State Girls Swimming & Diving Championships Preview
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Monday, November 5, 2018

State Girls Swimming & Diving Championships Preview

THE CHAMPIONSHIPS: The 49th Annual Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association Girls Swimming and Diving Championships will be held Friday and Saturday, Nov. 9-10, at the Natatorium on the campus of the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Wis. Ticket prices for the meet are $6 and $1 for children 6-years old and under. 

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 
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

MEET LIVE ON NFHS NETWORK:  Every event of the WIAA State Girls Swimming and Diving Championships will be streamed live on the WIAA.TV portal of the NFHS Network on a consumer subscription basis. To purchase a subscription to the live programming for only $9.95 per month, log-on to www.wiaa.tv or www.nfhsnetwork.com and click on the subscription image. Archived streams of the events will be available on demand on the NFHS Network 72 hours after the tournament without requirement of a subscription. 

LAST YEAR:  Middleton won the title in Division 1 for the second consecutive season. The Cardinals scored 313.5 points to win the title by a comfortable margin. Cedarburg  was second with 242 points. In Division 2, Edgewood captured the crown for the third straight season by scoring 346 points. New Berlin Eisenhower finished second by compiling 202 points.  

MEET HISTORY: The WIAA began girls swimming and diving championships in 1970 and moved to a two-division format in 1992. Madison area schools have dominated the championships through the years. Either Madison West or Madison Memorial won all the championships through 1983 and all but one of the Division 1 titles since the inception of the two-division format in 1992 up until 2002. Overall, Madison West has won 15 titles, and Madison Memorial has won 14. Arrowhead has captured 11 titles, and Shorewood has seven championships.

INDIVIDUAL NOTES-DIVISION 1:  Six individual events and all three relays feature their 2017 champion returning to defend titles. Junior Cassie Stegner of Menomonee Falls/Hamilton is the returning champion in a pair of events. She won both the 100- and 200-yard freestyles last season. She qualifies this season with the fifth-fastest qualifying time of 52.26 in the 100 freestyle, and she has the fourth-swiftest time among qualifiers in the 200 free at 1:53.02. The top qualifier in the 100 freestyle is senior Kennedy Gilbertson of Stevens Point at 52.01. Senior Hannah Aegerter of Middleton, who finished fourth last year and runner-up in 2016, has the quickest qualifying time in the 200 freestyle at 1:52.02. Among the returning champions, there are four seeking their third straight title in their events. Junior Av Osero of Neenah is the two-time defending champion in the diving competition. She enters competition with the top qualifying score of 570.85.  Senior Grace Bennin of Verona/Mount Horeb attempts to win her third straight championship in the 100 breaststroke after a runner-up finish as a freshman in 2015. She’s back in the event possessing the top qualifying time of 1:03.14. Senior Katrina Marty of Madison West is the two-time returning champion in the 100 backstroke after beginning her career placing ninth as a freshman in 2015. She makes her return this year with the fourth-fastest qualifying time in the event this season at 56.29. It is sophomore Reilly Tiltmann of Brookfield East who possesses the fastest qualifying time in the backstroke at 55.29 after a fourth-place finish in the event a year ago. Junior Gabriela Pierobon Mays of Middleton swam to the championship in the 100 butterfly last season and as a freshman in 2016. She qualifies in the event this season with a time of 57.28, which places her in the second-fastest heat as the 10th-fastest qualifier. Marty has the best qualifying time in the 100 butterfly at 55.36 following a third-place finish in 2017 and a runner-up finish in 2016. Sophomore Emma Lasecki of Bay Port possesses the top seed time in the 200 IM at 2:03.83. She was the runner-up in the event last season after placing fifth in 2016. Senior Erika Remington of Cedarburg has posted the best qualifying time in the 50 freestyle this year at 23.58 after a fourth-place finish last season, and sophomore Abby Carlson is the only qualifier in the 500 freestyle with a time under five minutes at 4:58.73 following a fifth-place showing last season.  The Middleton 200 freestyle relay returns in pursuit of  their third straight gold medal. The Cardinals enter the meet with the second-fastest time of 1:36.91, slightly behind the qualifying time turned in by Sun Prairie at 1:36.79. The Middleton 200 medley relay also seeks to return to the top of the medal stand after being crowned the champion last season. The Cardinals possess the fifth-fastest qualifying time from sectionals at 1:45.75. Brookfield East has the top time in the event at 1:44.38. The Cedarburg 400 freestyle relay won the championship last year and has qualified this year with the second-fastest time of 3:29.77. The quickest qualifying time of 3:28.50 was performed by Sun Prairie at sectionals. 

