By Chris Bennett
Sports Correspondent
Seven Elkhorn swimmers across six events are headed to the WIAA Division 2 State Swimming and Diving Meet Friday at the University of Wisconsin Natatorium in Madison.
“We had a strong and fast sectional, which is good because you rise the occasion,” Elks coach Jamie Richardson said. “Shorewood, New Berlin West, New Berlin Eisenhower, Whitefish Bay, Fort Atkinson – we had some tough competition, and that just makes you want to compete.”
Lilly Remington, Rachel Anderson, Kay Ruemmele, Emily Ames, Megan Leahy, Anne Blackbourn and Bethany Buikema all qualified for state out of the Whitewater Sectional, which was held Nov. 9 at UW-Whitewater.
The Elks finished fifth as a team with 222.5 points. Shorewood won the sectional (301).
Remington, Anderson, Ruemmele and Ames qualified in the 200-yard medley relay. Leahy, Remington, Ames and Blackbourn qualified in the 200 freestyle relay, and Leahy, Buikema, Blackbourn and Ruemmele qualified in the 400 freestyle relay.
Blackbourn qualified in the 500 and 100 freestyles and Ruemmele qualified in the 100 backstroke and 200 individual medley. Anderson qualified in the 100 breaststroke.
The winner in each event at each sectional and the 15 best finishes statewide in each event qualify for state.
At the sectional meet the 200-yard medley relay again set the pace, as it did at the Southern Lakes Conference meet a week earlier, on Nov. 2 at Whitewater High School.
In the meet’s first event Remington, Anderson, Ruemmele and Ames finished 4th in 1 minute, 53 seconds, which is almost a second better than their seed time.
“The medley relay set the tone, with that good time coming in,” Richardson said. “It built confidence for the team and we just kept rolling from there.”
Individually, Ruemmele turned in an impressive day. She won the 100 backstroke in 59.82 seconds and finished third in the 200 individual medley (2:12).
Anderson finished sixth in the breaststroke (1:10) and dropped three seconds off her personal best time.
“She’s really been coming along, and she got that time she needed to qualify, which was awesome,” Richardson said.
Blackbourn finished third in the 100 freestyle (54.59) and fourth in the 50 freestyle.
The 400 freestyle relay finished third (3:43), the 200 medley relay finished fourth (1:53) and the 200 freestyle relay finished fifth (1:42).
Ruemmele is the most accomplished of any Elk swimmer headed to state. The senior finished fifth last season in the 100-yard backstroke (59.52) and 12th in the 200-yard individual medley (2:15.61).
Ruemmele also swam on each of the Elks relay teams. The 200-yard medley of Ruemmele, Remington, Ames and Savanna Kreiser finished 14th (1:56.57), and the 400-yard freestyle relay of Emma Glogovsky, Buikema, Blackbourn and Ruemmele finished 14th (3:47.07).
Blackbourn finished ninth in the 100-yard freestyle (54.86). The Elks finished 16th as a team. Shorewood is the defending Division 2 state champ; Waukesha South/Mukwonago Combined holds the Division 1 title.
