Pool Sharks sink teeth into records
By Dan Larson, Sauk Prairie Eagle
Even though Abby Diehl expected to do well for the Sauk Prairie Pool Sharks at the Tri-County Conference swim meet July 26 and 27, don't think she put any extra pressure on herself.
"The thing about summer swimming is it's so laid back (and) not as intense as the school season," she said in a phone interview July 31. "If I happen to break records, that's great."
As it turned out, she did break records: The 50- and 200-yard freestyles in the 15-18-year-old girls' division, helping Sauk Prairie to a fourth-place finish with 1,993.5 points.
Cross Plains won the meet (2,578 points), ending second place Baraboo's (2,343) eight-year run as champion.
Diehl's time of 24.94 seconds in the 50 eclipsed the old record of 25.18 set in 1997.
Still, she was more impressed with breaking 25 seconds than the record.
"I was just excited that I broke 25. That's a big accomplishment," said Diehl, a senior-to-be who just turned 17 and has been swimming for the Pool Sharks since she was 6.
"I didn't even know I broke the record until they told me."
As for the 200, an event Diehl took fifth in at last year's WIAA Division 2 state swimming and diving meet, she said it was nice to see where she's at before the fall.
"I was excited to get a fast time so I can start off the high school season knowing what I could do," she said after her time of 1:56.82 shattered the previous time of 1:58.56 set in 1999.
And Diehl wasn't the only Pool Shark to have a record-setting day.
Stephen Hanko broke the 50 backstroke record in the 13-14 division with a time of :27.73, eclipsing the old mark of :27.79 set a year ago, and Andrew Meng's 100 individual medley time of 1:06.70 in the 11-12 boys' division broke the previous record of 1:07.06, set in 1997.
Meng's time in the preliminaries July 26 was about a second slower than the record, but he said he knew it was within reach.
"I had an idea that I might be able to break it if I really tried hard," Meng, who turned 13 today, said in a phone interview Aug. 1.
"It's kind of cool that it's so old and I got to break it."
The 50 backstroke record wasn't as old, but Hanko said it still felt good to break.
"You work hard for it and when it finally pays off it's a good feeling," he said, adding that being able to do it on the same day two of his teammates set records made the accomplishment more special.
"I swam with them all season and they worked just as hard as I did, so it was cool that we all did it."
July 26-27
TRI-COUNTY CONFERENCE MEET
TEAM SCORES: Cross Plains 2,578, Baraboo 2,343, Sun Prairie 2,137.5, Sauk Prairie 1,933.5, Spring Green 1,498.5, Mount Horeb 1,158, Mazomanie 922, Wisconsin Dells 856.5.
(Sauk Prairie results only, 1st-8th place)
GIRLS 8 & UNDER — 100 yard freestyle relay: 5 (Lindsey Goodwin, Bridget Fabian, Kaitlyn Miller, Claire Selden), 1:21.55.
BOYS 8 & UNDER — 25freestyle: 3, Jacob Guentherman, :17.41. 25 backstroke: 1, Desmon Sachten, :19.21. 25 breaststroke: 4, Desmon Sachten, :23.65; 8, Jake Zimmerman, :29.37. 25 butterfly: 4, Jacob Guentherman, :20.80; 7, Ayden Frey, :23.93. 50 freestyle: 6, Jacob Guentherman, :41.90; 8, Ayden Frey, :43.35. 100 freestyle relay: 2 (Jacob Guentherman, Ayden Frey, Jake Zimmerman, Desmon Sachten), 1:19.69.
GIRLS 9-10 — 50 backstroke: 2, Erin Statz, :38.84. 50 butterfly: 6, Jordan Evans, :39.81; 8, Makayla Allan, :44.19. 100 freestyle: 3, Erin Statz, 1:31.06. 100 individual medley: 3, Jordan Evans, 1:22.99. 200 freestyle relay: 4 (Erin Statz, Darcy Kohn, Lauren Bradbury, Jordan Evans), 2:28.19
BOYS 9-10 — 50 freestyle: 3, Gage Neumaier, :31.93. 50 backstroke: 3, Dalton Fandrich, :41.64. 50 butterfly: 7, Austin Breunig, :41.32; 8, Gage Neumaier, :47.62. 100 freestyle: 5, Gage Neumaier, 1:17.28. 200 medley relay: 7 (Kyle Ertmer, Cole Chrisler, Jarrett Frosch, Andy Mack), 3:05.49. 200 freestyle relay: 1 (Jarrett Frosch, Dalton Fandrich, Austin Breunig, Gage Neumaier), 2:21.28.
