It’s the second day on the pool deck at the Schroeder YMCA. Something has changed in the air. Possibility is beginning to break down and become something else. The change is minute – the hope is still thicker in the air than anything else. But suddenly, expectation also colors the lens through which these swimmers look at the water, or at one another. Even if they don’t admit it to themselves – they have an idea of who is swimming well and who isn’t.
And if the mental idea grows stronger, suddenly possibility becomes inevitability. But not yet, for most. Even after a struggle with the first event, there are still enough reasons to expect the unexpectedly awesome. No one has come down from the high quite yet.
Enter Day Two of the WIAC Championship.
WOMEN’S MEET
The women’s 200 medley relay parades out. Backstrokers in the water. A collective GO issues from the crowd when the buzzer sounds. Out like a demon is La Crosse’s Brooke Reynolds, putting down a 26.52. Whitewater’s Amy Spaay is in the water, working on catching Leanna Schwartzlow of La Crosse. Stevens Point is in third, also gaining. Splits: Stevens Point: 29.65, Whitewater: 27.85, Eau Claire: 30.23. Butterfly, and Kelsey Kohlbeck of Whitewater starts pulling even. La Crosse’s freestyle Mikayla Beuch takes control. Whitewater hanging on for third, battling Eau Claire. Eau Claire makes a move. La Crosse in first with a 1:44.76. Second goes to Stevens Point with 1:46.22. Third is Eau Claire in 1:46.45. All three are under the NCAA B cut.
The consolation final of the 400 IM is up. The heat is all freshmen and juniors. Early leaders in the fly are Sarah Arteaga (Whitewater) and Brittany Falk (Stevens Point) in the outside lanes. Nina Tabatabai of Eau Claire pushes in for a 1:04 split at the 100. Arteaga and Tabatabai lead the pack by about a body length going into the second 50 of the backstroke. Arteaga has a slight lead. Lane eight’s Falk is in third. Tabatabai to the wall .03 faster than Arteaga at the end of the backstroke. Arteaga first to the wall on the 25 of breaststroke. Tabatabai pulls ahead at the 50 by a slight margin. Pulling into third and gaining on breast is Bree Parent (Stevens Point). It’s Arteaga after the breaststroke. Tabatabai is in second, Parent in third. Tabatabai moves up. .06 between her and Arteaga for first. Arteaga turns first at the 375. Whitewater’s Arteaga is first to the wall in 4:43.99 from an outside lane! In second is Tabatabai (4:44.74). Third place goes to Britney Hilgendorf from Oshkosh in 4:45.84.
Finals of the 400 IM – LA Crosse has a huge presence in the event with a woman in every other lane. The women march out to thunderous applause, with that certain sass that D-Crew IMers exhibit so well. Early leader in fly looks to be Maggie Reilly from Eau Claire. She opens with a 29.1 split. The entirety of each team seems to be gathered behind the respective athletes’ lanes. Reilly loses the lead on back. It goes to Noelle Anderson of La Crosse, with Rachel Treadway of Eau Claire close behind. Reilly fades to third. Anderson builds a lead, almost a full body length. At breast Anderson is still in the lead with Treadway in second. The battle is on for third between four ladies with Hailey Kunavic of Stevens Point having a slight advantage. After the first 50 breast, the advantage goes to Lauren Lanphere of Whitewater for third. She is making a move towards catching up to Treadway. Anderson is still out there in the lead, having built it up to almost three body lengths. Landphere and Treadway are together fighting for second. It’s Lanphere at the 25. They are gaining on Anderson. It’s Lanphere at the 50. She takes it into the 75. Her team is going wild. Anderson takes it in 4:35.90. Lanphere is second in 4:37.90. Third goes to Treadway in 4:39.20.
