THE CHAMPIONSHIPS: The 55th Annual Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association Girls Swimming and Diving Championships will be held Friday and Saturday, Nov. 15-16, at the Waukesha South High School Natatorium.

ADMISSION TICKETS: The WIAA uses GoFan Ticketing for all digital and cashless tickets. Admission is $9 plus online fees for adults and students. All tickets must be redeemed on a mobile device. To purchase tickets, visit the WIAA website at: https://www.wiaawi.org/Tickets.

MEET INFORMATION: The Division 2 championships will be held Friday, with the Division 1 championships to follow on Saturday. The Division 2 diving competition begins at 1:30 p.m., and the swimming finals are scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m. The Division 1 diving competition is scheduled to start at 9:30 a.m. Saturday with the swimming events to begin at 2:30 p.m. The swimming events will run consecutively following the first event’s starting time on the respective days. Here is the order of events (all events in yards):

Order of Events:
1. Diving
2. 200 Medley Relay
3. 200 Freestyle
4. 200 Individual Medley
5. 50 Freestyle
6. 100 Butterfly
7. 100 Freestyle
8. 500 Freestyle
9. 200 Freestyle Relay
10. 100 Backstroke
11. 100 Breaststroke
12. 400 Freestyle Relay

MEET LIVE ON WIAA.TV:  Every event of the WIAA State Girls Swimming and Diving Championships will be streamed live on the WIAA.TV portal of the NFHS Network on a consumer subscription basis. To purchase a subscription to the live programming for $11.99 per month, log-on to www.wiaa.tv and click on the subscription link. Archived streams of the events will be available on demand on the NFHS Network 72 hours after the tournament.

HOW THEY QUALIFIED:  In Division 1, each event winner from six sectionals and the next 18 fastest times or scores in the events from all sectionals combined will be added to the heats in each event. In Division 2, each event winner and the next 12 fastest times or scores from all of the four sectionals combined qualified.

BY THE NUMBERS:  There were 139 teams sponsoring girls swimming and diving this fall, including 84 in Division 1 and 55 in Division 2.

LAST YEAR:  Middleton earned the Division 1 team championship by compiling 212.5 points. Runner-up Verona finished with 202 points. Rhinelander won the Division 2 team championship by compiling 308 points. Whitefish Bay was a distant second with 221 points.

MEET HISTORY:  The WIAA began girls swimming and diving championships in 1970 and moved to a two-division format in 1992. Madison area schools have dominated the championships through the years. Either Madison West or Madison Memorial won all the championships through 1983 and all but one of the Division 1 titles since the inception of the two-division format in 1992 up until 2002. Overall, Madison West has won 15 titles, and Madison Memorial has won 14. Next on the list is Arrowhead, which has captured 12 team championships, while Edgewood has eight championships and Shorewood has seven.

