Tremper’s Spencer wins another title
MADISON – Better and better. That’s how history will look at Brandon Spencer’s run of three straight Division 1 state diving titles. Each year the Kenosha Tremper senior’s score was higher and his margin of victory larger.
And with each step, some might have thought the pressure was greater, but that’s not the Eastern Michigan recruit’s approach to competition.
“There is the expectation of the three-peat, everyone wants me to finish that strong, but on myself, (there is no pressure) because I’m competing against all my friends here. You show up to dive. You don’t expect to win, you don’t expect to lose. You’re here to dive.”
That kind of thinking produced the sixth-best all-time performance in the event, a 524.45 total that was 51.15 points better than the runner-up, Franklin junior Jared Kleczka.
That effort highlighted a state meet that produced area champions in six other events and a near-miss for Waukesha South / Catholic Memorial in its chase for a second straight podium finish.
Leading the rest of the area’s standouts were Arrowhead’s Lucas Farrar, who won the 50- and 100-yard freestyles with top-five times alltime, and Waukesha South’s John Acevedo, who defended his crown in the 500 freestyle.
Acevedo also almost helped South bring home the second-place trophy. As Madison West, sparked by a record-setting swim in the 200 medley relay (1 minute 32.35 seconds), won its first team title since 1993, Waukesha South, last year’s champion, and Middleton battled for runner-up status. The race came down to the final event and really the final 25 yards, when Cardinals senior Michael Draves pulled past South to give his team the trophy.
The race was part of a bittersweet day for Acevedo. His winning time of 4:31.15 in the 500 was fifth-best alltime, three-hundredths of a second off his pace of last season, but he also took fifth in the 200 freestyle, an event in which he entered as the top seed.
“You live and you learn,” he said. “We all have little things we can fix. Now we can go back to practice and try to fix them for club season and next season.”
Farrar completed his rise from junior varsity swimmer as a freshman to state champion. Sophomore year he competed at state in the relays. Last year he took third in the 50 and tied for fifth in the 100. This year his winning times of 20.47 and 44.37 seconds ranked second- and third-best alltime at the meet.
“It’s been a (heck) of a journey …” he said. “It’s been a lot of work and a lot of fun. I’m glad I could do this with the guys behind me and my team.”
There were four other area winners.
Franklin’s 200 free relay of freshman Travis Craig and juniors Justin Craig, Will Lennertz and James Kostrzewa emerged from the first heat to win in 1:24.96, the fifth-fastest time in the event.
West Bend East/West senior Bryan Fitzgerald won the 200 individual medley in 1:50.15, eighth-best alltime.
Greenfield senior Ben Davis took the 200 free in 1:39.19, the fourth-best all-time.
When it comes to all-time standards, Spencer finished with three 500-point performances at state.
Sophomore year, when he won by 11.35 points, he scored 501.90. Last year he totaled 508.20, the 11th-best all-time, and won by 25.10 points.
With a season-best score of 540.25 and a sectional score of 521.15, Spencer and his coaches hoped to challenge the state record of 563.45 set by Racine Park’s Andrew Suchla in 2013. Points are harder to come by at state, though for Spencer they came a little easier than the rest of the field.
“If you’re asking am I happy with my score, I’m very satisfied,” he said. “Obviously, there is room to improve. I can always get better. I can always score higher.”