By Laura Humphrey
Sports Correspondent
It’s back to state for Elkhorn’s girls swim team.
The Lady Elks finished fifth as a team at the sectional meet Saturday, with seven girls qualifying to compete at this Friday’s WIAA state meet in three individual events and two relays.
“We had a great meet,” said coach Jamie Richardson. “The girls really swam well. We posted a lot of personal best times and we are sending several girls to state.”
At the sectional meet, junior Kady Ruemmele repeated as sectional champion in the 100 backstroke and also qualified in the 200 individual medley as well as the 200 medley relay and 400 freestyle.
“Kady had great walls in her backstroke race,” said Richardson. “She did a great job on her last turn and really came through with a strong finish. In her IM race she dropped 1.21 seconds off of her time and really came out strong. She puts the time in during the offseason to make her the caliber of swimmer she is.”
Also qualifying individually was junior Anne Blackbourn in the 100 freestyle as well as the 400 freestyle relay.
“Anne dropped .40 seconds off her time,” said Richardson. “She has really been focused and driven all season. She is a very disciplined athlete who always works hard and leads by her great example.”
Joining Ruemmele in the 200 medley relay are senior Savanna Kreiser and juniors Lilly Remington and Emily Ames.
“Lilly set the tone by leading off with an awesome split dropping .53 seconds off her time,” said Richardson. “She had great turnover on her leg. Kady had her best split as well.”
Ruemmele and Blackbourn will be joined by senior Emma Glogovsky and sophomore Bethany Buikema in the 400 freestyle relay.
“Emma led off with a .56 second time drop which started things rolling,” said Richardson. “Bethany came back with an awesome swim and dropped .43 seconds on her leg of the race. Anne dropped .77 seconds on her leg.”
Team results from the sectional were as follows: 1. Fort Atkinson 329, 2. New Berlin Eisenhower 272.5, 3. Whitewater 255.5, 4. Whitnall 227, 5. Elkhorn 216, 6. New Berlin West 199, 7. Kenosha Indian Trail 177, 8. Pewaukee 119, 9. St. Thomas More/St. Francis 97, 10. Catholic Memorial 95, 11. Delavan-Darien 84, 12. Greendale 73, 13. Martin Luther 54, 14. Cudahy 41.
Event results were as follows:
200 medley relay: 3. 1:55.78 Remington, Kreiser, Ruemmele, Ames
200 freestyle: 17. Bethany Buikema 2:14.06 – “Bethany had nice high elbow recovery and good technique on her race,” said Richardson.
200 individual medley: 6. Ruemmele 2:15.02
50 freestyle: 8. Blackbourn 25.71, 12. Ames 26.27, 14. Remington 26.41 – “Anne had a strong finish to her race,” said Richardson. “Emily had a nice start and streamline off the block and Lilly had good turnover during her race.”
100 butterfly: 11. Buikema 1:07.78, 14. Amanda Robers 1:09.23 – “Bethany dropped 1.59 seconds off her time and had a strong second 50 to her race,” said Richardson. “Amanda dropped .65 seconds off her time. She has been working all week on her turnover and her turnover rate was excellent.”
100 freestyle: 4. Blackbourn 55.22, 11. Ames 58.06, 14. Glogovsky 58.35 – “Emily dropped 1.08 seconds and posted her best split of the season,” said Richardson. “She had a great start off the blocks and really finished hard for the team. Emma dropped 1.03 seconds off her time and had a strong last 25 to her race. She really dug deep and finished strong.”
500 freestyle: 12. Emily Ackerman 6:08.38, 16. Robers 6:22.25 – “Emily had nice consistent splits and finished strong,” said Richardson. “She did a great job swimming this event for the team all season long. Amanda really stepped up and did a great job swimming this race.”
200 freestyle relay: 1.44.16 Ames, Glogovsky, Remington, Blackbourn – “Emma dropped .85 seconds off her leg and Lilly posted her best time dropping .47 seconds on her split,” said Richardson.
100 backstroke: 1. Ruemmele 59.14, 10. Remington 1:05.20, 16. Megan Leahy 1:09.21 – “Lilly had a great start to her race and has really improved this stroke,” said Richardson. “Megan dropped 1.29 seconds off of her time and had really great turnover. She has really done well as a newcomer to the team.”
100 breaststroke: 8. Rachel Anderson 1:13.94, 9. Kreiser 1:14.62, 10. Avonlea Odling 1:15.12 – “Rachel dropped .98 seconds off her time and had great walls and underwater pullouts,” said Richardson. “Savanna has been a hard worker all season long and has really impressed me with her great attitude. Avonlea dropped .55 seconds off her time and swam a very impressive time. She was really getting streamline on her race.”
400 freestyle relay: 4. 3:47.18 Glogovsky, Buikema, Ruemmele, Blackbourn.
