Gary Seymour, sports@wolfrivermedia.com
Photo by Jen Kuhn Shawano Community High School junior Zach Soper gets off to a fast start en route to a meet-record 1:04.83 in the 100-yard butterfly Friday at the Great Northern Conference swim meet.
Photo by Jen Kuhn Shawano Community High School junior Zach Soper turns it on over the final length of the 100-yard breaststroke Friday during the Great Northern Conference swimming meet.
The fate of the Shawano Community High School boys swimming team Friday night was reminiscent of a classic line from an old movie. Namely, when push came to shove and things started getting serious, the Hawks had a secret weapon they could always turn to: This one goes to 11!
The Hawks made it 11 straight meets without a loss and did it in style, breaking four Great Northern Conference meet records en route to claiming the league title and putting themselves in position for more fireworks at sectional and state.
Shawano’s 328 team points, which comfortably bested second-place Lakeland (277) and third-place Antigo (237), were brought about on the strength of record-breaking performances in the 200-yard medley relay, the 100 butterfly, 100 breaststroke and 400 freestyle relay.
Two-time defending state champion Zach Soper came up big, as usual, playing a hand in all four of the record-breaking events: he won the 100 butterfly in 53.54, the 100 breaststroke in 1:04.83, he joined Griffin Rades, Rolando Colon and Jake Klister in posting a 2:02.96 for the 200 medley relay, and he swam the anchor leg of the 400 free relay, teaming up with Adrian Tetting, Colon and Rades for a 3:30.40 that broke the old mark by almost three seconds.
Soper actually trailed Antigo’s Colin Koss at the 50-yard turn of the 100 fly before turning on the jets.
“I saw he was a little bit ahead of me,” Soper said. “I was just trying to hang back and save whatever I could for the final relay. I’m looking forward to getting back to state, but no, I won’t necessarily be disappointed if don’t win there again, as long as I give it my all.”
Soper had great company in the winner’s circle. Rades, a sophomore, knocked five seconds off his personal record time in the 200 individual medley, finishing in 2:11.29, and broke the one-minute mark for the first time in his career (59.78) in winning the 100 backstroke.
“I just wanted to give our team the best chance of winning,” he said. “We knew there were other good teams here. We just wanted to give it our best effort. We hope to get a couple of guys through to state, and maybe a relay team or two.”
Shawano’s Rolando Colon also made it count in the both the 200- and 500-yard freestyle, finishing second in both events in 2:01.98 and 5:36.83, respectively, while Jake Klister set personal records in taking third in the 50- (23.82) and 100-yard freestyle (53.53).
“We matched our times at state last year, so that’s awesome,” Klister said. “I guess a reasonable expectation at state would be to qualify in the 400 free relay and 200 medley, and maybe squeak in at 50 (free).”
GREAT NORTHERN CONFERENCE MEET
Team scores: 1. Shawano 328, 2. Lakeland 277, 3. Antigo 237, 4. Tomahawk 188, 5. Rhinelander 181, 6. Medford 84.
Shawano results
200 yard medley relay: 1. (Zach Soper, Griffin Rades, Rolando Colon, Jake Klister) 1:45.98; 6. (James Krueger, Cayman Kunschke, Nathan Kane, Kyle Easter) 2:02.96.
200 freestyle: 2. Rolando Colon 2:01.98, 6. Adrian Tetting 2:06.24; 9. James Krueger 2:14.59.
200 IM: 1. Griffin Rades 2:11.29; 5. Connor Angeli 2:33.18; 9. Cayman Kunschke 2:42.67.
50 freestyle: 3. Jake Klister 23.82; 9. Kyle Easter 26.32; 11. Collin Groch 27.12.
100 butterfly: 1. Zach Soper 53.54; 7. James Krueger 1:07.43; 10. Chase Lhotka 1:28.59.
100 freestyle: 3. Jake Klister 53.53; 4. Adrian Tetting 55.86.
500 freestyle: 2. Rolando Colon 5:36.83; 7. Nathan Kane 6:23.99; 12. Tommy Rankin 6:48.93; 14. Matthew Cagijas 7:54.22.
200 freestyle relay: 5. (Adrian Tetting, Kyle Easter, James Krueger, Jake Klister) 1:41.92; 9. (Tyler Buerman, Collin Groch, Cayman Kunschke, Nathan Kane) 1:51.98.
100 backstroke: 1. Griffin Rades 59.78; 7. Connor Angeli 1:15.40; 8. Tyler Buerman 1:17.48.
100 breaststroke: 1. Zach Soper 1:04.83; 5. Cayman Kunschke 1:17.74; 11. Nathan Kane 1:21.36.
400 freestyle relay: 1. (Adrian Tetting, Rolando Colon, Griffin Rades, Zach Soper) 3:30.40; 6. (Tyler Buerman, Connor Angeli, Collin Groch, Kyle Easter) 4:12.80.