THE CHAMPIONSHIPS: The 99th Annual Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association Boys Swimming and Diving Championships will be held Friday and Saturday, Feb. 17-18, at Waukesha South High School in Waukesha, Wis.
TICKET INFORMATION: Ticket prices for each tournament session are $9 plus online fees, and they are only available to be purchased on-line on the WIAA website through GoFan, the WIAA ticketing partner, at: https://www.wiaawi.org/Tickets#42691538-boys-swimming.
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 1:30 p.m., and the swimming finals will follow at 5:30 p.m. The Division 1 diving competition will begin Saturday at 9:30 a.m., with the swimming events scheduled for 2:30 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
CHAMPIONSHIPS LIVE ON WIAA.TV: 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 for only $11.99 per month, log-on to www.wiaa.tv or www.nfhsnetwork.com and click on the “Subscribe Now” link located at the top right area of the page. Archived streams of the meets will be available on demand on the NFHS Network 72 hours after the tournament with a subscription.
BY THE NUMBERS: There are 114 teams in the 2023 Boys Swimming & Diving Tournament Series. The largest 68 programs are in Division 1, with the remaining 46 programs in Division 2.
HOW THEY QUALIFIED: Schools are assigned directly into sectional competition with six sectionals in Division 1 and four in Division 2. The winners of each event at the sectional meet qualified for the State Meet. Also qualifying are the next 18 (Division 1) and 12 (Division 2) best individuals/relays/divers (not including sectional winners) from all the sectionals combined.
LAST YEAR: The Brookfield Central/East co-op won the Division 1 team championship by compiling 208 points. Arrowhead was second with 188 points. In Division 2, Edgewood won the team championship with 274 points, and 2021 champion Cedarburg placed second in the team standings with 233 points.
MEET HISTORY: The WIAA began the boys swimming and diving championships in 1925 and moved to a two-division format in 1993. Madison Memorial has won 16 championships to lead all member schools. Waukesha, before it was split into three schools, captured 15 team titles with seven of those coming in succession from 1964-70. Madison West is tied for second on the list of titles with 15. Shorewood and Wauwatosa, before it became two separate schools, have compiled nine championships. Arrowhead and McFarland have each claimed six team championships. All six of McFarland’s Division 2 crowns came in succession from 2007-12. Madison Memorial has produced the most event champions with 90. Waukesha, before splitting into three schools, won 77 titles. Madison West has won 75 events, and Wauwatosa and Whitefish Bay have won 61. Ben McDade of Monona Grove has won the most event championships in a prep career with 15, and Ryan O’Donnell of McFarland is next on the list with 14. Four individuals have won 10 State titles, including Ben Anderson of Arrowhead, Jay Mortenson of Madison West, Tom Wanezek of Brookfield East and Paul DeLakis of Eau Claire Memorial/North.
EVENT NOTES-DIVISION 1: Four individual events feature their 2022 champion attempting to retain the State title, and there are three returning relays attempting to win consecutive championships. In addition, a champion in Division 2 moves up a division to contend for a title. Senior Lance Johnson of Arrowhead is the defending champion in a pair of events. The four-time State qualifier won the 100-yard breaststroke in 2022 after placing third in the event in 2021 and eighth in 2020. Johnson also captured gold last year in the 200 individual medley after swimming to a third-place finish in 2021 and an 11th-place finish in 2020. He is in a good position to retain both titles, entering the meet with the fastest qualifying time from sectionals in each event. Johnson posted a time of 55.08 in the breaststroke and a 1:48.62 in the medley. Formidable challenges in the breaststroke may come from junior Abram Mueller of Madison West, who placed second last season and has the third-fastest time this season at 55.97, and sophomore Finnley Conklin of Oregon, who has the second-fastest qualifying time in the event at 55.73 after winning the breaststroke in Division 2 last season with Edgewood. In the 100 backstroke, senior Stuart Seymour of Brookfield Central/East appears poised to win his second straight gold medal with the fastest qualifying effort in the event at 48.77. He also placed seventh in the backstroke in 2021 and 18th in 2020. Seymour is also one of the contenders competing for the crown in the 100 butterfly. He is the top returning participant in the event with a runner-up finish a year ago. Seymour has the second-fastest qualifying time this year at 49.75, which is less than a second behind the time recorded by junior Hugo Arteaga of the Racine Case co-op. He qualified with a time of 49.04 after placing fifth last season. Another former champion, senior Nick Chirafisi of Middleton, looks to return to the top of the award stand in the 200 freestyle. The four-time qualifier in the event finished third last year after earning the title in 2021 and placing sixth in 2020. He has the event’s second-fastest qualifying time this season at 1:39.38. Junior Andrew Hanson of Hudson possesses the top seed time in the 200 freestyle at 1:39.20. Four other swimmers that placed in the top 10 last year are back in the event as well, including senior Tyler Hansen of Arrowhead, who has finished fourth in the event the past two seasons. Chirafisi is also expected to contend for the championship in the 500 freestyle, an event he has placed in the top five the past three years, including a runner-up finish last year and fifth-place results in 2021 and 2020. Chirafisi possesses the quickest qualifying time in the event this season at 4:34.00. It appears his fiercest challenge for the title may come from Hanson, who was fourth last year and runner-up in the event in 2021. He has the second-swiftest time this year at 4:34.78. Senior Jack Madoch of Middleton has his sights on improving on last year’s runner-up finishes in both the 50 and 100 freestyles. He owns the top qualifying times in those events at 19.86 and 44.52, respectively, which is more than a second faster than the next quickest challenger in both events. In addition to his second-place finish last year in the 100 freestyle, he finished eighth in 2021. The quest for the title in the diving competition appears to be within the grasp of several individuals. Senior Jackson Rodriguez of Hudson enters the State Meet with the best qualifying performance at sectionals with a score of 558.55 after placing seventh last season. Senior David Krol of Homestead is back as the top returning diver from last year’s championships with a sixth-place finish. He has this season’s third-best qualifying score at 536.00. Other contenders among the top qualifiers are sophomore Brady Huettl of Waukesha South/Catholic Memorial, who placed 11th in 2022 and has the second-best qualifying performance at 539.80, as well as sophomore Sam Aldape of Homestead with a qualifying score of 534.20. Middleton has the distinction of having the fastest qualifying time in all three Division 1 relays. The Cardinals seek their second straight title in both the 200 and 400 freestyle relays with seed times of 1:25.06 and 3:04.50, respectively. Their qualifying time of 1:33.14 paces the rest of the field in the 200 medley relay. Brookfield Central/East is the returning champion in the event, but they would need to cut several seconds off their time swimming in the first heat to retain their title.
