State swimming: Kenosha Tremper diver Brandon Spencer leads bevy of area winners

MADISON – Better and better.

That’s how history will look at Brandon Spencer’s run of three straight Division 1 state diving titles. Each year the Kenosha Tremper senior’s score was higher and his margin of victory larger.

And with each step, some might have thought the pressure was greater, but that’s not the Eastern Michigan recruit's approach to competition.

“There is the expectation of the three-peat, everyone wants me to finish that strong, but on myself, (there is no pressure) because I’m competing against all my friends here. You show up to dive. You don’t expect to win, you don’t expect to lose. You’re here to dive.”

DIVISION 2:Brown Deer/University School's Ben Hayes win two titles for second straight year

That kind of thinking produced the sixth-best all-time performance in the event, a 524.45 total that was 51.15 points better than the runner-up, Franklin junior Jared Kleczka.

That effort highlighted a state meet that produced area champions in six other events and a near-miss for Waukesha South/Catholic Memorial in its chase for a second straight podium finish.

Leading the rest of the area’s standouts were Arrowhead’s Lucas Farrar, who won the 50- and 100-yard freestyles with top-five times all-time, and Waukesha South’s John Acevedo, who defended his crown in the 500 freestyle.

Acevedo also almost helped South bring home the second-place trophy. As Madison West, sparked by a record-setting swim in the 200 medley relay (1 minute 32.35 seconds), won its first team title since 1993, Waukesha South, last year's champion, and Middleton battled for runner-up status. The race came down to the final event and really the final 25 yards when Cardinals senior Michael Draves pulled past South to give his team the trophy.

The race was part of a bittersweet day for Acevedo. His winning time of 4:31.15 in the 500 was fifth-best all-time, three-hundredths of a second off his pace of last season, but he also took fifth in the 200 freestyle, an event in which he entered as the top seed.

“You live and you learn,” he said. “We all have little things we can fix. Now we can go back to practice and try to fix them for club season and next season.”

Farrar completed his rise from junior varsity swimmer as a freshman to state champion. Sophomore year he competed at state in the relays. Last year he took third in the 50 and tied for fifth in the 100. This year his winning times of 20.47 and 44.37 seconds ranked second- and third-best all-time at the meet.

“It’s been a (heck) of a journey …” he said. “It’s been a lot of work and a lot of fun. I’m glad I could do this with the guys behind me and my team.”

There were four other area winners.

» Franklin’s 200 free relay team of freshman Travis Craig and juniors Justin Craig, Will Lennertz and James Kostrzewa emerged from the first heat to win in 1:24.96, the fifth-fastest time in the event.

» West Bend East/West senior Bryan Fitzgerald won the 200 individual medley in 1:50.15, eighth-best all-time.

» Greenfield senior Ben Davis took the 200 free in 1:39.19, the fourth-best all-time.

When it comes to all-time standards, Spencer finished with three 500-point performances at state.

Sophomore year, when he won by 11.35 points, he scored 501.90. Last year he totaled 508.20, the 11th-best all-time, and won by 25.10 points.

With a season-best score of 540.25 and a sectional score of 521.15, Spencer and his coaches hoped to challenge the state record of 563.45 set by Racine Park's Andrew Suchla in 2013. Points are harder to come by at state, though for Spencer they came a little easier than the rest of the field.

“If you’re asking am I happy with my score, I’m very satisfied,” he said. “Obviously, there is room to improve. I can always get better. I can always score higher.”