INDIVIDUAL NOTES-DIVISION 2:  Three individual  events and all three relays feature last year’s returning champions. Senior Alexandra Moderski of McFarland accounts for two of those individual event returning champions. She possesses the Division 2 record in both the 50 and 100 freestyles. Moderski, the three-time champion in the 50 freestyle, seeks to become the 17th girl to win the same event four times. She enters the State meet with the credentials to accomplish the feat with the fastest seed time in the event at 23.53. In addition, Moderski is seeking her third gold medal in the 100 freestyle. She won the event in 2015 and again last year after finishing runner-up in 2016. Her seed  time of 51.44 ranks first among all qualifiers in the event. Sophomore Mekenzie Hammer of Monroe/New Glarus looks to repeat as champion in the 100 backstroke. She has the second-fastest qualifying time of 57.99, slightly behind freshman Anna teDuits of Edgewood at 57.45. Hammer has also qualified in the 200 IM and will be in contention for that title as well with the fastest seed time of 2:09.90 after finishing fifth in the event last season. Junior Kylee Theiler of Tomahawk has the best qualifying times in two events. Her time of 1:53.62 in the 200 freestyle leads the rest of the field after she finished fourth last season, and the 5:09.50 she possesses in the 500 freestyle is the top time turned in at sectionals after placing fourth in the event in 2017. Junior DeeDee Walker of Edgewood is the top returner in each of these events, having finished runner-up in the 200 freestyle and third in the 500 freestyle last year. She enters the meet with qualifying times of 1:58.10 and 5:23.21, respectively, in those events. Senior Kaitlyn Barth of Edgewood is the top qualifier in the 100 butterfly this season with a seed time of 57.16. She will need to contend with a pair of competitors with a plethora of State experience. Seniors Nicole Beckman of Whitnall and Kirby Tock of Baraboo are both three-time qualifiers in the event. Beckman finished third last year, fourth in 2016 and fifth in 2015. Tock placed fourth last year, fifth in 2016 and 11th in 2015.  They enter the meet with qualifying times just off of Barth’s at 58.00 and 58.60, respectively. Sophomore Ella Houwers of Whitewater is the top returning swimmer in the 100 breaststroke and the fastest qualifier at 1:05.88. She was runner-up in the event last season, just ahead of junior Ella Weaver of McFarland, who placed third after a fifth-place finish in 2016. Weaver qualifies this season with a time of 1:07.52. Sophomore Bella Smith of Whitnall possesses the top qualifying score among the divers this season. She enters with a performance of 463.20 at sectionals after finishing fourth at State last season. The top returner from last season is Sophomore Trinity McNall of Monona Grove, who placed third a year ago and has qualified this season with a score of 432.55. The Edgewood 200 freestyle relay attempts to win for the fourth straight time with the event’s fastest sectional performance of 1:38.70. The Crusaders’ 400 freestyle relay seeks its third straight crown with the field’s fastest qualifying time of 3:34.58, and they look to win their second consecutive championship in the 200 medley relay. They have the swiftest qualifying time in that event as well at 1:48.05.

NEED CREDENTIALS?:  Media credential requests  for the 2018 WIAA Girls State Swimming & Diving Championships must be requested by submitting the request from the restricted media area of the WIAA website by noon Nov. 7. Verification of approved credentials is available on the restricted media area of the WIAA website. Credentials will be available for pick-up upon arrival at the Natatorium. 

FOLLOW STATE MEET ON SOCIAL MEDIA:  Receive updates of the State Girls Swimming & Diving Championships on the WIAA State Tournament Twitter account @wiaawistate with the hashtag #wiaaswimdive. Also like us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram at wiaawi, and add us on Snapchat at wiaawis.

NEED THE QUALIFIERS?: All qualifiers, lane assignments and qualifying standards are available on the girls 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 girls swimming and diving Tournament Information page at www.wiaawi.org/Sports/GirlsSwimmingDiving.aspx.

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