSHIPS: The 45th Annual Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association Girls Swimming and Diving Championships will be held Friday and Saturday, Nov. 14-15, at the Natatorium on the campus of the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Wis. Ticket prices for the meet are $6 and $1 for children 6-years old and under.
MEET INFORMATION: The Division 2 championships will be held Friday, with the Division 1 championships to follow on Saturday. The Division 2 diving competition begins Friday at 2:30 p.m. The swimming finals are scheduled to begin Friday at 6:30 p.m. The Division 1 diving competition is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. Saturday, with the swimming events to begin at 3 p.m. The swimming events will run consecutively following the first event's starting time on the respective days. Here is the order of events (all events in yards):
Order of Events
1. Diving 7. 100 Freestyle
2. 200 Medley Relay 8. 500 Freestyle
3. 200 Freestyle 9. 200 Freestyle Relay
4. 200 Individual Medley 10. 100 Backstroke
5. 50 Freestyle 11. 100 Breaststroke
6. 100 Butterfly 12. 400 Freestyle Relay
MEET LIVE ON FOXSPORTSWISCONSIN.COM: Every event of the WIAA State Girls Swimming and Diving Championships will be streamed live and free on the Internet on foxsportswisconsin.com.
CHAMPIONSHIP MEET ON FS WISCONSIN: Watch the delayed airing of the WIAA State Girls Swimming & Diving Championships on FS Wisconsin. The Division 1 meet will be aired on Dec. 4 at 7 p.m. The Division 2 meet will be aired on Dec. 6 at 6 p.m. Check local cable listings for the channel in your area.
LAST YEAR: Waukesha South/Mukwonago won its third consecutive Division 1 championship by scoring 337 points, four points more than runner-up Arrowhead, which scored 333. In Division 2, Grafton captured the crown with 286 points. DeForest finished second with 202 points.
MEET HISTORY: The WIAA began girls swimming and diving championships in 1970 and moved to a two-division format in 1992. Madison area schools have dominated the championships through the years. Either Madison West or Madison Memorial won all the championships through 1983 and all but one of the Division 1 titles since the inception of the two-division format in 1992 up until 2002. Overall, Madison West has won 15 titles, and Madison Memorial has won 14. Arrowhead has captured nine titles, and Shorewood has seven championships.
INDIVIDUAL NOTES-DIVISION 1: Five individual events and all three relays feature their champion returning to defend titles. Junior Beata Nelson of Verona/Mount Horeb, the State Meet record holder in the 50-yard freestyle, 100 butterfly and 100 backstroke, returns to defend her 2013 title in the butterfly and seeks a third straight championship in the backstroke. She enters both events with the field’s top seed times, qualifying with times of 54.08 in the backstroke and 53.99 in the butterfly. Junior Katie Drabot of Cedarburg, the State record holder in the 200 freestyle and the 200 individual medley, attempts to win her second straight crown in the 200 freestyle, but will not be competing for a third consecutive 200 I.M. title. She enters the meet with the fastest qualifying time in the 200 freestyle at 1:50.32. Senior Lindsay Adamski of Arrowhead returns to the 100 breaststroke in pursuit of her third straight gold medal in the event. Her qualifying time of 1:03.24 is less than a second off the pace of the fastest qualifier, junior Gwen Worlton of Nicolet with a time of 1:02.92. She placed third last year. The top qualifying performance in the dives at sectionals last week was turned in by defending champion Hazel Hertting, a senior from Neenah, who earned a score of 622.90. The Arrowhead 200 medley relay has won five straight championships and is in position to challenge for a sixth straight crown with the swiftest qualifying time of 1:44.52. Waukesha South/Mukwonago is the three-time returning champion in the 400 freestyle relay and has the fastest qualifying time this year at 3:30.25. Verona/Mount Horeb has the second-fastest seed time in the 200 freestyle relay at 1:35.95 behind Arrowhead at 1:35.87. The Warhawks won the previous four titles in the relay before having its streak snapped last year. Other events and their fastest qualifiers from sectionals include junior Kierston Farley-Sepe of Waukesha South/Mukwonago in the 200 I.M. with a time of 2:02.83; sophomore Tory Center of Madison Memorial in the 50 freestyle with a time of 23.62, which is .01 second faster than junior Kelly Jacob of Arrowhead, who placed third last season; senior Kaarin Quaerna of Badger/Big Foot/ Westosha Central/Williams Bay in the 100 freestyle with a time of 51.49 after placing fourth in the event last season; and junior Sarah Laabs of Arrowhead in the 500 freestyle with a time of 4:54.36 coming off last year’s fourth-place finish. She will need to contend with Drabot, who has posted the second-fastest qualifying time.
INDIVIDUAL NOTES-DIVISION 2: Seven events feature last year’s returning champion and another event that has a former champion seeking to regain a title won in 2011. Senior Rachel Munson of Shorewood, the Division 2 State Meet record holder in the 200 I.M. and the 100 breaststroke, seeks her second straight title in the individual medley and her third consecutive crown in the breaststroke. She is the leading contender to win the events and retain her titles with the fastest qualifying times of 2:10.48 and 1:05.86, respectively. Senior Samantha Senczyszyn of Grafton has qualified in both the events she won last year. She set the Division 2 record in the 50 free and has qualified this season with the fastest sectional seed time of 24.06. She also looks to defend her title in the 100 freestyle, qualifying with the second-fastest time of 52.80. That is slightly behind the 52.47 turned in at sectionals by senior Madison Tew of New Berlin West, who placed third last year. Tew is also the fastest qualifier in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:53.09. After finishing runner-up the past two seasons, she hopes to regain the 200 freestyle title she won as a freshman in 2011. Sophomore Autumn Haebig of Grafton burst on the scene a year ago to set a Division 2 record in the 100 butterfly and also win the 500 freestyle as a freshman. She returns to the State meet with the fastest qualifying time in the 500 freestyle with a time of 5:06.90. Haebig enters this week’s State meet as the fourth-fastest qualifier at 58.47 in the 100 butterfly, an event that features the return of six of the top 10 finishers from a year ago, including senior Katie Coughlin of Baraboo with the fastest seed time of 57.25. Coughlin also has posted the fastest seed time from sectionals in the 100 backstroke, an event that she was the runner-up in last year. Her time of 56.90 is more that two seconds quicker than the next fastest time. Sophomore Ginger Lingard of Edgewood is the defending champion in the dives. She could be considered an overwhelming favorite to repeat as champion based on her qualifying performance of 530.00. The Grafton 200 and 400 freestyle relays have qualified in pursuit of their second straight first-place finish in those events. The Black Hawks have the fastest qualifying time in the 400 freestyle relay at 3:39.18, and the second-fastest time in the 200 freestyle relay just .15 seconds behind Whitefish Bay. In addition, the Shorewood 200 medley relay also takes aim at a second consecutive title but will need to shave a number of seconds off its seed time to be in contention for the title.
FOLLOW STATE MEET ON SOCIAL MEDIA: Receive updates of the State Girls Swimming & Diving Championships on the WIAA State Tournament Twitter account @wiaawistate with the hashtag #wiaawiswimdive. Also follow daily recaps on Facebook.
NEED THE QUALIFIERS?: All qualifiers, lane assignments and qualifying standards are available on the girls swimming and diving page on the WIAA website.
NEED RESULTS?: Results of the State Tournament are available on the WIAA website at www.wiaawi.org by accessing the girls swimming and diving Tournament Information page at www.wiaawi.org/Sports/GirlsSwimmingDiving.aspx.
Prepared by WIAA Communications