Swimmers are state champs

Photo by Steve Apps / Capital Newspapers

Abby Diehl looks towards her teammates on the other end of the pool deck while celebrating her championship in the 100-yard freestyle at the WIAA Division 2 state swimming and diving meet at the University of Wisconsin Natatorium.

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By Dan Larson / Sauk Prairie Eagle

MADISON — It took Abby Diehl four years — and a lot of hard work — to reach the moment when her dreams intersected with reality.

It only took her a couple of seconds — as long as they may have seemed — to realize the moment was happening Nov. 14.

"I touched, and I looked (at the scoreboard) and I couldn't find lane two," the Sauk Prairie senior and four-time WIAA Division 2 state qualifier said after finishing with a state-championship time of 52.54 seconds at the University of Wisconsin Natatorium.

"And then I did. … All the hard work I've put in all four years, to be able to come out on top is just an awesome feeling."

And it was one she had to earn. She bettered her qualifying time — the state's fifth-fastest, which put her in lane two of the eight-lane pool — by 1.39 seconds and edged Monona Grove's Hayley Martin, who qualified with the fastest time, by five one-hundredths of a second. She became the Eagles' first individual champion since Lauren Breunig won the same event, as well as the 200 individual medley, in 2002.

But that wasn't all for Diehl. She swam the anchor leg of the state champion 400 freestyle relay team, which she was joined on by Alison Meng, Megan Cahill and Kelsey Kohlbeck, that closed the meet in school record-breaking fashion to vault the Eagles past Madison Edgewood for fourth place.

DeForest won its third straight championship with 236.5 points, 56.5 points better than runner-up Grafton. Waukesha Catholic Memorial finished third with 156 points and Edgewood, which led Sauk Prairie by eight points entering the 400 freestyle relay, rounded out the top five with 139.

"This whole meet has just been the greatest experience ever, and to finish that (relay) in first is just great," said Diehl, whose team's winning time of 3:34.15 was 6.03 seconds better than its record-setting time at the sectional meet Nov. 8. "To be able to work together and achieve a goal, it's just an awesome feeling knowing that hard work really pays off."

Cahill agreed.

"Amazing," the junior and first-time state participant said of the feeling of winning the event after entering with the sixth-fastest time. "On the last 25 (yards), I kind of realized we were in first. And then to have (Abby) finish (in first), I just didn't expect it. I was so happy."

It was the first relay championship for Sauk Prairie since its 200 freestyle team accomplished the feat in 2003, and it sparked the best state finish for the Eagles since they finished fourth in 2004.

A finish that won't soon fade from the team's memory.

"We all just swam out of our minds this day," Kohlbeck said, "and we're never going to forget it."

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