Arrowhead dominates the pool
MEQUON - The Arrowhead boys swim team appears to be back.
The Warhawks won the Homestead Sectional on Saturday with 398 points, 61 ahead of runner-up Brookfield, after failing to finish in the top five of the Division 1 state meet last year for just the second time in the last 15 seasons.
“They really took things seriously in the off-season to get ready for this year,” Arrowhead coach Kevin Ewald said. “They knew that when it was their time to be called to race, they would get their swims through to state and put us in a position for a stronger team finish.”
Individual winners at Homestead automatically advance to state next weekend in Madison, and additional swimmers will qualify based on times.
The Warhawks will be well-represented. Lucas Farrar and Drew Nixdorf each won two events and Arrowhead won all three relay races.
The Warhawks knew they would pull away from Brookfield in the 100-yard backstroke, the 10th of 12 events, because they had the top-three seeded swimmers and the Barracudas did not have any contestants in the race.
Arrowhead increased its lead from 12 points to 65 after watching Nixdorf take first in 53.45 seconds, Tyler Wrasman finish second (53.88) and Ethan Murphy place third (54.69).
“We knew that event was our biggest strength,” Nixdorf said. “We really came and put it all in the pool there. We had probably three of our best guys in that event and we just smoked them.”
Another noteworthy race was the 100 freestyle, as Farrar won in 46.64 and reigning state champion Danny Larson of Wauwatosa was second in 46.75.
“He was just a little tougher than me,” Larson said. “That was an awesome swim. But as far as next weekend, that only means what lane we’re in. I’ve never been a top seed going into state before. The first two years, I wasn’t even in the final heat and moved up a ton. It’ll motivate me over the next week. I think I’m in pretty good standing to defend last year’s title.”
But Farrar, who also won the 50 free Saturday in 21.12, did not even qualify for those events at state last season.
“He’s grown a lot,” Ewald said. “He’s become more of a competitor, he’s raced on a higher level, he’s trained on a higher level, he believed he’s capable of more, and today it really shined through as his chance to kind of break through onto that top stage.”
Nixdorf also won the 100 butterfly in 51.93 after not qualifying for that state race last season.
Another swimmer with big improvement was West Bend’s Bryan Fitzgerald. He not only won the 500 free after taking eighth at state, his time of 4:39.75 set a pool record.
“That was a surprise,” he said. “Coming in that wasn’t a goal. I just had to get all the splits and I won them, so it came out good.”
Fitzgerald was 12th at state in the 200 individual medley last year and took first in that event as well, in 1:54.73.
“I didn’t really worry about the placing, I just wanted to make it to state and get in good,” Fitzgerald said. “I really wasn’t worried coming in here.”
Larson, who has finished as state runner-up the previous three years in the 200 free, used a 1:43.19 swim to finish first Saturday.
Brookfield also had two first-place finishes, as Braden Rumpit claimed the diving competition with 441.65 points and Ben Attenberger won the 100 breaststroke in 58.88.