Dennis Wilson, Leader Correspondent
Emme Quandt knew that the competition was going to be steep.
The senior led the the Shawano/Bonduel swim team into the rough, competitive waters of the WIAA Division 1 sectional at Neenah High School on Saturday, and realized that she and her teammates needed to step up their game.
Quandt contributed two 17th-place finishes and helped the Hawks to a 12th-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle relay. Shawano/Bonduel finished last in the sectional with 24 points.
“Well, in conference, we go against a lot of Division 2 schools, but here at sectionals, there are a lot of Division 1 schools, so the competition is just so much better,” Quandt said. “The atmosphere is different, the schools are different, and the qualifying times are much better.”
Neenah won the sectional. Appleton North, Bay Port, De Pere and Fond du Lac rounded out the top five in the 13-team field.
Along with Quandt, junior Lydia Colon and senior Samantha Leiser contributed points for the Hawks. Colon and Leiser, along with Peyton Hrabik and Megan Fischer, helped the Hawks to an 11th-place finish in the 200 medley relay in 2 minutes, 7.85 seconds, the Hawks’ best finish in the sectional. Colon also was 15th in the 200 free.
“All we wanted to do today was beat our times,” Shawano/Bonduel head coach Liz Teetzen said. “I wanted to make sure that they had fun, see some fast times, and end the season with a bang. I really think they did that.
“These are big teams; I mean, these are really elite teams,” Teetzen said. “We have to remember that we worked hard for this and do the best we can. We are competing against ourselves more so than against these other teams, so we need to stay together as a team.”
Teetzen, in her first year as head coach, could not contain the smile on her face when asked how much fun the season had been for her and her squad.
“Oh my gosh, it has been a wonderful year and lots of fun,” she said. “It really has been a bittersweet day. It was our last meet and we have a lot of strong swimmers that are going to be leaving us. It’s a long season, and they are a little worn out, but they came together today and they swam fast. It has been a really fun couple of months.”