RESULTS

DIVISION 1

Team scores — 1, Madison West 293; 2, Middleton 223.50; 3, Waukesha South/Catholic Memorial 221; 4, Madison Memorial 215; 5, Brookfield Central/East 175; 6, Arrowhead 160; 7, Franklin 149.8, Sauk Prarie Co-op 124; 9, Milw. Maquette 73.50; 10, Green Bay Southwest Co-op, 71; 11, Neenah 68; 12, Greenfield Co-op 67; 13, Muskego 66; 14, Verona Area/Mount Horeb 50; 15, Sun Prarie 45; 16, Bay Port 44; 17, West Bend East/West 43; 18, D.C. Everest 39; 19, Waunaukee 38; 20, Stevens Point 25.50; 21, Waukesha North Co-op 23; 22, Kenosha Tremper 20; 23, Holmen Co-op 17; 24, Eau Claire Memorial/North 16; 25, West Allis Central/Nathan Hale 13; 26, Homestead 7; 27, Sheboygan South 6; 28 (tie), Menomonee Falls Co-op, Sheboygan North, Milwaukee King Co-op, Kenosha Indian Trail, 5; 32, Beloit Memorial 4; 33, Oshkosh West 3.50; 35 (tie), Wauwatosa East/West, Hudson, 1.

Event results — 1 meter diving: 1, Brandon Spencer, KT, 524.45; 2, Jared Kleczka, FRA, 473.30; 3, Braden Rumpit, BCBE, 463.60; 4, Mike Konle, MARQ, 450.45; 5, Noah Schultz, ECM, 409.95; 6, Caleb Emert-McKeown, WACNH, 399.65; 7, Sam Smith, MADMEM, 398.30; 8, Adam St. John, FRA, 394.00.

200 yard medley relay: 1, MADW (Wes Jekel, Henry Miller, Constantin Bensch, Matthew Fernandez), 1:32.35; 2, MADMEM (Alex Wowk, Alex Turgeson, Roark Lundal, Noah Gonring), 1:33.09; 3, ARR (Adam Braunschweig, Alec Lanza, Drew Nixdorf, Lucas Farrar), 1:34.24; 4, SP (Desmon Sachtjen, Allan Brickl, Ayden Frey, Ben Chao), 1:34.31; 5, MID (Archer Parkin, Sam Young, Nate Lamers, Blake Zillner); 6, WSCM (Nolan Scanlan, Caleb Blischke, Jacob Carlson, Blake Baertlein); 7, MUS (Nolan Anderson, Ben Gabbey, Jack Rohlinger, Evan Slonac), 1:36.69; 8, GBSW (John Gahnz, Kaiser Neverman, Benedict Jankowski, Kaen Baxter), 1:36.96.

200 freestyle: 1, Ben Davis, GRE, 1:39.19; 2, Lain Weaver, MADW, 1:39.50; 3, Michael Linnihan, BCBE, 1:40.25; 4, Michael Draves, MID, 1:40.59; 5, John Acevedo, WSCM, 1:40.78; 6, Will Wowk, MADMEM, 1:40.86; 7, Jack Rohlinger, MUS, 1:41.75; 8, Conrad Farrell, WSCM, 1:41.95.

200 individual medley: 1, Bryan Fitzgerald, WBEW, 1:50.15; 2, Wes Jekel, MADW, 1:51.53; 3, Desmon Sachtjen, SP, 1:52.95; 4, Kaiser Neverman, GBSW, 1:53.50; 5, Jackson Madonia, WAUN, 1:54.45; 6, Caleb Blischke, WSCM, 1:54.75; 7, Sam Young, MID, 1:54.87; 8, Nathan Kim, MID, 1:55.20.

50 freestyle: 1, Lucas Farrar, ARR, 20.47; 2, Ryan Linnihan, BCBE, 20.79; 3, Jacob Carlson, WSCM, 20.80; 4, Nate Lamers, MID, 21.03; 5, James Kostrzewa, FRA, 21.10; 6, Archer Parkin, MID, 21.13; 7, Shane Rozeboom, VAMH, 21.17; 8, Roark Lundal, MADMEM, 21.24.

100 butterfly: 1, Lain Weaver, MADW, 48.99; 2, Kaiser Neverman, GBSW, 49.09; 3, Alex Wowk, MADMEM, 49.31; 4, Drew Nixdorf, ARR, 49.63; 5, Ayden Frey, SP, 49.99; 6, Brennan Neitzel, DCEV, 50.05; 7, Nate Lamers, MID, 50.40; 8, Roark Lundal, MADMEM, 50.42.

