Falls swimmer ready to defend state title
MENOMONEE FALLS – Cassie Stegner got the itch when she was 8.
There is sometimes a moment when an athlete's joy for the sport merges with his or her love of competition. For the Menomonee Falls/Sussex Hamilton standout, the switch flipped as soon as she joined a club swim team.
“I started to really love the competing," said the junior who attends Falls. "the swimming and the practices and swimming with all the people."
That passion for the sport made her an impact performer as a freshman and an improbable state champion as a sophomore. This year it just might be the edge that helps her stay atop to medal stand.
“I’m a little bit more nervous than I was last year,” she said. “Last year I really didn’t think anything of it going in because I was seeded so low, but now everyone is going to be watching me, so I am a little more nervous about it. I’m just going to trust my coach, trust my training.”
The WIAA state swimming and diving meet will be held Friday and Saturday at UW-Natatorium. The Division 2 meet will be held Friday evening and the Division 1 competition is scheduled for Saturday.
Stegner is the area’s only defending individual champion.
She arrives at state as the No. 4 seed in the 200-yard freestyle and as the fifth seed in the 100 free. One thing Stegner has proven, however, is that seeds, lane assignments and even heats mean little when it comes to winning a state title.
Last year she accomplished the rare feat of winning a title out of Lane 8, taking the 200 free in 1 minute 49.77 seconds. She took it a few steps further in the 100 free later in the meet, winning from the second of the three heats with a time of 51.03.
She ranks second in Division 1 on the top times list compiled by the Wisconsin Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association in the 200 free with a time of 1:51.87 and is third in the 100 (51.82).
“I want to repeat my state title, but as long as I go somewhere close to my best time, I think I’ll be pretty happy with it," said Stegner, who established her personal best of 51.03 and 1:49.77 at state last year.
Stegner will be challenged by two swimmers who weren’t in the 100 or 200 last season. Arrowhead sophomore Emmaleigh Zietlow owns the state’s fastest time in the 200 free (1:51.77). Sun Prairie sophomore Sophie Fiske is seeded second at 52.04 in the 100. Her top time of the season, according to the top times list, of 51.80 ranks No. 2 overall but is the best of any swimmer in the field. Stegner's times have been dropping. Last month she helped the Falls/ Hamilton team win its third straight Greater Metro title. Stegner set two records that day, beating a 21-year-old record in winning the 50 freestyle in 24.21 and beating the 100 free mark she set two years ago with a time of 52.23.