Arrowhead finishes second; Seymour wins 2 titles
WAUKESHA - Arrowhead came up short in the final team standings to Middleton at the WIAA Division 1 state swim and dive meet, but Warhawks head coach Norma Balogh said her team had little to hang their heads about in regards to their own performance.
“I thought we did super well. We had best times in almost every single event.,” Balogh said. “When they're setting state records, and you're getting second to that, that's nothing that you can be sad about.”
Middleton eclipsed three state records, one of which came in a second-place finish, in a dominant display that left little room for doubt in the meet's latter stages. Arrowhead found itself fending off the more competitive field for second place, which it did successfully in part thanks to five school record-breaking performances.
Senior Lance Johnson defended his title in the 200-yard individual medley, winning in 1 minute 47.93 seconds. He also finished second in the 100 breaststroke in 54.31 seconds, just behind the state-record performance from Abram Mueller of Madison West (53.20).
Fellow senior Tyler Hansen finished second in the 200-yard freestyle in 1:37.35, and the 200 and 400 freestyle relay teams had fourth- and second-place finishes, respectively.
“Obviously no one comes to the state meet wanting to get second place, but I think everyone's happy with how we did this season,” Hansen said. “We improved a lot as a team, and I think we've got a lot to look forward to next year.”
Balogh added that the Warhawks knew they faced an uphill battle going in, which helped them stay loose in a high-pressure environment.
“We came in I think 78 points behind just off the heat sheet,” Balogh said. “Of course we're going to try and go for the win, but that's a pretty large deficit. The only chance that we would have would be to steal a relay win, or two, or three.”
For Johnson, who is swimming at the University of Kentucky next season, his final high school meet was an opportunity to enjoy the stage a bit more than he had last season as a junior.
“This is my last year, so I wanted to have fun, enjoy the moment rather than worrying about times,” said Johnson, who came into Saturday as the reigning champion in the 100 breaststroke. “It's a highpressure meet obviously, but it's the last opportunity where I can really just enjoy the fun that the sport brings.”
Hansen, who will swim for the University of Minnesota next fall, added the meet was a good experience for Arrowhead's returning swimmers. Balogh said the losses of Johnson, Hansen, Matthew Vayts and Cooper Wisener will be challenging to replace, but that the program's depth remains strong. Junior Anakin Fischer takinig seventh in the 200 freestyle and third in the 500 freestyle were highlights for the Warhawks. Freshman Dean Amble also finished 14th in the 500 freestyle in his state debut, and sophomore Matthew Baumann finished 22nd in the 100 backstroke.
“I think we have a strong squad underneath (the seniors), part of that was here today,” Balogh said. “I'm pretty optimistic we won't fall off everyone's radar.”
Seymour wins two titles, sets record
Brookfield Central/East may not have had the depth of its 2022 state title team to repeat, but senior Stuart Seymour still put up a couple memorable performances Saturday. The Northwestern University commit won the 100 butterfly in 47.62, while also defending his title in the 100 backstroke with a state-record performance of 47.77.
While Brookfield Central/East's finish of sixth in the team standings was not quite on the level of last year, Seymour said he was grateful to have teammates' support in and out of the pool on Saturday.
Other highlights for the team included a seventh-place finish in the 50 freestyle for junior Thomas Bergin, as well as a fifth-place finish in the 200 freestyle relay. The relay consisted of Bergin, Seymour, freshman Nish Kumar and sophomore Caleb Smith.
“I love every single person on my team. We're all so close,” Seymour said. “I'll miss them greatly, because I won't be here next year, but they'll do amazing things, I know all of them will.”
Seymour said keeping a similar mindset to any other meet allowed him to perform at his best, though he admitted the atmosphere can also provide a boost.
“The atmosphere here is just different than every other meet, so the energy in the pool is just kind of what helps you get that little boost of energy that you need,” Seymour said.