GIRLS 11-12 — 50 freestyle: 5, Nysaa Goeres, :29.51. 50 backstroke: 4, Renee Ballweg, :34.63. 50 butterfly: 6, Nyssa Goeres, :34.11. 100 Freestyle: 6, Nyssa Goeres, 1:06.09. 100 IM: 7, Renee Ballweg, 1:18.84. 200 medley relay: 6 (Renee Ballweg, Rachelanne Bradburry, Nyssa Goeres, Lindsey Sauer), 2:25.65.
BOYS 11-12 — 50 freestyle: 4, Justin Grauvogl, :29.18; 5, Bryan Frosch, :29.31; 8, Will Butler, :31.05. 50 backstroke: 4, Bryan Frosch, :35.03. 50 breaststroke: 3, Jeremy Sauer, :39.00; 6, Owen Wills, :41.70. 50 butterfly: 4, Andrew Meng, :31.41; 7, Bryan Frosch, :33.84. 100 freestyle: 3, Andrew Meng, :59.00; 5, Will Butler, 1:07.57; 6, Justin Grauvogl, 1:08.06. 100 butterfly: 2, Bryan Frosch, :38.31; 3, James Cefalu, :45.71. 100 IM: 1, Andrew Meng, 1:06.70. 200 freestyle relay: 1 (Bryan Frosch, Will Butler, Justin Grauvogl, Andrew Meng), 1:57.53. 200 medley relay: 4 (Alex Wipperfurth, Jeremy Sauer, James Cefalu, Justin Grauvogl), 2:26.60.
GIRLS 13-14 — 50 freestyle: 2, Kelsey Kohlbeck, :26.11; 7, Lauren Ballweg, :27.54. 50 backstroke: 2, Sierra Sachtjen, :31.22. 50 breaststroke: 3, Carly Reinke, :35.04. 50 butterfly: 2, Kelsey Kohlbeck, :28.25; 5, Lauren Ballweg, :30.13. 100 IM: 1, Kelsey Kohlbeck, 1:04.31. 200 freestyle: 5, Lauren Ballweg, 2:10.26; 6, Sierra Sachtjen, 2:10.64. 200 freestyle relay: 1 (Lauren Ballweg, Maggie Dederich, Sierra Sachtjen, Kelsey Kohlbeck), 1:49.08. 200 medley relay: 4 (Sierra Sachtjen, Carly Reinke, Natalie Price, Maggie Dederich), 2:07.71.
BOYS 13-14 — 50 freestyle: 5, Matthew Bonjour, :26.74. 50 backstroke: 1, Stephen Hanko, :27.73. 100 IM: 1, Stephen Hanko, 1:01.62. 200 freestyle: 2, Stephen Hanko, 1:59.91. 200 freestyle relay: 6 (Lucas Murphy, James Cefalu, Alex Wipperfurth, Matthew Bonjour), 2:03.27. 200 medley relay: 6 (Quinn Murphy, Owen Wills, Lucas Murphy, Tyler Ederer), 2:34.66.
GIRLS 15-18 — 50 freestyle: 1, Abby Diehl, :24.94. 50 backstroke: 1, Alison Meng, :28.64. 50 breaststroke: 7, Jenna Lovell, :35.11. 50 butterfly: 1, Alison Meng, :27.44. 100 IM: 2, Abby Diehl, 1:03.50; 5, Alison Meng, 1:05.68. 200 freestyle: 1, Abby Diehl, 1:56.82. 200 freestyle relay: 4 (Kassie Hasheider, Jenna Lovell, Alison Meng, Abby Diehl), 1:46.36. 200 medley relay: 7 (Holly Kirk, Jenna Lovell, Kassie Hasheider, Megan Cahill), 2:06.84.
BOYS 15-18 — 50 freestyle: 1, Tyler Evans, :22.98; 2, Jared Krueger, :23.19. 50 backstroke: 1, James Byrnes, :27.84. 50 breaststroke: 1, James Byrnes, :30.25; 7, Paul Ballweg, :31.98. 50 butterfly: 1, Tyler Evans, :24.98; 5, Jared Krueger, :25.33. 100 IM: 3, James Byrnes, :59.46; 4, Jared Krueger, 1:00.58. 200 freestyle: 1, Tyler Evans, 1:52.90; 8, Kevin Kirk, 2:10.96. 200 freestyle relay: 1 (Bo Wills, James Byrnes, Jared Krueger, Tyler Evans), 1:332.52. 200 medley relay: 3 (Stephen Hanko, Paul Ballweg, Kevin Kirk, Bo Wills), 1:52.99.