EVENT NOTES-DIVISION 2: Five of the 12 events feature last year’s returning champion seeking another title, including four individual events and one relay. Junior Jack Sullivan of Nicolet returns as the two-time champion in the 200 freestyle. He is expected to win a third straight title based on his qualifying time of 1:40.11, which is almost four seconds faster than the next-fastest competitor in the event. Two other individual events, the 50 freestyle and 100 butterfly, have their 2022 champion returning. Senior Adrian Bellido of Brookfield Academy won both events last season after finishing eighth in those events as a freshman in 2020. He has the fastest qualifying times this season at 20.97 in the 50 freestyle and 50.54 in the 100 butterfly. Among the competitors hoping to dethrone Bellido are four swimmers that finished within the top nine in each of those events last season. Senior Dylan Norby of Menomonie seeks another gold medal in the diving competition after winning the title last year, which eclipsed his seventh-place finish in 2021. Norby has the best qualifying performance from sectionals with a score of 460.45. He’ll need to contend with an experienced field of challengers, including seven that placed in the top 10 last year. Among them is junior Zeb Schermacher of Plymouth, who was runner-up to Norby in 2022 and finished 10th in 2021. He enters competition with the second-best qualifying score of 418.70. In addition to his credentials in the 200 freestyle, Jack Sullivan is the top qualifier in the 100 freestyle this season with a time of 46.01 after placing runner-up in the event a year ago. Four other swimmers that placed in the top 10 last season return to event, including senior Aiden Strath of Shorewood, who placed fourth and has recorded the second-fastest qualifying time this year at 46.53. In addition, Strath appears to be the swimmer to beat for the title in the 200 I.M. He enters the meet with the event’s fastest qualifying time of 1:53.01, which is more than six seconds swifter than senior Thomson Yatso of Shorewood, who is the next fastest challenger at 1:59.52. He is the top returning competitor from last year’s meet, placing fourth. The four-time qualifier was also fourth in 2021 and 10th in 2020. Senior Sam King of Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights seeks his first title in the 100 breaststroke after finishing runner-up in the event the past two seasons to go with a fifth-place finish in 2020. He appears poised for another attempt at the title with this season’s fastest qualifying time of 57.79, which is almost a second faster than the time turned in by sophomore Julian Callender of Stoughton, who is the next-best qualifier in the event at 58.77 after placing fifth a year ago. Junior Lyon Hall of McFarland is not only the top returning swimmer from last year’s 100 backstroke, he’s also this season’s fastest qualifier in the event. After placing fourth last year, Hall has qualified with the time of 52.12 this season. He will need to contend with four experienced swimmers that are back in the event this year after placing in the top nine in 2022, as well as junior Zacha King of Rhinelander, who has the second-best qualifying time of 52.63. Sophomore Ethan Schutten of Whitnall has recorded the quickest qualifying time in the 500 freestyle this year. He enters the State Meet with a time of 4:40.27 after a 10th-place finish last year. Among three other entries in the event that placed in the top 11 last year is junior Finn Holdredge of Whitefish Bay, who is the top returning finisher with last year’s fifth-place standing. He has the second-best qualifying time this year at 4:45.49. The top qualifying quartet in the 200 freestyle relay is Rhinelander with a time of 1:28.27. Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights is the defending champion in the event. However, the co-op will most likely need to shave off almost five seconds from its qualifying time to be in contention for the title this year. Shorewood has posted the best seed time in the 400 freestyle relay with a time of 3:15.95 after the Greyhounds placed runner-up last year. McFarland is both the top returning finisher from last year in the 200 medley relay and the fastest qualifying team this season. The Spartans return after placing sixth last year, and they enter the meet with a seed time of 1:37.89.
ORDER STATE MEET APPAREL ONLINE: WIAA licensed apparel is available online for the 2023 State Boys Swimming & Diving Championships. To browse and purchase branded merchandise, visit the WIAA Store at: https://tier1sports.com/product/wiaa-boys-swimming-and-diving-state-apparel-2/. Online purchases made by midnight on Monday, Feb. 13 will be available for pick-up at the venue Feb. 17-18. Apparel will also be available during the championships at Waukesha South High School.
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 #wiaaswimdive. 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.
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