Women’s consolation of the 100 butterfly. Whitewater and Stevens Point both have three athletes in the field. It’s close at the 50. Lead goes to Mae Bretl of La Crosse in 27.95. At the 75 it’s Whitewater’s Kayla Martin. Coming home – they power down the stretch. Sophie Tallard-Sklare pushes in to take the win in 1:00.03 – the announcer had to call it out after the touchpad system didn’t work. Martin is second in 1:00.30. Third goes to Sophie Runing of La Crosse (1:00.72).
Finalists for the 100 butterfly walk out with big grins. La Crosse has five athletes in this final. Allie Yemm (WL) takes it to the first 25. At the 50 it’s Brooke Reynolds in 26.91 from La Crosse. On the back half, where most swimmers tighten up, it looks like it’s Reynolds again to the 75. 57.66 to Reynolds. Yemm is second in 58.02 (exactly her seed time) and Taylor Smith from La Crosse is third 58.13. Reynolds wins with an NCAA B cut time.
Women’s 200 freestyle consolation heat. Eau Claire is heavy in this heat. Out first at 27.03 is Kristin Peters of Eau Claire in lane two. Sidney Fairbrother and Grace Devine (Eau Claire and Whitewater) move up at the 100, only a tenth apart: 57.0 to 57.1. They start putting distance between themselves and the pack. Fairbrother leads out of the turn at the 150. She puts on the steam in the last 25. Mckenzie Vermeire of La Crosse storms the last 50 to take second. 1:57.48 for Fairbrother. 1:58.56 for Vermeire. Devine third in 1:59.14.
Women’s finalists walk out and there’s a lot of dancing on deck. Even the announcer is getting into it. Three Stevens Point athletes and three La Crosse, alternating lanes like this is a dual meet. Eau Claie and Whitewater each have an entry in the top heat. Amanda Walker is out fast. Sara Zemanovic pushes up to keep up with Walker at the 100. It’s 54.37 to 54.78. Walker and Zemanovic stroke for stroke down the 150. Walker pulls ahead a little bit. Third is Grace Jarzemsky. Zemanovic starts to pull up at the 175. Coming down the homestretch Walker pulls just a little more out and touches at 1:51.37 for first. 1:51.71 puts Zemanovic second. Jarzemsky is third in 1:54.78. NCAA B cut for the top two and both women went under the old WIAC record set in 2011 by Casey Preissel of 1:52.24.
Women’s consolation of the 100 breast. Elise O’Neill of La Crosse takes an early lead from lane two at the 25. At the 50, it’s Katie Kubistak from Oshkosh at 32.23, with O’Neill in 32.25 right behind her. Sara Tainter (Eau Claire) charges for a second place. It goes to Bree Parent of Stevens Point in 1:08.39. Second is Tainter of Eau Claire (1:09.09). Third is Kubisiak of Oshkosh in 1:09.18.
Women’s 100 breast final comes out. Amy Spaay is the national champion in this event from last year and the top seed at 1:04.15. Women up. Spaay builds her lead right off the first 25. It’ll be a battle for second. She’s a 28.82 at the 50, and has almost two body lengths lead at the 75. It looks like Katie Challoner of Oshkosh fighting with Maggie Gomberg of Whitewater for second. Spaay posts a 1:01.87 to win. Second goes to Challoner in 1:05.14. Third is Gomberg in 1:05.64. Spaay’s time is .07 off the A cut for NCAA Division III.
Women’s 100 back consolation heat. Lindsey Price (Stevens Point) out to a lead with a 29.23. 29.27 out of teammate Amy Boritzke right next to her. Coming down the backstretch, Mariah Ring of Eau Claire is starting to move up. And it goes to Price in 1:00.27. Ring second at 1:00.63. Boritzke is third in 1:00.72.
Finals of the women’s 100 backstroke. La Crosse is stacked in this heat – four women all swimming next to one another. Runing returns from the 100 butterfly. O’Neill too. Women in the water. Early lead goes to O’Neill of La Crosse. At the 50, it’s a 27.68. Second is Emma Holbrook of La Crosse in 27.76. Holbrook makes a move, but it’s Reynolds off the wall to power in – and it goes to Reynolds in a 56.67 for first. Second is Holbrook in 57.00 and third falls to O’Neill in 57.50, completing a La Crosse sweep of 1-2-3.
