The Whitewater High School girls’ varsity swim team finished 6th at last week’s sectional meet and several members of the team qualified for state.
Those qualifying for state include: the Medley Relay team of Debra Krebs, Callie Hebert, Sara Foucault and Kassie Yeazel; Focault in the 200 Individual Medley and 500 Freestyle; Hebert in the 200 Individual Medley and 100 Breastroke, and; the team of Sydney Zimdars, Yeazel, Hebert and Foucault in the 400 Freestyle Relay.
As a team, according to head coach Gina Foucault, the girls combined for 18 out of 21 best times at the meet.
“Our Medley Relay started the meet off great going 1.7 seconds faster; without this significant drop the girls would not have qualified this event for state. Anna Yeazel had a fantastic swim in the 200 Freestyle, dropping over four seconds to beat her whole heat by seven seconds while Sydney Zimdars dropped almost a full second in the 200 Freestyle racing in the top heat of competitors,” Gina Foucault said.
The coach also noted that Sara Foucault dropped four seconds from last weekend’s time in the 200 Individual Medley; Sydney Hackney and Hebert posted best times in the 200 IM; Yeazel improved her 50 Freestyle over her conference meet time as did Jacquelyn Caldwell in the 100 Butterfly.
A couple of swimmers really impressed Gina Foucault at sectionals.
“Olimpia Soto swam in her first sectional meet putting in a great 100 Freestyle race, going right on her best time and Kassie Yeazel broke the school record in the 100 Freestyle going 55.66,” she said.
“Sara Foucault raced an aggressive 500 Freestyle, Sydney Zimdars went a lifetime best in the 500 Freestyle going 5:26.66 and our 200 Freestyle relay of Debra Krebs, Kara Ketterhagen, Sydney Hackney and Sydney Zimdars went over two seconds faster than last week at conference with Sydney Zimdars finishing with a blazing fast 26.89 on the anchor leg right after her 500 Freestyle race,” the coach added.
Other notable bright spots at the sectional meet: the 100 Backstroke swimmers all posted best times with Caldwell dropping an additional second, Hackney, two seconds and Krebs, nearly two seconds; Anna Yeazel rounded out her day with a powerful 100 Breaststroke race, according to Gina Foucault, dropping almost two seconds while Callie Hebert put in her season best time by a second in the 100 Breaststroke.
The day ended on a positive and inspiring note, the coach said, when the WHS 400 Freestyle Relay team dropped their time by almost four seconds, “every last bit needed to qualify for the state meet.”
The following swimmers posted new Top 10 times of all time: Zimdars, 200 Freestyle – 4th all time, and 500 Freestyle – 3rd all time; Kassie Yeazel, 50 Freestyle – 2nd all time, and 100 Freestyle – 1st all time; Hackney, 100 Breaststroke – 8th all time, and; Anna Yeazel, 100 Breastroke – 3rd all time.
“It was awesome being in such a nice pool for sectionals. The girls swam so well and I am very excited to have both of the relays going to state along with Sara and Callie’s individual events,” coach Gina Foucault said.
The state meet will begin at 6:30 p.m., Friday, Nov. 15 at the UW-Madison Natatorium.
“Come cheer on the Whippets as they race in the fastest meet of the year. Also, a huge thanks to all of the people that made our sectional meet run smoothly – Alex Kultgen and the UW-W Warhawk Swim Team, Cheri and Eric Zimdars and all the parents and swimmers that helped work the raffle and concessions. Hopefully we will be running this meet for many years to come,” Gina Foucault said.
