Edgewood Cruises to 3rd Straight Wisconsin D2 Girls High School Title

2017 WIAA GIRLS STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Friday Nov. 10, 2017 (Division II)
• Saturday Nov. 11, 2017 (Division I)
• UW Natatorium, Madison, Wisconsin
• Meet central
• D1 Psych Sheet
• D2 Psych Sheet
  

  D2 Results

Top 5 Team Scores:

1. Edgewood 346
2. New Berlin Eisenhower 202
3. McFarland 194.5
4. Tomahawk 142
5. Whitefish Bay 134.5

Edgewood won their third straight Wisconsin D2 girls high school state championship in style tonight. Edgewood scored 346 points and set 3 state records to handily beat 2nd place New Berlin Eisenhower’s 202 points. Edgewood was led by their pair of star seniors: Jenna Silvestri who transferred to Edgewood this year, and Kelly Rodriguez a 4 year standout for the Crusaders. Each won 2 individual events and were part of 2 championship relays. University of Kentucky recruit Rodriguez broke the only individual state record of the night with a time of 1:48.39 in the 200 free, besting the old record by .44. She also went a 4:53.64 to win the 500 free by 12 seconds. University of Wisconsin recruit Silvestri took wins in the 200 IM (2:04.03) and the 100 breast (1:04.13).

Asked about her star seniors after the meet, Edgewood coach Emily Schwabe said “The development of Kelly throughout her 4 years was phenomenal. Just watching her grow mentally and physically, realizing how tough she was as she kind of grew up was really cool to watch. She realized she could do anything she set her mind to, and that’s not something she thought as a Freshman. That was really cool to see.”

“Getting Jenna Silvestri on our team was such a gain. Culturally, mentally, and just as a good role model to all the younger girls. She’s a really tough swimmer and she hates losing. She’s one of the most competitive people I know and she does a really good job.”

Edgewood won all three relays, with their 200 Medley and 200 Free relays breaking the old state records. The 200 medley relay team of Kaitlyn Barth, Silvestri, Issy Petersen, and Maeve O’Driscoll went a 1:44.59 to break the old record by over a second. The 200 free relay team of O’Driscoll, Barth, DeeDee Walker and Rodriguez won the 200 free relay in a time of 1:35.26, besting the 8 year old record by .76.

Schwabe said those records have been a target all season for her team. “This year’s team was hungry. They were ready. They’ve been really close to some state records that they wanted. They got to a point where they wanted to do more than just win. They wanted to kinda make history and set some new marks for people to try to achieve.”

There were plenty of individual stand outs not swimming for the Edgewood. McFarland junior Alexandra Moderski won the 50/100 free double with times of 22.91 and 50.69. In both events she fell just short of besting her own state records from 2 years ago. Bella Passamani of runners up New Berlin Eisenhower went a 55.77 to win the 100 fly (she was also 2nd to Rodriguez in the 500 only 2 events later). The breakout star of the meet was Mekenzie Hammer of Monroe/New Glarus who won the 100 back in 58.22, just touching out Maddie Guman of New Berlin Eisenhower by .03. Nikki Benedict of Monona Grove won the diving event with a score of 481.20.

With 3 of the top 4 individual points scorers graduating there will be new swimmers dominating the headlines in next year’s meet. However, Edgewood’s streak could continue as they return the most points with 146 non senior individual points this year. McFarland is next with 82 returning points (full returning points by team table is below the individual points table). Schwabe is confident in her team’s ability to stretch the streak to 4 next year. “I think we’ve got some really good, talented sophomores and juniors that are ready to keep it going.”

Individual Points

Returning Individual Points