Final event of the night is the women’s 800 freestyle relay. La Crosse is the only team coming in with an entry time under 8 minutes. The song says Bring ‘em out! And so we are going to – the 800 freestyle women parade out in style to cheers and applause that might be even louder than that for the first relay of the night. It’s fevered energy. La Crosse is the defending champ in this event. When the buzzer goes, it’s Stevens Point out in a 27.17. Whitewater moves in to challenge – a 56.52 to 56.57 at the 100. La Crosse is between them. Whitewater posts a 1:26.19; Stevens Point is 1:26.70; La Crosse, 1:26.63. They come in for the exchange. It’s Whitewater first off the blocks: 1:55.89. LA Crosse is 1:56.76 and Stevens’ Point is 1:57.54. Whitewater loses its lead to La Crosse at the 300 mark. Stevens Point still traveling a body length beind. It’s 2:51.55 to 2:51.85 between La Crosse and Whitewater. Whitewater pulls closer – 3:22.21 to 3:22.65, still favoring La Crosse. The La Crosse swimmer has better walls. Whitewater charges. It is 3:54.46 to 3:54.51, favoring La Crosse. Exchanges could win this race. La Crosse holds its lead: 4:20.99 to 4:21.16. Stevens Point begins to dig in. Eau Claire is on the outside making itself heard. Stevens Point is gaining lots of ground suddenly. At 22 lengths, it’s Stevens’ point flipping first a 5:20.36 to La Crosse’s 5:20.59. Whitewater is in third with a 5:21.68. Stevens Point digs in even more and pulls away. Final exchange! 5:49.15 for Stevens Point. 5:50.47 for La Crosse. Whitewater is third with a 5:52.54. La Crosse refuses to give up! It’s 6:15.49 to 6:16.12 with La Crosse just barely ahead. 100 to go and La Crosse is in the lead. 6:45.03 to 6:45.30. Where did THAT come from? La Crosse is dominating! About a body length ahead now. Whitewater is gaining and trying to hold off Eau Claire. Last length – 7:44.65 for La Crosse. Steven’s Point finishes back in second with a 7:46.13. Whitewater takes third in 7:49.46. It’s a meet record broken from 20011 (7:37.08) as well as an NCAA B cut.
Team scores:
Stevens Point (549), La Crosse (521), Whitewater (442), Eau Claire (350), Oshkosh (157), River Falls (130)
MEN’S MEET
There’s some dancing from the men’s squads as they parade out for the 200 medley relay. Men in the water. On the first 25 back Whitewater’s Daniel Bielski is dead even with Kyle McNair of Stevens Point. McNair pulls ahead on the back half – 23.91. Eau Claire, La Crosse and Whitewater are all in contention. La Crosse’s David Flickinger is working on catching Sam Jekel of Stevens Point in the fly. It’s La Crosse to the wall first in fly – 22.03 split out of Flickinger. Dead even coming down the home stretch. Battle for third between Eau Claire’s Ben Epperly and Paul Hill anchoring for Whitewater. Stevens Point with the win 1:32.63 from anchor Andrew King. Second is La Crosse 1:32.65. In third is Eau Claire at 1:32.33. Whitewater just outtouched in 1:34.52. NCAA B cuts go to La Crosse and Stevens Point.
