By Michael S. Hoey
Correspondent
Two individuals and two relay teams competed for the Badger/Big Foot/Westosha/Williams Bay coop swim team Saturday at the WIAA Division 1 state meet in Madison, but a single top-20 finish was the best the team could muster.
The 200-yard medley relay team of Cora Rafe, Grace Gillingham, Molly Dover and Katelyn O’Brien finished 19th with a time of 1 minute, 52.23 seconds.
O’Brien and Dover were joined by Eden Wember and Theresa VanSchyndel to capture 22nd place in the 200 freestyle relay (1:42.02).
Competing as individuals at state were O’Brien, who placed 21st in the 100 breaststroke (1:07.7), and Rafe, who placed 24th in the 200 individual medley (2:15.60).
The Badgers entered the state meet with high hopes after winning the sectional meet at Kenosha Tremper Nov. 5 and the Southern Lakes Conference Meet Oct. 30
Badger won the sectional with 341 points despite not getting any points in diving events. Racine Case was second with 288.
“It was definitely the depth of the team,” Coach Glen Biller said when asked what the key was to the victory. “We killed everybody in the fourth and fifth spots.”
Biller said that depth was a theme all season but at the sectional every girl placed higher than she was seeded.
He said the sectional was close and he held his breath when the final results were announced.
The relay teams have been the strength of the team all season, a season in which the Badgers went undefeated in dual conference meets and won the conference championship for the fifth season in a row.
The Badgers won the Southern Lakes Conference Meet at Jefferson on Oct. 30 with 592 points. Burlington took second with 402.50. Biller said depth was the key again, not just this season, but the last five.
“We won a lot of events this year,” he added.
“The girls trained hard this season as they always do, they kept their strength and the depth up, they rested well, and they came together and pulled it off,” Biller said.
Badger swept all three relay events and won two out of the top three spots in two of them.
