Blue Dukes sending 10 entries to state D2 swim meet

Veteran Whitefish Bay boys swim coach Jim Davis just laughs and rolls his eyes when he hears that other people call him the "king of the taper" for getting his athletes so well-prepared for qualifying for the state meet.

But on Saturday, Davis was right back at it, as in something of a rebuilding season, the Blue Dukes are sending an impressive eight individuals and two relay teams to Friday's WIAA State Division 2 meet in the UW-Madison Natatorium.

"Our initial goal was just to be in the top three (of the sectional at Cudahy)," Davis said. "We knew Elkhorn and Shorewood (which went one-two) and so for us to finish right on top of them (taking second to Elkhorn) and then get as many kids as we did to state, I couldn't be any more happy."

The Blue Dukes are led by freshman diver Joe Kaszubowski, who will be the top seed in the D2 diving field that contests its championship at 2:30 p.m. That will be followed by the swimming timed finals at 6:30 p.m. Bay was ninth in state last season.

"He's done just a phenomenal job," Davis said, "and all the divers in our group really help each other out. They really work well together."

Other qualifiers for the Blue Dukes include: Henry Smith in the 200- and 500-yard freestyle, Henry Bourgeois in the 200 free, James Colton in the 100 free and 100 backstroke, and Noah Oldson in the 500 free and 100 backstroke.

In addition, Bay will be sending the 200 medley relay team of Oldson, Smith, Colton and Bourgeois; and the 400 free relay of Ethan Nikolau, Smith, Bourgeois and Colton.

And though Davis, knows that Bay is not in the best position to compete for team honors (eight of their 11 entries are in the first or slower heat), he feels confident that they can hold their taper. Defending champion McFarland will be a heavy favorite in the meet.

"It's just that we had so much energy and excitement last week (at the sectional)," he said. "Everyone was moving up in their races and dropping time."

And indeed, it was an exciting meet, as Elkhorn won the 11-team meet with 360 points, Bay was second with 355 and Shorewood third with 346.

Winning for Blue Duke pride

A prideful moment in the meet came right at the end. Davis had done the calculations right before the 400 free relay, and realized that no matter even if the Blue Dukes won the race, there was little short of an Elkhorn disqualification needed to prevent the Elks from winning the meet.

"We knew we couldn't win," he said, "so I just told those guys that anything you do out there is a bonus. Just go out there and do your best and compete.

"Just for the honor of it, go out and win that race."

Which is what the Blue Dukes did, beating Elkhorn by 0.63 of a second in a season-best 3:20.87, good enough for the fifth seed in the state finals.

"It was a great finish to an outstanding day," Davis said.

The win wasn't all that big a surprise given what the Blue Dukes did in the 100 free as Colton (50.34), Bourgeois (50.48) and Nikolau (50.55) went one-two-three, respectively.

Fast times leave two out

"I thought they could do it," Davis said. "They chased down the Whitnall kid (who finished fourth) and all you saw were our caps at the front." Unfortunately for Bourgeois and Nikolau, the 100 free was so fast in sectional competition throughout the state that only Colton advanced to Madison.

"Amazingly fast," Davis said. "Based on cuts from the last few years, I thought that they (Bourgeois and Nikolau) were both going to easily make it."

Kaszubowski won diving by close to 140 points with a 450.5 total while Oldson was victorious in the 100 backstroke (56.77).

Other qualifying efforts for Bay included the medley relay's season-best, fourth-place effort of 1:44.98, Bourgeois' third (1:50.85) and Smith's fourth (1:51.94) in the 200 free; Smith's second (4:57.02) and Oldson's fourth (5:03.13) in the 500 free; and Colton's third in the 100 backstroke (57.56).

Bay also had a near-miss, as Nikolau tied for the final spot in the 50 free after taking third (23.17), but since he was tied with a sectional champion for that final spot, the WIAA did not grant him a spot in the meet, which Davis still doesn't understand.

All across the board, there were many other season and lifetime bests, Davis said.

By event, they include the following: diving: Luke Henricks, fifth (239.75 points); Ben Schwei, sixth (185.45); 200 free: Will Martinez-Ortiz, 11th (2:00.61); 50 free: Quinn Mooney, ninth (24.94); 100 butterfly: Curt Walther, seventh (1:00.52); 500 free: Martinez-Ortiz, 11th (5:33.52); and 200 free relay: Mooney, Joey McMahon, Martinez-Ortiz and Nikolau, fourth (four-second, season-best 1:35.26).

"We just really maintained momentum well throughout the meet," Davis said. "… We're way ahead of where I thought we'd be."