Sauk-Heights swimmers win conference relays

Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights recorded three first-place finishes, while Baraboo claimed two titles at the annual Badger North Conference Relays held at Jack Young Middle School on Dec. 10. But Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights and host Baraboo shared the team championship with 100 points each. McFarland finished a close third with 94 points. “It was a chance to see all the other schools in our conference in a relay setting,” Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights coach Todd Wuerger said. “Every coach has a different strategy, and we use a strategy of since it doesn’t count in the standings, we’re just going to experiment a little bit. We don’t want to give the other teams too much scouting information. “So we don’t go with our best lineup. It’s a good, solid lineup. But we want to experiment a little bit and have some fun.” Wuerger admitted being surprised when the final score was announced. “It wasn’t until about 10 minutes after the meet when they announced that it was a tie,” he said. “Honestly, I had no idea that we were even that close. I had us pegged for third this meet because we were scrambling our lineup and there’s some schools that have some real high-end talent. “We won three relays. I just didn’t think it was enough to win this meet. They didn’t do any scoring updates during the meet so you didn’t know where you were.”  The Eagles won the 800-yard freestyle relay, 200-yard freestyle freshman/sophomore relay and 100-yard freestyle relay, while the Thunderbirds won the 400-yard individual medley relay and 300-yard breaststroke relay. Leading the way was sophomore Matthew Loy, who anchored all three winning relays. He also swam on the 300-yard butterfly relay that placed second. “Matthew Loy is having a great season so far,” Wuerger said. “He has really come in and emerged as a leader.” After Waunakee won the opening 400-yard medley relay, Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights won the 800-yard freestyle relay — which included juniors Zach Guentherman, Jordan Chao and Sam Beattie and Loy — in 8 minutes, 13.52 seconds. Baraboo then won the 400-yard medley relay before the Eagles notched their second win with the 100-yard freestyle quartet of junior Adam Stecker, Beattie, senior Daniel Bakhchevnikov and Loy finishing first in :45.51. Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights notched its final win in the freshman/sophomore 200-yard freestyle with freshman Sam King, sophomores Ryan Godwin and Evan Leece and Loy taking first in 1:36.79. “The guys swam pretty well,” Wuerger said. “It’s always nice to get all of your guys in the lineup. We have few opportunities with 30 guys on the team where you can get them all in, in a single meet.” • Blackhawk Invitational: Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights finished with 123.5 points to place seventh out of 13 teams at the meet hosted by Fort Atkinson last Friday. Sun Prairie won the meet with 499.5 points to outdistance runner-up Verona Area/Mount Horeb, which finished with 357 points. Madison Edgewood (231), McFarland (200.5) and Monona Grove (178) rounded out the top five. Matthew Loy recorded the Eagles’ top individual finish, placing fourth in the 100-yard freestyle in 50.88. Loy was also 10th in the 200-yard intermediate medley in 2:14.31.  Zach Guentherman placed 10th in the 500-yard freestyle in 5:24.65. Loy also anchored Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights’ top relay finish, the 400-yard freestyle relay that also included Sam Beattie, Jordan Chao and Guentherman and posted a time of 3:43.54. “That was a very competitive meet,” coach Todd Wuerger said. “For us to finish seventh out of 13 schools, I was very satisfied with that. We only swam with 12 guys because the meet had very limited entries.” • On deck: Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights will host an Alumni meet on Friday at 6 p.m. Following a holiday break, the Eagles then return to action on Saturday, Dec. 28 when they host the Sauk Prairie Invitational at 1 p.m.   Dec. 10 Badger North Conference Relays Team scores: 1, Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights, 100; 1, Baraboo, 100; 3, McFarland, 94; 4, Waunakee, 82; 5, DeForest 68. 400-yard medley: 1, Waunakee (Kobza, Wallace, Vinson, Busse), 3:49.30; 5, Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights (Alec Buss, Casey Vande Hey, Jackson Shavlik, Daniel Bakhchevnikov), 4:15.31; 6, Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights (Carter Buss, Phillip Geiselman, David Heck, Austin Kaukl), 4:59.31. 800-yard freestyle: 1, Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights ‘A’ (Zach Guentherman, Jordan Chao, Sam Beattie, Matthew Loy), 8:13.52; 4, Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights ‘B’ (Jack Boerger, Evan Leece, Sam Juckett, Mason Gassman), 8:52.99. 400-yard medley: 1, Baraboo (Laux, Riesterer, Klingenmeyer, Lohr), 4:02.56; 4, Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights (Ryan Godwin, Sam King, Shavlik, Bakhchevnikov), 4:17.18; 5, Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights (Gage Ranzenberger, Alex Dunning, A. Buss, Boerger), 4:41.49. 100-yard freestyle: 1, Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights ‘A’ (Adam Stecker, Beattie, Bakhchevnikov, Loy), :45.51; 9, Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights ‘B’ (Coleman Frost, Jack Balch, Derek Frey, Jasper Thierfelder), :59.05. 200-yard medley: 1, Waunakee (Kobza, Wallace, