The WIAA State Girls Division 2 Swimming & Diving Championships featured outstanding individual performances and a first-time team champion at the UW Natatorium in Madison Friday.
Edgewood captured the team championship for the first time by compiling a 12-event total of 277.5 points. McFarland finished runner-up in the standings with 220 points, and Grafton was third with 203.5
Junior Ginger Lingard of Edgewood won her third straight diving title with a score of 501.65 to begin the Crusaders path to the title. In a relatively rare occurrence, Edgewood sophomore Kelly Rodriquez shared the 200 freestyle title with senior Wendy Pfefferkorn of Monona Grove. Both recorded a time of 1:52.40. Rodriquez also captured gold as a member of the championship 200 freestyle relay. The quartet of Kaitlyn Barth, Issy Petersen, Maggie McNeil and Rodriguez finished in a time of 1:36.74.
Junior Autumn Haebig was a four-time champion and participated in two record-setting performances for Grafton. She eclipsed the record in winning the backstroke with a time of 54.95. She also successfully defended the championships she won in the 500 freestyle the last two years with a time of 4:54.72.
Haebig was also a member of the Grafton 200 medley relay with teammates Emma O’Brien, Natalie Keshemberg and Mallory Fox that set a State Meet record by winning the event in a time of 1:45.87. That same foursome added the 400 freestyle relay title with a time of 3:31.13. It marks the third straight season the Grafton 400 freestyle relay has possessed the crown.
McFarland won four events. Freshman Alexandra Moderski made quite an initial impression by shattering the State Meet records in the 50 and 100 freestyles with times of 22.84 and 50.26, respectively. Her teammate, senior Sara Hagen, swam to the title in the 100 butterfly as well as the 100 breaststroke with times of 56.27 and 1:03.43, respectively.
Senior Carolyn Jungers of Greendale won the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:05.12.
The Division 1 session of the State Meet is scheduled to begin with the diving competition at 10 a.m. Saturday followed by the swimming events at 3 p.m.