100 freestyle: 1, Lucas Farrar, ARR, 44.37; 2, Ryan Linnihan, BCBE, 45.83; 3, Michael Linnihan, BCBE, 46.45; 4, James Kostrzewa, FRA, 46.55; 5, Conrad Farrell, WSCM, 46.65; 6, Shane Rozeboom, VAMH, 46.83; 7, Eli Rocke, NEEN, 47.16; 8, Garrett Wise, HOL, 47.45.

500 freestyle: 1, John Acevedo, WSCM, 4:31.15; 2, Bryan Fitzgerald, WBEW, 4:32.62; 3, Michael Draves, MID, 4:33.12; 4, Caleb Blischke, WSCM, 4:33.32; 5, Drew Harris, SPASH, 4:37.39; 6, Ben Davis, GRF, 4:39.80; 7m Andrew Martin, MID, 4:40.51; Will Wowk, MADMEM, 4:40.70.

200 freestyle relay: 1, FRA (Travis Craig, Justin Craig, Will Lennertz, James Kostrzewa), 1:24.96; 2, MADW (Lain Weaver, Isaac Casey, Charlie Feller, Matthew Fernandez), 1:25.06; 3, MID (Archer Parkin, Nate Lamers, Sam Young, Michael Draves), 1:25.08; 4, WSCM (Jacob Carlson, Conrad Farrell, John Acevedo, Blake Baertlein), 1:25.34; 5, MADMEM (Noah Gonring, Josh Barth, Will Wowk, Roark Lundal), 1:25.37; 6, NEEN (Aiden Clark, Jan-Mikael Werninger, Colin Enz, Eli Rocke), 1:26.74; 7, MARQ (Zach Sekaran, Carl Sustar, Christian Frank, Jack Gorski), 1:26.75; 8, SP (Ayden Frey, Reese Drager, Jake Guentherman, Ben Chao), 1:26.81.

100 backstroke: 1, Wes Jekel, MADW, 49.11; 2, Alex Wowl, 49.89; 3, Jacob Carlson, WSCM, 50.54; 4, Drew Nixdorf, ARR, 50.47; 5, Desmon Sachtjen, SP, 50.64; 6, Justin Craig, FRA, 51.79; 7, Nolan Scanlan, WSCM, 52.68; 8, Drew Harris, SPASH, 52.71.

100 breaststroke: 1, Henry Miller, MADW, 56.59; 2, Ben Gabbey, MUS, 57.45; 3, Sam Kult, BCBE, 57.57; 4, Will Grintjes, BCBE, 57.65; 5, Jackson Madonia, WAUN, 59.18; 6, Sam Young, MID, 59.23; 7, Gus Nordmeyer, MADW, 59.30; 8, Abram Zwaska, MADM, 59.36.

400 free relay: MADW (Constantin Bensch, Wes Jekel, Isaac Casey, Lain Weaver), 3:04.90; 2, ARR (Lucas Farrar, Keenan Cuculi, Drew Nixdorf, Cody Clauer), 3:07.48; 3, MADMEM (Will Wowk, Josh Barth, Abram Zwaska, Alex Wowk), 3:09.13; 4, MID (Blake Zillner, Nathan Kim, Andrew Martin, Michael Draves), 3:09.46; 5, FRA (Travis Craig, Justin Craig, Will Lennertz, James Kostrzewa), 3:09.82; 6, WSCM (John Acevedo, Conrad Farrell, Caleb Blischke, Blake Baertlein), 3:10.18; 7, MARQ (Christian Frank, Zach Sekaran, Carl Sustar, Jack Gorski), 3:10.61; 8, SP (Ben Chao, Reese Drager, Jake Guentherman, Desmon Sachtjen), 3:12.06.