WAUKESHA, Wis. – Middleton won the Division 1 team championship, and one event records was set at the 102nd State Boys Swimming & Diving Championships at the Waukesha South High School Natatorium Saturday.
The Cardinals won their fourth straight State team title and their fourth overall by compiling 306 points. They won eight of the 12 events in the meet. Brookfield Central/East was second in the team standings with 248 points, and the Badger/Big Foot/Westosha Central/Williams Bay/Wilmot Union co-op finished third with 173 points.
Middleton won all three relay events to propel the Cardinals to the title. They captured gold and established a new meet record in the 200 medley relay by winning their fourth straight title in the event. Max Carter, Henry Zanton, Caden VanBuren and Ben Cutler Heiderscheit won the event with a time of 1:29.81. It eclipsed the former record set by the Middleton medley relay last year. The quartet of Sam Wolf, Espen Morner, Cutler Heiderscheit and VanBuren added a second straight championship in the 200 freestyle relay with a time of 1:22.52, which ranks as the second-fastest time in the history of the meet. In addition, the 400 relay team of Cutler Heiderscheit, Carter, Morner and Wolf earned the Cardinals the title for the fifth year in a row, finishing with time of 3:02.47. That time is the third-fastest in State meet history.
The Cardinals received gold-medal performances in two individual events from VanBuren, in addition to his efforts in two winning relays. He won his second straight championship in the 50 freestyle, finishing in a time of 20.08, which is the fourth-fastest time in State meet history. VanBuren also swam the third-quickest pace in State meet history to win the 100 butterfly with a time of 47.46.
Wolf also earned individual titles in two events to go with his two relay titles. He swam the fifth-fastest time in State meet history in the 200 freestyle at 1:37.33 to win the event. Wolf added his second straight title in the 100 breaststroke in a time of 54.16, which ranks fifth-best on the all-time performance list in the event.
In addition to his participation on two winning relays, Carter added the 100 freestyle crown for the second year in a row. He won the event in a time of 45.05.
Max Garbacz of Madison West won a pair of individual events in the meet. He earned the 200 individual medley championship after placing third in 2025. Garbacz raced to a time of 1:47.29, which is the fifth-fastest time in State meet history. He also added the title in the 500 freestyle with a time of 4:31.06.
Brecken Curran of Verona, who entered the meet with the fastest qualifying time in the 100 backstroke after placing 16th a year ago, earned the title in the event with a time of 48.27.
AJ Beard of Madison Memorial, a three-time qualifier, won the diving competition with a final score of 472.60 after finishing runner-up a year ago and fifth in 2024.
Complete Division 1 Results