THE STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS: The 92nd Annual Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association Boys Swimming and Diving Championships will be held Friday and Saturday, Feb. 19-20, at the Natatorium on the campus of the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Wis. Ticket prices for the meet are $6 and are sold only at the UW Natatorium each day of the competition.
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 NFHSNETWORK.COM: Every event of the WIAA State Boys Swimming and Diving Championships will be streamed live on the WIAA.TV portal of the NFHS Network on a 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: Madison Memorial won its fifth consecutive team championship and its 15th title overall, claiming the Division 1 championship with 350.5 points. Madison West finished runner-up for the third consecutive season, compiling 201 points. In Division 2, Monona Grove won with 309 points, and McFarland placed second for the second straight year, finishing with 267 points.
MEET HISTORY: The WIAA began the boys swimming and diving championships in 1925 and moved to a two-division format in 1993. Waukesha, before it was split into three schools, is tied for the most team titles of any school with 15. Seven of those came in succession from 1964-70. Madison Memorial has also won 15 championships, and Madison West is third with 13. Wauwatosa, before it became two separate schools, and Shorewood have compiled nine championships. Arrowhead and McFarland have claimed six team championships. All six of McFarland’s Division 2 titles came in succession from 2007-12. Madison Memorial has produced the most event champions with 84. Waukesha which won 77 titles before it split into a multi-school district. Madison West has won 64 events, and Wauwatosa has won 61. Ryan O’Donnell of McFarland has won the most State event titles in a prep career with 14. Three individuals have won 10 State titles, including Ben Anderson of Arrowhead, Jay Mortenson of Madison West and Tom Wanezek of Brookfield East.
INDIVIDUAL NOTES-DIVISION 1: Five individual events return their champions this year. Junior Paul DeLakis of Eau Claire Memorial/North is the two-time defending champion in the 100 breaststroke. He’s the top qualifier in his attempt to win a third title with the fastest sectional time of 56.71. DeLakis is also the fastest qualifier in the 200 freestyle. His sectional time of 1:38.06 is more than four seconds faster than the next fastest time in the event. Senior Ben Gebhart of Madison Memorial is the two-time defending champion in the 100 butterfly. He enters the meet with the fourth-fastest time of 51.58. Senior Ivar Iverson of Kenosha Bradford/Reuther is clocked with the quickest qualifying time at 49.82. Senior Justin Temprano of Madison Memorial is the two-time defending champion returning in the 100 backstroke. His sectional time of 52.59 ties him for the fastest qualifying time with freshman Shane Blinkman of Hudson at 52.59. Senior Aidan Meara of Madison West won the 100 freestyle last year and will attempt to defend his title. He enters the meet with a qualifying time of 47.77, which is a fraction of a second behind the time of 47.74 turned in by sophomore Conrad Farrell of Waukesha South/Catholic Memorial, who finished 11th last year. Senior Matt Munns of Madison West returns to defend his title in the diving competition. He enters competition with the top qualifying performance with a score of 534.20. The 200 IM will crown a new champion without DeLakis returning to defend his back-to-back titles. Blinkman has posted the fastest qualifying time in the event at 1:54.09, which is more than two seconds quicker than the next fastest time. Senior Calvin Hulse of Holmen/Onalaska finished fifth in the 50 freestyle last year and returns to the meet this season with the fastest qualifying time of 21.22. Sophomore Ben Davis of Greenfield/Greendale/Pius XI recorded a time of 4:38.43 in the 500 freestyle at sectionals to lead all other qualifiers in the event. He placed 20th last season. The Madison Memorial 200 medley relay team aims to extend their run of titles to six in a row and their 200 relay looks for its fifth straight. The Spartans have the top qualifying time in the 200 freestyle relay at 1:27.23 with the second-fastest time in the medley relay at 1:37.30. Franklin clocked in a 1:36.92 to claim the top qualifying time. Madison Memorial also posted the fastest qualifying time in the 400 freestyle relay at sectionals with a time of 3:11.51, less than a second swifter than Madison West’s qualifying time of 3:12.21
INDIVIDUAL NOTES-DIVISION 2: Six events return their champions from last season. Sophomore Ben McDade of Monona Grove and senior Bailey Bodart of Grafton are each returning champions in two events. McDade won the 200 and 500 freestyles last year, and he returns to those events with the top qualifying times. He has posted sectional times of 1:43.17 and 4:38.29, respectively. Bodart is the returning champion in the 50 and 100 freestyles. This year, he has the fourth-fastest qualifying time in both events at 21.72 and 47.77, respectively. It is junior Noah Larson of Baraboo that possesses the top time entering the meet in the 50 and 100 freestyles at 20.61 and 46.30, respectively. The 100 freestyle promises to be competitive as it features three of last season’s top four finishers. Senior Michael Perry of Shorewood attempts to win back-to-back championships in the 100 butterfly. He enters the meet with a qualifying time of 51.69, which ranks second. Junior Sean O’Connor of Grafton has turned in the fastest sectional time in the event at 50.80 after placing fourth a year ago. Senior Benny Liang of Whitewater is the returning champion in the 100 breaststroke. He is back to contend for his second straight title, entering the finals with the sixth-fastest qualifying time of 1:01.78. Sophomore Ben Hayes of Brown Deer/University School of Milwaukee is the only qualifier in the event with a time under a minute at 59.54. Senior Jared Nickadem of Cedarburg is the fastest qualifier in the 200 individual medley with a time of 1:57.59, but junior Ryan Ramminger of DeForest is just .10 of a second behind at 1:57.69. Junior Philip Fochios of Edgewood and senior Joe Heiser of McFarland finished second and third in the 100 backstroke, respectively, last season. They return to contend for the title, but sophomore Eric Storms of Monona Grove possesses the top qualifying time in the event at 52.77. Junior Henry Carmen of Monona Grove was last year’s runner-up in the diving competition. He returns in pursuit of the title with the best qualifying score of 573.0. Senior Jeremy Moser of Nicolet should also challenge for the gold medal after placing third in 2015 and possessing the second-best qualifying performance at 526.30. The Monona Grove 200 and 400 freestyle relays look to win back-to-back championships. The Silver Eagles own the top qualifying time in the 200 relay by almost two seconds at 1:27.21. They have the second-fastest time in the 400 relay, .22 of a second behind the top qualifying time record by Grafton at 3:14.44. The Whitewater 200 medley relay team is the returning champion, but it will need to shave significant time off the qualifying time to contend for the title. The Grafton medley relay enters the meet as the fastest qualifier at 1:38.75.
FOLLOW STATE MEET ON SOCIAL MEDIA: Receive updates of the State Boys Swimming & Diving Championships on the WIAA State Tournament Twitter account @wiaawistate with the hashtag #wiaaswim. Also follow daily recaps on Facebook.
NEED THE QUALIFIERS?: All qualifiers, lane assignments and qualifying standards are available on the boys 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 boys swimming and diving Tournament Information page.