Port, Grafton send seven to state swim, dive meet

Port Washington High School senior Charlie Prince is going back to the Division 2 state swim meet for the fourth time, and he could come home with hardware again.

This time, Prince had to overcome a foot injury to qualify.

He still won his signature event, the 100-yard breaststroke, in 57.96 seconds, and he won the 200 individual medley in 1 minute, 57.7 seconds at the Plymouth Sectional on Saturday.

“They went really well for the situation I was in,” Prince said of the races.

Prince has a possible hairline fracture, coach Brittany Roecker said, and he has been taping up his foot in order to swim.

His coping mechanism to swim through the foot pain, he said, is “lots of adrenaline.”

Prince also anchored the 200 freestyle relay, which finished fourth in 1:34.94 and qualified by being one of the 12 fastest nonwinning times in the state. He swam with Nathan Nisiewicz, Caleb Winker and Caden Hafele.

“This is exciting for all the boys, but especially for Nathan, who missed out on swimming state last year even though his relay qualified,” Roecker said.

She is thrilled that the team racked up 26 season-best times in 30 swims.

“They all went out and raced hard and looked awesome,” Roecker said.

Prince, who holds the school record in every individual event but one, along with one relay, enters state with the second-fastest time in the 100 breaststroke. He finished fourth twice in the event at state and was third last year. He has the third-fastest time in the 200 freestyle in his first time qualifying in the event.

“I’m excited and ready for some more fast racing,” he said.

“Charlie is in good standing going into state. I expect once he’s fully tapered he will drop more time,” Roecker said.

Port’s 200 freestyle relay  is seeded 15th of 16 teams.

The state meet is at Waukesha South on Friday, Feb. 20.

Grafton sends a quintet

Grafton didn’t win or take second in any event in the Plymouth Sectional, but four swim entries and a diver qualified.

Sophomore Aiden Werdin is part of all four swim events. He was third in the 200 freestyle in 1:49.31 and third in the 500 freestyle in 5:02.64.

Grafton’s 200 freestyle relay of Jacob Butler, Matt Ciche, Werdin and Sam Jacoby was third in 1:34.13.

The 400 freestyle relay of Werdin, Butler, Ciche and Jacoby was fourth in 3:30.65.

“I think the most exciting part is none of these guys thought it was even possible at the start or even halfway through the season,” coach Adan Burgos said.

He figured Werdin would advance, but the relays were question marks.

“Both relay times were faster than what made it last year, which made us feel pretty good,” Burgos said.

He found out both qualified on Saturday night and texted the team.

“They were pretty excited about it,” he said.

Burgos liked that it was a team effort. Each swimmer’s split was within 1.5 seconds of one another.

“For me, that’s the exciting part. They earned this trip. It was definitely a collective group. They all put in the effort and they belong,” he said.

Butler, he said, is in his first year swimming.

“To show up and go the times he went this year helped us qualify,” Burgos said.

Werdin comes in seeded eighth in the 200 freestyle, barely a second from sixth. The top six earn medals, so a fast swim could earn a podium spot.

He is also eighth in the 500 freestyle, less than three seconds from sixth.

The 200 freestyle relay is seeded 13th and will compete against rival Port.

The 400 freestyle is seeded 14th.

All the Black Hawks will be competing in their first state meet. Jacoby is the only senior qualifier, so many will come into next season with a big meet under their belts.

“They will go in with a different mindset because they’ve had that experience,” Burgos said.

Junior diver Shambav Ashwinkumar qualified by scoring 227.75 points, last of six divers. He comes into state seeded 10th of 12 divers.

“It’s exciting to see how he’s going to do,” Burgos said.

Swimmers who didn’t qualify for Port and Grafton also put up some impressive times.

Port’s Ian Brown was 16th in the 50 freestyle in 25.18 seconds and ninth in the 200 freestyle in 2:04.33, both significant time drops, Roecker said.

Jakob Greene dropped time as well, placing 14th in the 50 freestyle in 24.7 seconds and ninth in the 500 freestyle in 6:04.53

Each swam personal records in the 400 freestyle relay.

Cayden Abbey dropped his 50 freestyle time by more than a second, taking 32nd in 28.5 seconds. He broke the 23-second mark in both the 200 medley and freestyle relays, going 22.78 and 22.82 seconds.

Nisiewicz dropped two seconds in the 100 butterfly, finishing seventh in 1:01.87.

Noah Blavat and Colton Pease each dropped two seconds in the 100 backstroke. Blavat was 11th in 1:09.55, and Pease 14th in 1:12.68.

Caleb Winker swam his best time in the 100 freestyle, taking 14th in 58.18 seconds.

For Grafton, Butler was two-thirds of a second from qualifying in the 50 freestyle.