Other Division 1 highlights
Homestead finished fourth overall, led by senior David Krol's state title in diving. Other highlights for the Highlanders included a fifth-place in the 200 IM and sixth in the 100 backstroke for senior Devin Testin, as well as a fifth-place effort in the 200 medley relay, a fifth from Connor Kwiatkowski in the 100 butterfly and a fourth in the 400 freestyle relay.
Muskego's Ryan Slonac also took second in the 200 IM and 100 backstroke events, while contributing to a third-place 200 medley relay team that also included sophomore Carter Jewell, junior Mason Wendt and sophomore Eli Wichman.
Results
Team scores – 1, Middleton, 288; 2, Arrowhead, 211; 3, Madison Memorial, 180; 4, Homestead, 174.5; 5, Madison West 158; 6, Brookfield Central/East, 116.5; 7, Muskego, 116; 8, D.C. Everest, 108.5; 9, Oregon, 104; 10, Madison East/La Follette, 97; 11, Cedarburg, 90; 12, Hudson, 79; 13, Sun Prairie East, 73; 14, Bay Port, 64; 15, Franklin, 56; 16, Sun Prairie West, 46; 17, Neenah, 42; 18, West Bend West/East, 33; 19, Racine Case Co-op, 29; 20, Greenfield Co-op, 23; 20, Waukesha South/Catholic Memorial, 23; 22, Waunakee, 21; 23, Verona Area, 20.5; 24, Wauwatosa West/East, 19; 25, Stevens Point, 18; 26, Beloit Memorial, 17; 27, Kenosha Tremper, 15; 28, Sheboygan North/Kohler, 14; 29, Janesville Craig, 13; 30, Monona Grove, 11; 30, Oshkosh North Co-op, 11; 32, Kenosha Indian Trail, 9; 33, Badger Co-op, 7; 33, Appleton North/Appleton East, 7; 35, Menomonee Falls/Hamilton, 6; 35, Waukesha North Co-op, 6; 37, Green Bay Southwest Co-op, 5; 37, Burlington Co-op, 5; 39, Hartford Union/Slinger, 4; 40, Marshfield, 3; 41, Milwaukee King Co-op, 2.
1-meter diving – 1, David Krol, Homestead, 518.45; 2, Jackson Rodriguez, Hudson, 488.70; 3, Brady Huettl, Waukesha South/ Catholic Memorial, 462.80; 4, Evan Arneson, Kenosha Tremper, 439.50; 5, Ryan Meyer, West Bend West/East, 434.80; 6, Krishna Lakkaraju, Madison Memorial, 413.45.
50-yard freestyle – 1, Jack Madoch, Middleton, 19.61; 2, Spencer Stluka, Oregon, 20.62; 3, AJ Terry, Madison East/La Follette, 20.64; 4, Henry Cain, Cedarburg, 20.71; 5, Alex Shaw, Madison West, 21.16; 6, Hugo Arteaga, Racine Case Co-op, 21.31.
100 freestyle – 1, Jack Madoch, Middleton, 43.74; 2, Tyler Hansen, Arrowhead, 44.72; 3, David Mayer, D.C. Everest, 45.18; AJ Terry, Madison East/La Follette, 45.30; 5, Matt Dedering, Cedarburg, 45.43; 6, Henry Cain, Cedarburg, 45.82.
200 freestyle – 1, Nick Chirafisi, Middleton, 1:37.11; 2, Tyler Hansen, Arrowhead, 1:37.35; 3, Andrew Hanson, Hudson, 1:39.57; 4, David Mayer, D.C. Everest, 1:40.09; 5, Matt Dedering, Cedarburg, 1:40.10; 6, Charlie House, Madison Memorial, 1:40.36.
500 freestyle – 1, Andrew Hanson, Hudson, 4:24.74; 2, Nick Chirafisi, Middleton, 4:27.39; 3, Anakin Fischer, Arrowhead, 4:35.09; 4, Jackson Esteves, Middleton, 4:36.92; 5, Alex Heinrich, Madison Memorial, 4:38.13; 6, Turner Long, Bay Port, 4:39.91.