INDIVIDUAL NOTES-DIVISION 1:  Three individual events and all three relays feature former champions returning to the State Meet. The most decorated among the returning champions is junior Ella Antoniewski of Waukesha South/Mukwonago, who is the two-time defending champion in a pair of events. She is seeking her third consecutive title in the 200-yard freestyle and the 500 freestyle. She will again be considered the favorite to win both those events again based on her qualifying times. Her seed time of 1:49.28 in the 200 freestyle and her 4:55.08 in the 500 freestyle are the best in those events entering the State Meet. Sophomore Kiersten Dietschweiler of Oshkosh West is attempting to return to the medal stand in both those events as well after placing fourth behind Antoniewski in both events last season. Senior Carly Larson of De Pere/West De Pere is the returning champion in the 100 butterfly.  To repeat, she’ll need to fend off a host of returning medal winners in the event, including senior Sophia Brueggeman of Brookfield Central, a four-time qualifier, who was runner-up the past two seasons. In addition, senior Julia Saxman of Germantown has recorded the swiftest qualifying time in the event this year at 55.32 after placing fourth last year and fifth in 2022. Junior Caroline Wanezek of Brookfield East is a three-time qualifier in the 100 butterfly, finishing fifth last season and eight in 2022. Senior Fynn Langley of Germantown is another returning champion with a lot of State Meet experience. Prior to winning the diving crown last season, she placed third in 2022 and 13th in 2021. She enters competition this week with the best qualifying performance at sectionals with a score of 522.20. Other likely contenders in the event based on experience or sectional performances are senior Tatum Brasfield of Arrowhead, who placed third last year; junior Kendall Rummel of Divine Savior Holy Angels, who was sixth last season; and senior Avery Potrzebowski of Middleton, who has the second-best qualifying score at 520.85. Sophomore Brynn Sundell of Middleton has the fastest qualifying time in the 200 individual medley this season with a time of 2:03.53. Junior Annika Curran of Verona aims to return to the podium after finishing fourth last year and seventh in 2022. Saxman and junior Alyse Block of Oregon could also challenge for the title with their seed times just over a second off the pace of Sundell’s. Senior Payton Flowers of DeForest, who placed seventh in the 50 freestyle last year, enters the meet with the fastest seed time of 22.85. Her biggest challenges for the title may come from senior Jillian Holler of Madison Memorial, who was fourth last year and sixth back in 2021. She has the next quickest seed time to Flowers at 23.37. Flowers is also the fastest qualifier in the 100 freestyle at 49.88 after placing seventh last season. Among her competition for the title are Block, who was runner-up last season after finishing seventh in 2022; Holler, who was third a year ago, eighth in 2022, and seventh in 2021; and freshman Jane Garlock, who turned in the second-fastest effort at sectionals with a time of 50.33. The qualifying field in the 100 backstroke is led by junior Olivia Sina of Oregon with the best seed time of 55.48 on the heels of her third-place finish last year. Senior Audrey Falkner Worgull of Arrowhead possesses the experience and qualifying time to contend as well. She enters competition with seed time of 55.67 after placing fifth last season and ninth in 2022.  Freshman Avery Antoniewski, sister of Ella, could also come away with the gold in the backstroke  based on her seed time of 55.75. Senior Anna Flanagan of Appleton North has the top seed performance in the 100 breaststroke at 1:03.75 after placing fourth last year, 12th in 2022 and eighth in 2021. Among her stiffest challengers could be Curran, who was runner-up a year ago and sixth in 2022. She is the next-fastest qualifying behind Flanagan at 1:04.04. Brookfield East is the four-time returning champion in the 400 freestyle relay. The Spartans’ seed time this season is about six seconds behind Middleton, the top qualifier in the event this year with a seed time of 3:26.84. Waukesha West/Catholic Memorial are the returning champion in the 200 freestyle, but the relay is seeded in the first heat this week. Middleton possesses the fastest time entering the meet at 1:34.70. Germantown is the returning champion in the 200 medley relay. They enter the meet with the fourth quickest time, which is less than three seconds of the pace of Middleton’s seed time of 1:43.80.

