Central swimmers defeat Lady Spartans

Brookfield East girls swimming coach Michael Rose looked at the times of his swimmers against Brookfield Central on Oct. 11 at East and was pleased with everything but the final score.

The Lady Lancers won, 100-86, in their annual Greater Metro Conference battle.

"Well, it would have been nice to win but I did look at last year's times and we went much faster this season so I was pleased with how the girls swam," Rose said. "In addition to some season-best individual swims, all three of our relays posted times that were season bests."

The Lady Lancers won seven events to East's six.

Double winners for the Lady Lancers were Claire Flatley in the 200-yard freestyle in 1 minute, 59.66 seconds and the 500 free (5:22.95) and Nikki Wahlgren in the 50 free (26.11) and the 100 butterfly (59.81).

Other winners were Lauren Flatley in the 100 free (56.94) and Leah Lee in the 100 breaststroke (1:10.83).

Central only won one relay - the 200 free relay of Claire Flatley, Abby Rose, Lauren Flatley and Wahlgren (1:44.58).

"This is the kind of win that can define a season," Brookfield Central coach William Twitchell said. "With two of our best athletes medically unable to compete, it took every single remaining athlete to bring home this victory.

"With the timing of the meet and the amount of yardage we are doing in practice, it would have been understandable not to see any best times. So for the team to have over 80 percent of our swims/dives to be season bests, tells you the magnitude of the effort that was put forth."

Lindsay Powell was the Lady Spartans' only double winner - in the 200 individual medley (2:14.76) and the 100 backstroke (1:01.03).

The Lady Spartans' only other individual winner was Kelsey Linsmeier in the 1-meter diving event (177.40).

East's other victories were relay wins in the 200 medley of Jessica Westcott, Laura Werking, Powell and Melissa Gustafson (1:55.62) and the 400 free of Maggie Lingle, Werking, Powell and Carley Stewart (3:45.97).

"Lindsay Powell turned in some really solid swims winning both the 200 IM and 100 back," Rose said. "Other varsity kids with standout performances were Meredith Gustafson in the 200 free and Jessica Westcott and Alyse Korpella in the 100 free."