The men’s consolation of the 400 IM isn’t full – there are two empty lanes. It’s an Eau Claire packed heat, with four of the six being members of that team. Epperly of Eau Claire is out in a 25.92 to lead off at the head of the pack. His 100 split is a 67.34 as they enter backstroke. In second is Brett Merley of La Crosse. Epperly maintains his lead through the first half of backstroke. Merley looks to be gaining a little. The battle for third is between Yannik Notle (Eau Claire) and Mikolajewski (Whitewater). Heading into breaststroke, Mikolajewski moves into second place, splitting a 37.1 on his first 50. Epperly hangs on to third. Merley fades while Noah Gannon (Eau Claire) begins to gain. At 100 yards out it’s Epperly, Mikolajewski and Notle. In first at 4:20.36 is Epperly. Second goes to Mikolajewski in 4:24.19. Third is Notle in 4:26.16.
Finals of the men’s 400 IM marches out. It’s another young heat – four freshmen. Whitewater teammates John Devroy and Jacob Shakelford are the top two seeds. Out smooth at the first 50 is Devroy in 24.83. Devroy has a three body length lead over anyone else with a 52.84 going into backstroke. In second is Stephen Hanko (La Crosse). Hanko sets himself ahead on backstroke, splitting faster than anyone else in the field aside from Deveroy. Devroy crosses under the flags before anyone else even hits them. Coming into breaststroke, Devroy maintains his lead. Hanko is in second. Shakelford is moving up, along with Evan Catani (Stevens Point) and Justin Fernandez (Stevens Point). The battle for second is on at the end of the breaststroke. It’s Hanko, Shakelford, and Fernandez. Fernandez is taking the freestyle by storm. Devroy is so far ahead it’s disgusting. Just a 50 to go. Fernandez is in second. Shackelford in third. The crowd is going absolutely wild. Devroy comes to the wall in a 4:01.90! New meet record!!! In second is Fernandez in 4:07.49. Third goes to Shackelford in 4:09.39. The old meet record was set in 2000 by Randy Boelk at 4:03.13. That is an NCAA B cut for both Devroy and Fernandez.
Men’s consolation of 100 butterfly. Out like a shot off the blocks is Will Fenner (Stevens Point). He holds an impressive underwater off his walls. First to the 50 is Fenner in 24.52. Curran Dougherty (Stevens Point) overtakes him at the 75. Hunter Burchfield of La Crosse moves up into second. Dougherty first at 52.15. Second is Burchfield 52.87. Fenner fades to third (53.20).
Men’s final of the 100 butterfly walks out. Half the top final is La Crosse. The song is more like something you’d hear at a classical concert than at a swim meet – maybe that explains the stony faced expressions. Men up. Side breather Dalto Anderson for Oshkosh is out in 23.02 for the lead. He puts some distance between himself and his competitors, bringing it down the backstretch. Flickinger is moving up. It’s so close – and Anderson takes it with a 49.60. Second is Flickinger in 49.84. Third is Jekel of Stevens Point in 50.25.
Consolation final of the men’s 200 freestyle. Men up. The field is just about dead even at the 50 with a 23.90 from Ryan Stuart (Whitewater) putting him to a slight advantage. At the 100, it’s still close – Erich Schnell takes the lead at 50.29 to Stuart’s 50.32. Right with them is Caleb Cole of La Crosse. Samuel Bowman of Whitewater makes a move to challenge. It’s 1:17.40, 1:17.44 and 1:74.74 for the top three at the 150, almost dead even coming down. At the finish it goes to Schnell in 1:44.59. 1:45.05 for Stuart and Cole is third in 1:45.43.
Finals of the 200 freestyle walk out. Lots of 500 freestylers from last night in the field, including Luuk Dekkers and Hans Peters. Dekkers is a defending champions in this race from last year. At the 50 it goes to Dekkers in 23.58. Behind him in 23.83 is Peters. At the 100, three men under 50 – it’s Garrett Runing (La Crosse) out ahead. Peters is in second. Third is Dekkers. At the 150, they’re separated by less than three tenths. The final turn, Dekkers powers off it. Runing charges home. It goes to Dekkers in 1:41.82. Runing in 1:41.92. Third is Peters at 1:42.07.
