Hodags Capture Division 2 Boys Swimming & Diving Team Title
WAUKESHA, Wis. – Rhinelander won the Division 2 team title at the 2023 Boys Swimming & Diving Championships at the Waukesha South High School Natatorium Friday.
The Hodags won their first boys swimming and diving team championship in program history. They earned the crown by compiling 256 points. McFarland was runner-up with 250.5 points, and Shorewood was third with 249 points.
Junior Lyon Hall of McFarland was the three-time champion in the meet. He won 100-yard backstroke with a time of 51.19 after placing fourth in the event last year. He also contributed to a pair of championship relay teams. He joined sophomores Preston Nygaard and Shane TeBeest, and senior Patrick Zabawa-Lodholz in earning the gold medal in the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:35.99. In addition, Hall, TeBeest and Zabawa-Lodholz teamed up with junior Luke Morrison to win the 400 freestyle relay in 3:09.89, which is the sixth-best Division 2 time ever recorded in the State Meet.
Junior Jack Sullivan of Nicolet won a pair of State titles. He won his third straight championship in the 200 freestyle with a Division 2 record time of 1:38.72. He also captured the title in the 100 freestyle with a time of 45.27, which ranks as second-fastest in Division 2 State Meet history.
Senior Adrian Bellido of Brookfield Academy was another two-time champion in the meet. He won his second consecutive titles in both the 100 butterfly and 50 freestyle. He shattered the Division 2 record he set a year ago in the butterfly with a time of 49.06. His victory in the 50 freestyle was clocked at 20.81, which is the sixth swiftest time in the event in Division 2 history.
Dylan Norby of Menomonie successfully defended his title in the diving competition with a score of 457.25. In addition to his two titles, he also claimed a seventh-place finish in 2021.
Senior Aiden Strath swam to the crown in the 200 individual medley with a time of 1:52.60, and sophomore Ethan Schutten of Whitnall earned the title in the 500 freestyle to improve on last season’s 10th-place finish, completing the race in 4:35.45.
Sophomore Julian Callender of Stoughton improved on a fifth-place finish in 2022 to win the 100 breaststroke with a time of 56.76, which ranks sixth on the event’s all-time list of fastest performances in Division 2. Senior Sam King of Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights, a four-time qualifier in the breaststroke, finished runner-up for the third straight season to go with a fifth-place result in 2020.
Rhinelander captured the title in the 200 freestyle relay. The quartet of seniors Daniel Gillingham, Carter Garber and Charlie Heck, and sophomore Mathias Fugle finished with a time of 1:27.00.
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Author: David Keech
David Keech is a retired teacher and works as a sportswriter, sports official and as an educational consultant. He has reported on amateur sports since 2011, known as 'KeechDaVoice.' David can be reached at [email protected]
