Tosa West's Larson, relay qualifies for WIAA state swim

The Wauwatosa West girls swim team continues to make waves this season.

The latest example was at Saturday's Division 1 sectional held at Waukesha South.

In fact, the Trojans took a step up in competition as it was the first time they have competed in Division 1 for the state meet.

Coach Dale Schrank was concerned that his team might be a little overwhelmed by this level of competition, but he was happy with what he saw.

"D-1 is significantly faster than D-2 and this is the toughest of the six sectionals in D-1," he said. "I was very concerned as to how well they would handle this level of competition.

"I am elated with their response. We had lifetime best efforts in every event throughout the meet."

Talented sophomore Anna Larson led the attack with lifetime best times in both the 50 and 100-yard freestyle, qualifying in both events.

Larson finished fifth in the 50 free in 24.73 seconds and sixth in the 100 free (53.57).

She was also the nucleus of the 200 free relay that broke a 17-year-old school record and also qualified for state.

She teamed with Rachel Stuberg, Kristianna Klammer and Ellie Krummel in the record-setting performance of 1 minute, 41.36 seconds.

The old mark of 1:42.67 was set in 1995 by the relay team of Rene Porter, Jenny Behr, Kristi Behr and Maggie Hevey.

Rounding out the scoring for the Trojans were Kelsey Kennedy (15th, 5:43.72) and Kaitlyn Hembrook (16th, 5:47.88) in the 500 yard freestyle, Alli Welsh in the 100 backstroke (14th, 1:03.08) and Stuberg (eighth, 25.36), Klammer (15th, 26.25) and Welsh (19th, 26.52) in the 50 free.

Krummel also scored in the 200 yard freestyle (18th, 2:05.09). Gina Kautzer, Caitlin Renaud, Hembrook and Welsh placed 11th in the 200 medley relay (2:05.86).

The most heartbreaking event of the day for the local favorites was the final event of the evening - the 400 yard freestyle relay. That relay of Welsh, Larson, Krummel and Stuberg just missed qualifying for the state meet by less than one second.

"Overall, it was a great meet for our team," Schrank said. "With all of our relay swimmers being underclassmen, things are looking great for the future."

Wauwatosa West finished ninth (111 points) in the 15-team meet, which was won by Waukesha South/Mukwonago (396).

- Tom 'Sky' Skibosh

SECTIONAL RESULTS

1. Waukesha South/Mukwonago (396), 2. Arrowhead (381), 3. Muskego (266), 4. Brookfield East (203), 5. Waukesha North/Kettle Moraine (188), 6. Brookfield Central (166), 7. Hartford Union (137), 8. Waukesha West (123) , 9. Wauwatosa West (111), 10. Oconomowoc (97), 11. Wauwatosa East (82), 12. Watertown (52), 13. West Allis Central/Hale (44), 14. Milwaukee King/Washington (24), 15. Milwaukee Riverside University (16).