A look at the field for tonight’s WIAA D2 state swim meet

      

The last two Division 2 state champions are set for another battle tonight as the WIAA boys’ state swim and dive championships take place in Waukesha. 

The Rhinelander Hodags won the 2023 state crown, edging McFarland by 6 1/2 points for the team title. The Spartans lapped the field last year, winning seven events and beating Rhinelander by 82 points for the championship. 

This year figures to be a bit closer with McFarland projected to hold a 268-243 edge on Rhinelander, based on qualifying seeds for the meet. The Hodags may have more room for improvement, however, as McFarland is again seeded first in all three relays, along with four other individual events — accounting for 200 points of their total right off the bat. Rhinelander is seeded second in two of the relays and has a slight edge in the entry count, with 15 to McFarland’s 13.

Whitefish Bay, which finished a close fourth in 2023 and was third last year, cannot be counted out either. The Greyhounds have a meet-high 17 entries and are projected third, only 19 points behind the Hodags. 

The following is an event-by-event breakdown of tonight’s meet, and how each event may play a role in who walks away with the gold and silver trophies. 

Diving — The three championship contenders will enter Friday evening’s session on even footing as none of the three have a diver who qualified for state. Cedarburg junior Evan Zimbelman, last year’s state runner-up, is the top qualifier with a sectional score of 429.75 points. 

200 Medley Relay — This was the only relay where McFarland didn’t break a state record last year, missing out by 0.08 seconds. The bad news for the field is that their sectional time (1:33.49) is not only faster than the D2 state mark, but is actually three seconds slower than its preliminary seed time entering sectionals. Rhinelander (1:39.58) is seeded a distant second in the race, but could face a strong challenge from Stoughton, Whitefish Bay and The Prairie School for the runner up spot. All three qualified within a second and a half of the Hodags. 

200 Freestyle — This will be a key early race for the Hodags to make up some ground on the Spartans. McFarland does not have an entry in this event while Rhinelander senior Samson Shinners comes in seeded eighth. That’s exactly where he finished in this event last year. Whitefish Bay, meanwhile, will look to make up ground with the ninth and 10th qualifiers, Fisher Jakowski and AJ Katch, who will look to set a strong target time swimming out of the first heat. This event was dominated by seniors last year. Shinners is the top returning finisher in this event, but Nicolet freshman Grant Freeze (1:40.07) comes in as the top qualifier. He and Whitnall senior Ethan Schutten come in more than four seconds faster than their nearest pursuers. 

200 Individual Medley — This could be McFarland’s most dangerous event. Sophomore Blake TeBeest is the defending state champion while senior Preston Nygaard finished eighth last year. They come in qualified third and fourth this year. The Hodags have two of the top eight qualifiers with freshman Dean Gillingham (sixth) and senior Dolan O’Malley (eighth). Whitefish Bay sophomore Daniel Li is seeded right between the two in seventh. Stoughton’s Julian Callender, the runner-up in this event last year, comes in as the top seed (1:56.15) while Madison Edgewood’s Jack Prahl, seventh in the IM last year, qualified second. 

50 Freestyle — The eldest of the three TeBeest siblings, Shane, comes in as the top seed here and was the state runner-up in this event last year by 0.02 seconds behind his younger brother Cale, who is not swimming this event this time around. Rhinelander has two swimmers in the final heat as seniors Shawn Denis and Mathias Fugle qualified third and eighth, respectively. Fugle finished seventh in this event last year. Whitefish Bay has two entries here, led by No. 6 qualifier Steven Camacho. River Falls’ Daniel Carns, the sectional champ in Ashwaubenon, is the No. 2 seed here and finished third in this event last year. 

100 Butterfly — Cale TeBeest isn’t defending his title in the 50 freestyle, but he is defending here. It’s the only individual event he has as the Spartans will presumptively use him to bolster all three of their relays. TeBeest is only the second-fastest qualifier here, nearly a half second behind Prairie School’s Jack Borzynski, who is already 0.81 seconds faster than the time he posted in an eighth-place finish in this event last year. Meanwhile, keep an eye out for McFarland junior Nick Furst, who snuck in as the 16th and final qualifier and has the potential to steal a few key points. Both Rhinelander and Whitefish Bay have a fresh face in this event. Jakowski qualified seventh for the Greyhounds while sophomore Charlie Antonuk qualified ninth for Rhinelander.

100 Freestyle — The TeBeest show continues as Shane comes in as the top qualifier here (47.08), but it figures to be a close battle with Carns. He is the top returning finisher from last year (fourth), and was only 0.01 seconds behind TeBeest at sectionals. Fugle and Shinners both reached the podium in this event last year, taking fifth and sixth, respectively. The Hodags will be counting on the seniors to do so again as Fugle posted the fourth-fastest time at sectionals and Shinners had the sixth-best time. Right between them in fifth is Whitefish Bay’s William Wang, who took ninth in the event last year. 

500 Freestyle — This will be a wash for the McFarland and Rhinelander, as neither team has an entry here. It could serve as a key event for Whitefish Bay to make up ground, however. Katch qualified seventh this year and took sixth last year. Junior Simon Gahr is the Greyhounds’ second entry, qualified ninth. Schutten comes in as the top seed at 4:30.51.

200 Freestyle Relay — Rhinelander’s chances of winning a second state championship in three years may hinge on flipping the result in this event, and swinging at least 12 points in its direction. McFarland holds the top seed at 1:29.33, while Rhinelander is second 0.13 seconds back. The two finished 1-2 last year in this event. Nicolet (1:29.93) and Whitefish Bay (1:30.10) could play spoilers here.

100 Backstroke — McFarland is projected to hold a scant 169-167 lead over the Hodags entering the third to last event, but this could also serve as the event where the Spartans make one final significant point gain. In addition to defending state champion Blake TeBeest, McFarland has two more top 10 qualifiers in Furst (seventh) and freshman Hans Rudie (10th). Rhinelander counters with brothers Judson and Dolan O’Malley, who qualified sixth and ninth. Dolan O’Malley just missed the podium in this event last year placing seventh while Judson O’Malley was 11th. Whitefish Bay brings three swimmers to the party, none of whom competed in this event last year — William Wang (fifth), Mile Jakowski (eighth) and Briggs Borchardt (11th).

100 Breaststroke — Nygaard is the top qualifier, but came home second in this event last year to Callender of Stoughton, who qualified third. Nygaard is McFarland’s only entry here, which could make it incumbent on Rhinelander’s two entries — Dean Gillingham (sixth) and Shawn Denis (seventh) — to match or better their seeds to gain a few key points heading to the final event. Denis has plenty of room to drop, as his qualifying time was nearly two seconds slower than what he swam last year when he placed fifth in this event at state (58.98).

400 Freestyle Relay — McFarland holds the top seed here, but qualified only 0.09 seconds faster than Nicolet. Rhinelander was seeded second in this event heading into sectionals and was the runner-up here last year, but comes in seeded fifth — also trailing Whitnall and Whitefish Bay. The state championship may very well be decided by if McFarland can hold on to the No. 1 spot in this race and/or if the Hodags can move up from No. 5.