100 backstroke – 1, Stuart Seymour, Brookfield Central/East, 47.77; 2, Ryan Slonac, Muskego, 48.73; 3, Mason Bruhn, Franklin, 49.45; 4, Smith Connor, Madison East/La Follette, 49.87; 5, Jonah Gunnink, Sun Prairie West, 50.20; 6, Devin Testin, Homestead, 50.42. 100 breaststroke – 1, Abram Mueller, Madison West, 53.20; 2, Lance Johnson, Arrowhead, 54.31; 3, Finnley Conklin, Oregon, 54.38; 4, Sam Wolf, Middleton, 55.55; 5, Drew Gaerthofner, Neenah, 56.22; 6, Ben Collins, Madison West, 57.59.
100 butterfly – 1, Stuart Seymour, Brookfield Central/East, 47.62; 2, Abram Mueller, Madison West, 48.71; 3, Hugo Arteaga, Racine Case Co-op, 49.53; 4, Gabe Pitzen, Madison Memorial, 50.20; T-5, Connor Kwiatkowski, Homestead, 51.05; T-5, Julian Cortright, Wauwatosa West/East, 51.05.
200 individual medley – 1, Lance Johnson, Arrowhead, 1:47.93; 2, Ryan Slonac, Muskego, 1:48.06; 3, Sam Wolf, Middleton, 1:48.22; 4, Gabe Pitzen, Madison Memorial, 1:51.86; 5, Devin Testin, Homestead, 1:52.39; 6, Mason Bruhn, Franklin, 1:52.95.
200 medley relay – 1, Middleton (Theo Wolf, Sam Wolf, Caden Van Buren, Max Carter), 1:31.05; 2, Madison West (Ben Runzheimer, Ben Collins, Abram Mueller, Alex Shaw), 1:33.25; 3, Muskego (Ryan Slonac, Carter Jewell, Mason Wendt, Eli Wichman), 1:33.92; 4, Arrowhead (Matthew Baumann, Lance Johnson, Matthew Vayts, Mateo Haeuser), 1:34.83; 5, Homestead (Devin Testin, Alex Johnson, Connor Kwiatkowski, Reese Minning), 1:35.34; 6, Sun Prairie East (Sean Gillett, Trevor Nicodemus, Bennett Braatz, Coby Zander), 1:35.65. 200 freestyle relay – 1, Middleton (Jack Madoch, Caden Van Buren, Max Carter, Nick Chirafisi), 1:22.74; 2, D.C. Everest (Camden Barwick, Keaton Barwick, Blake Beatty, David Mayer), 1:24.13; 3, Madison Memorial (Gabe Pitzen, Etienne, Dolezal, Matthew Golden, Charlie House), 1:24.54; 4, Arrowhead (Tyler Hansen, Matthew Baumann, Anakin Fischer, Mateo Haeuser), 1:24.82; 5, Brookfield Central/East (Thomas Bergin, Nish Kumar, Caleb Smith, Stuart Seymour), 1:25.40; 6, Madison West (Abram Mueller, Cole Johnson, Nick Austin, Henry Affeldt), 1:25.43.
400 freestyle relay – 1, Middleton (Theo Wolf, Nick Chirafisi, Sam Wolf, Jack Madoch), 3:01.71; 2, Arrowhead (Tyler Hansen, Matthew Baumann, Anakin Fischer, Lance Johnson), 3:03.95; 3, Madison Memorial (Charlie House, Etienne Dolezal, Alex Heinrich, Gabe Pitzen), 3:06.55; 4, Homestead (Connor Kwiatkowski, Noah Van Zuidam, Drew Testin, Devin Testin), 3:08.43; 5, Muskego (Mason Wendt, Eli Wichman, Carter Jewell, Ryan Slonac), 3:08.50; 6, D.C. Everest (Camden Barwick, Blake Beatty, Keaton Barwick, David Mayer), 3:10.04.