Swim team yields state champs after program was nearly ended
By Tim Wester
Sports Correspondent
Six years ago, the Whitewater High boys swimming team was in despair. The program was not only in the midst of a five-year dual meet victory draught, it was in danger of becoming a club program or even dropped all together.
That’s when veteran swimming coach and Whitewater resident Joan Domritz made her plea to keep the programming running. Domritz not only persuaded the administration to reinstate the program as a club sport, but she also agreed to take the coaching position for free.
“I didn’t want to see a lifetime sport dropped, and I had been coaching a long time, and used to be a coach in Janesville,” Domritz said. “My daughter took over the aquatic club, and when the job for a high school swimming coach was available, I met with the administration and the rest was history.
Domritz added: “We’ve been a funded athletic program, and we didn’t have to fundraise after the first year, because we were back to being an official recognized sport. The boys did whatever it needed to do to keep the program alive, and the administration allowed us to do it.”
With the support of the community and the school administration, Domritz immediately went to work on building a downtrodden program. In Domrtiz’s first year as Whitewater coach, the Whippets broke their 5-year dual meet winless streak, and had their first-ever state-qualifying swimmer in Drew Kuchan.
“When I took over as the head coach I asked the team what they wanted to accomplish for the season, and the replies were to win a meet, and gain respect, as a program, and have a state qualifying swimmer,” Domritz said. “And we did all of that.”
From there, the Whitewater swimming program slowly continued to grow. The Whippets slowly but surely moved up the Southern Lakes Conference ranks, set more school swim records, and had individual conference champions.
“We got better each year we got better, and continued to move up in our conference and set more records,” Domritz said.
The winning culture Domritz has peaked this season with the Whippets finishing with their first winning record in school history and earning a trip to the state tournament.
The Whippets’ trip to state yielded a pair of championships. Junior Benny Liang led the way with a championship in the 100 breastroke, and then teamed with seniors Wentao Guo, Jon Zimdars, and Jason Shelbourn to win the 200 medley relay. In addition to the championships, Whitewater medaled in six of the seven events it competed in at the state tournament to finish tied for sixth place out of 32 teams.
“It was always a great experience going to state no matter how things go,” Domritz said. “The kids had a great meet, and our fans were very much with us.”
The awards have even spilled into the postseason with Zimdars earning the Southern Lakes Conference Swimmer of the Year. Zimdars, who is the first Whitewater boys swimmer in school history to earn this award, was conference champion in the 200 individual medley and the 100 fly. The Kenyon College recruit was also a member of the Whippets’ conference championship, winning 200 medley and 400 freestyle relay teams.
“Guo, Liang, Zimdars and Jason Shelbourn all shared our team MVP award for what they accomplished in the pool, the classroom and as leaders,” Domritz said. “These four boys have a combined GPA average of 3.8+ and a combined average ACT score of 32. Three of them are graduating and going on to college.”
With the swimming program hitting new heights this season, the only question remaining is can the Whippets become an even stronger program in the future? Domritz sees the potential for improvement.
“No one can predict the future, but I believe in the student-athletes we work with as coaches every day to work to the best they can be both in the pool and the classroom,” Domritz said. “If everyone continues to do this, yes I believe that we can continue to improve to the level of a state championship in the future.”
State championships aside, the Whitewater swimming program is certainly in good hands under Domritz’s proven direction.