INDIVIDUAL NOTES-DIVISION 2: There are three individual events and three relays that feature returning champions seeking additional gold medals. Sophomore Celia Francis of Rhinelander attempts to duplicate her gold-medal effort from a year ago in the 200 individual medley. She enters competition this week with the second-fastest seed time of 2:09.25. Junior Cheyenne Borroughs of Stoughton possesses the best time in the event at 2:08.57. Another medal contender in the individual medley is sophomore Grace Charles of Edgewood, who finished third last season. Senior Rianna Dobbie of Whitnall is the defending champion and a four-time qualifier in the diving competition. She enters with the second-best qualifying performance of 466.90. Dobbie placed fourth in 2022 and seventh in 2021. The best qualifying score in the dives is senior Chelsea McDowell of Whitnall, who is another four-time qualifier in the event. She was runner-up to Dobbie last year, fifth in 2022 and 12th in 2021. Senior Erin Schuch of Ashwaubenon is the defending champion in the 500 freestyle after a fourth-place finish in 2022. She may need to shave time off her qualifying performance to contend with junior Anne Dickinson of Whitefish Bay, who has the fastest qualifying time of 4:58.07 in the distance event. Among the notable experienced swimmers that may challenge for medals are sophomore Lauren Simon of Shorewood, who placed third last year; senior Sylvia Thompson of Edgewood, who was fourth last season, fifth in 2022 and fourth in 2021; and sophomore Nora Williams of the Kohler co-op, who was fifth in 2023. Dickinson is also the fastest entry in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:51.32 after racing to a runner-up finish a year ago, That seed time is almost five seconds faster than the next-fastest qualifier. In addition to Dickinson, among those seeking to return to the medal stand in the 200 freestyle are Schuch, who was fourth last year; senior Makayla Bazeley of Whitewater, who was fifth in 2023 and seventh in 2022; and Simon, who was sixth last season. Freshman Maggie Dickinson, Anne’s sister, is the top qualifier in a pair of events. Her time of 23.74 is the swiftest seed time in the 50 freestyle, an event that returns three swimmers placing in the top five in 2023. Sophomore Vivian Lamers of Rhinelander was third; senior Faith Resch of Wittenberg-Birnamwood tied for fourth; and Resch’s junior teammate Reese Dickman was fifth. Each are looking to return to the awards podium this week. Maggie Dickinson’s time of 54.79 is the fastest among the 100 backstroke qualifiers. Francis finished runner-up last season and should be among the leading finishers in the event entering with the second-fastest qualifying time of 56.26. Borroughs is not only the top returning finisher in the 100 breaststroke after a runner-up performance a year ago and placing third in 2022, she also has the best seed time entering action at 1:04.72. Junior Addy Lundt of Clintonville has the next best sectional time at 1:06.01, and Charles, who finished fourth last year, should also be among the leaders. The 100 freestyle should be hotly contested. Junior Hannah Tubbs of the Black River Falls co-op finished sixth last year and possesses the best seed time at 53.14. Among the other qualifiers that can contend are senior Kaylee Oleson of Sauk Prairie, who finished third in 2023 and 11th in 2022; and Lamers, who was fifth last season. Sophomore Aibhy King of Whitefish Bay is the speediest qualifier in the 100 butterfly with a sectional time of 55.41 after placing fifth in the event last year. Among the leading challengers for the title is freshman Katelyn Anderson of Greendale with the second-fastest qualifying time of 57.21 and senior Annie Divine of the Kohler co-op, who placed sixth last season and 3rd in 2022. Rhinelander is the defending champion in each of the relays. However, it is Whitefish Bay that claims the fastest times in each of those events this season. The Blue Dukes have posted seed times of 1:47.32 in the 200 medley relay, 1:39.19 in the 200 freestyle relay and 3:32.75 in the 400 freestyle relay.

FOLLOW STATE MEET ON SOCIAL MEDIA: Receive updates of the State Girls Swimming & Diving Championships on the WIAA State Tournament Twitter account @wiaawistate with the hashtag #wiaaswimdive. Also like us on Facebook, and follow us on Instagram at wiaawi.

NEED RESULTS?:  Results of the State Tournament are available on the WIAA website at www.wiaawi.org by accessing the girls swimming and diving tournament information page.

STATE MEET APPAREL: WIAA-licensed apparel is available online for the 2024 State Girls Swimming & Diving Championships. The deadline to pre-order and customize apparel for pick-up at the State Meet is Nov. 11. Visit the WIAA store at https://tier1sports.com/product/2024-wiaa-girls-swimming-and-diving-state-apparel/. Apparel will also be available for purchase and customization onsite as well as online after the event.

Athlete of the Week and Team of the Week:

Nominate an athlete or team: HERE

**********************************************

Pancakes or Waffles!  We feature top area athletes with our world-renowned feature. Send us your nominations for who you’d like us to interview HERE

College Athlete Roundup! We want to recognize student-athletes from the area who are competing at the college level. Send us information on college athletes from the area with our simple form HERE

Where are they Now? We feature athletes and difference makers from the past, standouts in sports who excelled over the years and have moved on. Know of a former athlete, coach, or difference maker who we should feature? Know of a former standout competitor whose journey beyond central Wisconsin sports is one we should share? Send us information on athletes and difference makers of the past with our simple form HERE

Baked or Fried! We also feature difference makers throughout central Wisconsin: coaches, booster club leaders, administration, volunteers, you name it. Send us your nominations for who you’d like us to interview HERE

Authorities Respond to Call of Man with Gun at Auburndale Schools, Situation Quickly Resolved

Neillsville Burglary Suspect Arrested

New Study Reveals Deadliest(South Dakota, Kentucky, Mississippi) and Safest(Vermont, Hawaii, New York) States for Halloween