Prince, Pirates qualify for state meet

By MITCH MAERSCH

Ozaukee Press staff

Port Washington freshman Charlie Prince is jokingly blunt about what he can’t stand about his first season in high school swimming: school records.

“I hate them so much, just absolutely,” he said with a straight face on Monday.

Prince broke a school record for the fourth time at Saturday’s Division 2 sectional at Plymouth, the 100-yard breaststroke. He won the event in 1 minute, .36 seconds.

The past three records in the event already belonged to Prince. He broke the record of 1:04 in his first high school meet on Nov. 29 with a 1:02.74, then broke that on Jan. 19 in 1:02.05. He shattered that at the North Shore Conference meet Feb. 4 in  1:1.05.

Turning the school record book into a dry-erase board has been a ride.

“The first time it was definitely a surprise, so much fun, especially with the team cheering me on. Then every single time it kept on getting more enjoyable,” Prince said.

Prince has been honing his skill in the breaststroke since he started swimming 11 years ago as a young child. He swims for Ozaukee Aquatics as well as Port High.

“My parents were like, if you live by the lake you should probably get plopped into swimming,” he said.

“I’ve just kind of grown up swimming, and breaststroke is the stroke I can go to as my easy stroke. My coaches realized that I should definitely start training it as a race.”

His victory qualified him for Friday’s state tournament at Waukesha South, and he’ll be swimming in two other events.

Prince was fourth in the 100 butterfly, and his time of 55.06 seconds was in the top 16 of all the four sectionals, meaning he advances.

Port Washington’s 200 medley relay of senior Jack Sickles, Prince and seniors Benjamin Falkenberg and Finnegan Ritter was fifth in 1:47.66. Junior Tim Zeien is the alternate.

Prince loves that multiple teammates qualified for state. The camaraderie is what he likes best about swimming.

“It’s a lot of that community aspect and being able to have fun with these guys and other teammates. And I love the coaching aspect, too, being able to be taught by different coaches, — Brittany Roecker and the club coaches, Meghan Olson,” he said.

That’s one thing that separates Prince, Port High coach Roecker said.

“He’s a very coachable athlete. He can change one little thing in his stroke and he picks it up right away,” she said. “His attitude is great. He’s positive all the time. He’s a super hard worker.”

Prince isn’t the only one shooting for school records. Port’s medley relay team has its eyes on the prize of 1:47.1. It’s about half a second off.

“I think we saw the time on the record board and said that that’s our goal. We all thought that it’s something that we can do and it’s something we can beat this weekend,” Sickles said.

Just getting to state is a plus, especially for the seniors. Roecker texted the quartet four hours after the meet to congratulate them on qualifying.

“I’ve been getting close these last few years, and so to finally have it and make it that way is really cool,” Falkenberg said.

“I’m glad I’m doing it as a relay and not an individual. I’ve known all of these people through most of swim. To all go as a group, especially with three of us seniors, going out with a bang together is a really neat experience.”

“It’s been a big goal of mine the past four years. I’m happy to do it with this group of guys,” Sickles said.

“It’s bittersweet but I’m happy to do it with this great group of guys,” Ritter said.

It’s a win for Roecker, regardless. It’s the first time in her tenure that swimmers qualified for state.

Port’s other top swim performances at the sectional were Sickles, third, 500 freestyle, 5:17.35, and fourth, 100 backstroke, 1:00.77; Falkenberg, seventh, 500 freestyle, 5:37.21, and 10th, 200 freestyle, 2:03.53; the 400 freestyle relay of Sickles, Zeien, Ritter and Prince, seventh, 3:39.39; and the 200 freestyle relay of Maksym Kasiyanchuk, Zeien, Falkenberg and Ritter, eighth, 1:42.93.

Port scored 189 points and finished seventh of 10 teams at the sectional.

Riel returns to state

Junior diver Cory Riel is going back to state, and he’s more excited this time. Last season, all the Division 2 divers qualified because there were so few. This year, he had to make the cut.

Riel scored 295.65 points and finished fourth at the sectional.

“This time I actually earned it,” he said.

Last season, Riel finished 13th with 224.4 points. His experience at state helps, but he said he will still get a few jitters.

“You still get nervous. Anything you do on there you can do wrong. It’s like micromanaging your muscles,” he said.

“It’s just more nerve-wracking because I want to do better.”

Diving coach Dennis Hubert said he has some tricks up his sleeve.

“We’re going to try a couple of new dives and see how they work out,” he said.

Riel balanced swimming and diving, meaning he had to pick one activity each day. That was a challenge because he fell behind in whichever one he didn’t choose. Next year, Riel said he plans to just dive.

“I think I’m just going to focus on something. Doing both is kind of hard,” he said.

“He’s a great kid to coach. He enjoys both swimming and diving. It’s hard to excel at both,” Hubert said. “I’m proud of him.”