THE CHAMPIONSHIPS: The 46th Annual Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association Girls Swimming and Diving Championships will be held Friday and Saturday, Nov. 13-14, 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
2. 200 Medley Relay
3. 200 Freestyle
4. 200 Individual Medley
5. 50 Freestyle
6. 100 Butterfly
7. 100 Freestyle
8. 500 Freestyle
9. 200 Freestyle Relay
10. 100 Backstroke
11. 100 Breaststroke
12. 400 Freestyle Relay
MEET LIVE ON NFHSNETWORK.COM: Every event of the WIAA State Girls Swimming and Diving Championships will be streamed live on the WIAA.TV portal of the NFHS Network on a consumer subscription basis. To purchase a subscription to the live programming, log-on to www.nfhsnetwork.com and click on the “JOIN NOW” button on the home page.
LAST YEAR: Arrowhead won the Division 1 championship by scoring 337 points, Cedarburg was a distance second with 224 points. In Division 2, Grafton captured the crown for the second straight season, scoring 290 points. Edgewood finished second with 254 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 10 titles, and Shorewood has seven championships.
INDIVIDUAL NOTES-DIVISION 1: Five individual events and all three relays feature their champion returning to defend titles. Senior Beata Nelson of Verona/Mount Horeb, the State Meet record holder in the 50-yard freestyle, 100 butterfly, 100 backstroke and as a member of the 200 freestyle relay returns attempting to win her third straight title in the butterfly and her fourth straight championship in the backstroke. She enters both events with the field’s top qualifying times of 53.71 in the butterfly and 54.45 in the backstroke. Senior Kelly Jacob of Arrowhead is the returning champion in both the 50 and 100 freestyles. She enters the meet with the fastest qualifying time in the 50 freestyle at 23.28 and with the fourth-fastest time of 51.21 in the 100, which is more than a second behind the time turned in by junior Britt Horn of Appleton North, who enters with the swiftest qualifying time of 50.12. Senior Katie Drabot of Cedarburg, the State record holder in the 200 freestyle, attempts to win her third straight crown in the event. She enters the meet with the fastest qualifying time in the event at 1:50.63. Senior Gwen Worlton of Nicolet is the defending champion returning in the 100 breaststroke. She enters the meet with a time more than a second off the top qualifying time of junior Lauren Stigler of Muskego, who enters with a time of 1:03.79. The top qualifier in the 200 individual medley is sophomore Holly Stoll of Arrowhead with a time of 2:04.94, and the top qualifying pace in the 500 freestyle was turned in by senior Cassy Jernberg of Milwaukee King/Washington at 4:52.79. The best qualifying performance in the dives at sectionals last week was recorded by junior Tatum Thompkins of Racine Case with a score of 526.75 after she placed fifth a year ago. The Arrowhead 200 medley relay has won six straight championships but will be challenged to win a seventh. Verona/Mount Horeb qualifies with the best qualifying time in the event at 1:45.13. Verona/Mount Horeb is also the top qualifying foursome in the 200 freestyle relay with a time of 1:35.60 after winning the event the past two seasons, including a State meet record-setting performance last season. Arrowhead is also the returning champion in the 400 freestyle relay, but it is Middleton that possesses the quickest qualifying time of 3:30.00 in the event.
INDIVIDUAL NOTES-DIVISION 2: Two individual events feature last year’s returning champion. Junior Ginger Lingard of Edgewood is the two-time defending diving champion. She set the Division 2 record in winning the gold medal last season. She enters competition this week as the clear favorite to win another title with the best qualifying score of 510.75. Junior Autumn Haebig of Grafton is the two-time defending champion in the 500 freestyle. She attempts to win a third title in the event, but will need to contend with sophomore Kelly Rodriguez of Edgewood, who has the top qualifying time by more than five seconds over the rest of the field at 5:04.33 after placing runner-up last season. Rodriguez is also the fastest qualifier in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:53.30 following a fourth-place finish a year ago. A pair of freshmen have the top qualifying times in the 50 freestyle. Kaitlyn Barth of Edgewood and Alexandra Moderski of McFarland were each clocked at 23.72 last weekend at sectionals. Another pair share the fastest qualifying times in the 100 butterfly. Senior Jordan Fuse of Ladysmith/Bruce/Flambeau and junior Lauren Bergmann of Edgewood each registered a time of 58.39 at sectionals after finishing fifth and seventh, respectively, last season. Bergmann also possesses the top seed time in the 100 backstroke at 57.76 after finishing runner-last season. She should anticipate a stiff challenge from Haebig, who has the second-fastest time in the event at 58.24. Junior Mallory Fox of Grafton leads the list of qualifiers in the 100 freestyle. She turned in a qualifying time of 52.00 at sectionals after placing third in the event in 2014. Junior Kiah Francis of Rhinelander enters the State meet with the fastest qualifying times in the 100 breaststroke and 200 individual medley. She posted a time of 1:05.86 in the breaststroke and a 2:08.08 in the medley at sectionals. The Grafton 200 and 400 freestyle relays have qualified in pursuit of their third straight first-place finish in those events. However, it is Edgewood that enters the meet with the best qualifying times in both those relays at 1:37.72 and 3:35.15, respectively. In addition, Edgewood also has the top incoming time in the 200 medley relay at 1:48.08, which is more than three seconds faster than the next best qualifying time posted by defending champion DeForest.
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.