Men’s 100 breast consolation final. Ben Fisher (Eau Claire) looks like he might be out fastest –yes. 27.72 at the 50 with a 28.07 from Joe Hollman (Stevens Point). David Zaske is in close contention for River Falls. As they come down the stretch, Noah Gannon (Eau Claire) joins them charging down the stretch – and it’s Fisher in 59.65 in first. Second is Zaske at 59.71. Third goes to Hollman in 59.93.
Men’s finals of the 100 breaststroke. The funky song choices continue. If anything I’d categorize this as a happy country song. Weird. A nice show of sportsmanship as Jesse Gambrell of La Crosse shakes hands with Alex Card of Eau Claire before the event. Card dominated the 200 IM last night. HE’s easily the first to the wall at the 25. Coming into the 50, it’s Card with a 26.17. In second is Gambrell and Spencer Twining Whitewater), 26.88 and 26.89. Twining fighting for third. Misses out to lane one. First place goes to Card in 55.89 for the third year running. Second place Gambrell 56.88. Third 58.38 from Alex Loftus of Stevens Point.
Men’s consolation of the 100 backstroke. Out quickly are Will Fenner and Spencer Rose. It’s Bietz first to the wall behind Fenner – 25.74 to 25.79. Fenner builds that lead into a win in a 53.12. He just beats Bietz to the touch out. Bietz comes home with a 27.5 on the backstretch to finish in 53.35. Third falls to Rose with a 54.02.
Finals of the backstroke walk out. Devroy – who destroyed in the 400 IM – is swimming this event, as is Hanko. Men in the water. Hanko leads to the first 25. At the 50 it’s so close – Devroy with a 02 lead in 25.16 to 25.18. Devroy builds on that lead, making Hanko work – and at the wall it goes to Devroy! 51.03 for the victory. Hanko is second at 51.41. Third is Daniel Bielski of Whitewater in 52.01.
The men’s 3 meter divers walk out. La Crosse and Whitewater both have three athletes; Stevens Point has the top qualifier in Sean Cloghessy a freshmen. However, it’s Justin Bublitz of La Crosse who steps it into high gear to make the top qualifier. He posts a 516.35 to be the only diver over 500 and takes the trophy. Freshman Glen Brinkman of Whitewater is second (482.90). In third from La Crosse is Andrew Janny (466.05). Top qualifier Cloghessy finished in sixth, but added ten points from where his prelims mark had been.
It’s the very last event of the day. The walk out song asks “Who are we gonna take home tonight?” and the crowd seems to pick up on the energy. Oshkosh is out to an early lead – starting off with a 23.57! Eau Claire claims the lead at the 100. It’s tight with Stevens Point, Eau Claire and LA Crosse, all touching in the 1:16 range at the 150 marker. At the exchange, Stevens Point has a great change over and gets out to the lead. Stevens Point posts a 2:05.6 to 205.8 from La Crosse. La Crosse moves up on Stevens Point. At the 350 it’s 2:57.84 to 2:58.61 favoring Stevens Point. The second exchange comes and La Crosse pulls ahead, 3:48.54 to 3:48.54! Third is a battle between Whitewater and Eau Claire. Whitewater has a slight edge. LA Crosse begins pulling away into the lead. Whitewater is ahead of Eau Claire by almost a body length going into the third exchange. IT’s La Crosse, Stevens Point, Whitewater, Eau Claire as the fourth swimmers enter the water. Whitewater is making a HUGE move to gain (guy splits a 22.46!) on Stevens Point. With 100 to go – 6:00.25 to 5:59.52 between Whitewater and Stevens Point. La Crosse is clearly in the lead, going into the last 50. Whitewater is with La Crosse but fading. Eau Claire is moving in, but the wall arrives in time. First: La Crosse with an NCAA B cut of 6:51.00. Second, Stevens Point (6:53.22). Third is Whitewater (6:56.32).
Team scores:
Stevens Point (549), LA Crosse (521), Whitewater (442), Eau Claire (350), Oshkosh (157), River Falls (130)