Posted: Nov. 9, 2009 |(0) Comments

The talent on the Brookfield Central and Brookfield East girls swim teams showed up Saturday at the Waukesha South/Mukwonago Sectional at Waukesha South, and the results were impressive.

Eleven swimmers and divers qualified for Saturday's Girls State Swimming and Diving Championships at the University of Wisconsin-Madison's natatorium.

Central qualified six participants in six events and East sent five individuals in six events, with several athletes taking part in multiple events.

East senior Elisabeth Grisa and sophomore Sara Brzozowski led the way, each qualifying for four events: two individual and two relay teams. Central seniors Kelsey Johnson and Katie Schroeder and junior Beth Twitchell were next, each with an individual event and two relays.

East senior Amy Boritzke and Central freshman Lauren Flatley each qualified for two relays.

The other qualifiers were Central junior Elizabeth Tzortzos and senior Kristin Becker and East senior Allie Banks and freshman Carley Stewart.

Brookfield Central

"It is no surprise that these six young ladies will represent the Lancers at state," Central coach Bill Twitchell said. "They have been the heart of our success all season."

Schroeder, who qualified in the 100-yard butterfly (58.94 seconds), is making her fourth straight trip to state. Beth Twitchell, who qualified in the 100 freestyle (54.09), is making her third trip, and Johnson, who qualified in the 100 backstroke (1:01.29), is making her second.

Becker, who qualified in 1-meter diving (382.35), is making her third trip and Tzortzos in 1-meter diving (365.45) is making her second trip and Flatley in the 400 free relay and 200 medley relay is making her first trip.

"A taper is a delicate thing," coach Twitchell said. "I think we missed it last week (Oct. 31) at conference (second place), but we collected the dividends at the sectionals."

The 400 free relay of Johnson, Flatley, Twitchell and Schroeder finished in 3:43.08, and the 200 medley relay of Johnson, Twitchell, Schroeder and Flatley had a 1:52:01.

As pleased as the Lady Lancers' coach is with his team's performance, he feels there is more to come Saturday at state.

"Though we had a fantastic meet, our work is not done," he said. "I know that the divers and swimmers who qualified feel like they have more left in the tank for next Saturday."

Brookfield East

East coach Michael Rose was not surprised by the number of qualifiers his team had, but he was surprised by the times turned in.

"This was about what we expected, but the times for the freestyle events and relays were much, much faster this year than they ever have been before," he said. "This was unexpected to all of us because of the elimination of the high-tech suits.

"Last year times were fast, and I think this was largely attributed to the wide use of the suits - as was the case with the Olympics - but this year was much faster."

Boritzke, who is swimming both free relays, is the Lady Spartans' only four-year state qualifier, and Grisa, who qualified in the 100 breaststroke (1:08.41) and the 200 individual medley (2:14.42), is a three-time state qualifier.

Brzozowski, who made it in the 500 free (5:05.59) and the 200 free (1:55.23), is making her second straight trip, while Banks in the 200 free relay and Stewart in the 400 free relay each are making their first trip.

"Allie will be competing in her first state meet," Rose said about his senior swimmer. "We are very excited about this. She is a really nice kid who has worked hard and really developed into a major contributor this season.

"Carley had two life-time best swims at sectionals. We swam very well pretty much across the board with many life-time best swims."

The Lady Spartans' 200 free relay of Grisa, Banks, Boritzke and Brzozowski swam a 1:42.03, and the 400 free relay of Stewart, Grisa, Boritzke and Brzozowski had a time of 3:44.36.

"Our freshmen all did well and we look forward to having a really nice team next year," Rose said. "We will need to develop some individuals to get relays back to state because our seniors will be tough to replace."

Class Breakdowns

Central/East Swimmers

at State Swimming/Diving

6

seniors

2

juniors

1

sophomore

2

freshmen

 

SECTIONAL RESULTS

Standings - 1. Arrowhead (424)

2. Waukesha South/Mukwonago (334)

2. Muskego (334)

4. Brookfield Central (222)

5. Brookfield East (188)

6. Waukesha North/Kettle Moraine (161)

7. Oconomowoc (125)

8. Waukesha West (114)

9. Hartford Union (113)

10. West Allis Central/Hale (84)

11. Wauwatosa East (63)

12. Watertown (56)

13. Pius XI (46)

14. Beaver Dam (22)