Shorewood swimmers need perfect effort to win sixth straight Woodland title

Small in number, long on talent and almost infinite in their will and their ability to rise to an occasion, the Shorewood girls swim team turned in a near-perfect effort in claiming their sixth-straight Woodland Conference title Saturday.

"Wow, this was a great meet," said an enthusiastic Greyhounds coach Rob McCabe. "All season our goal was to win the conference meet. … All season I was telling the girls we had to have a total team effort for that goal to be attainable. … That is exactly what happened with the girls scoring in 23 of our 24 entries.

"… We have a lot to celebrate as a team. Not only did we win the meet but we set four conference and pool records, won eight events including all three relays, grabbed 10 medals and had a fair amount of season-best times. The conference tapered kids (Anna Gruber, Leila Kane, Hannah Miller and Yunny Youm) swam out of the minds. Lucy Petrick had two outstanding swims going lifetime best times. Freshman Rachel Munson won two events setting a pool record in the 100 breaststroke. Junior Ellen Stello won the 100 butterfly for the third consecutive year and had season-best swim in 500 freestyle. Kristin Malone kept her record-breaking season going strong with two conference and pool records in the 50 and 100 freestyles."

McCabe will look for the Greyhounds to carry over that success when they and sixth-place Brown Deer/University School compete in the WIAA Division 2 sectional meet Friday and Saturday at Plymouth. The winner of each event plus all those whose efforts are among the next 12 best of all sectionals statewide will advance to the D2 state meet in Madison on Nov. 11.

"The trick for the next week is to get everyone healthy and keep them healthy," McCabe said.

Tosa West pushes Shorewood

The Greyhounds, despite their high-level of performance, did not have an easy time winning the Woodland, as they had to hold off Wauwatosa West in the final event, the 400 free relay, to win by a 403-395 mark, as Brown Deer/USM scored 210 points for its spot.

The Shorewood 400 free relay team included Stello, Genevieve Hayes, Chloe Borut and Malone and set a league record of 3:45.07 as Tosa West was second (3:47.29).

"I have to give Wauwatosa West a lot of credit though because they made us battle all way to final leg of the 400 freestyle relay to win the meet," McCabe said. "Winning conference meets takes selfless acts from teammates swimming what is best for team, it takes inspiring performances from the less heralded team members and strong races from your core individuals and team leaders. I think we were able to check all three of those boxes."

Malone set Greenfield pool records and broke league marks in both the 50 free (24.01) and the 100 free (52.32), while the freshman Munson, took the 200 individual medley (2;13.85) and the 100 breaststroke (pool record 1:09.02).

In addition, Stello claimed the 100 butterfly in a pool record 1:00.77.

The Greyhounds cemented their hold on first with a sweep of all three relays. The 200 medley crew of Melissa Clausen, Munson, Stello and Diana Yakshimamedova (1:54.42) and the 200 free team of Clausen, Munson, Hayes and Malone (league record 1:42.42) joined the 400 free crew in victory circle, picking up 40 valuable points each in earning their titles.

Personal bests abounded across the board for the Greyhounds as Stello was second in the 500 free (5:14.36) and Hayes third (5:23.61) while Clausen was fourth in the 100 backstroke (1:02.87).

Falcons coach Bob Van Lieshout was very impressed with the work Shorewood did.

"Oh Lord, they swam well," he said. "They were just very composed all day long. They had to make up for all of Tosa's divers and they stuck their noses right in it and got it done."

Brown Deer/USM

Van Lieshout was also fine with how his own team performed, noting that it could have finished anywhere from fourth to sixth in the final tallies.

"Between the junior varsity and the varsity meets, of the kids who were tapered, we had 28 of 33 personal best efforts, which was just great," he said.

Top efforts for the Falcons by event included the following: diving: Lauren Isnard, third (334.25 points); 200 free: Kimberly Roos, seventh (2:06.33); 50 free: Caroline Bridges, third (25.37); 100 free: Bridges, fourth (56.03); 500 free: Roos, fourth (5:30.85); 200 free relay: Bridges, Arianna Sparapani, Kevlyn Holmes and Roos, fifth (1:49.28; 100 breaststroke: Sparapani, ninth (1:18.61); and 400 free relay: Bridges, Holmes, Sparapani and Roos, fifth (3:56.4).

Van Lieshout also praised the efforts of Nicole Gross and Natalie Surfus and of Andrea Watkins, who was subbing in for another swimmer and turned in a two-second personal best in the breaststroke.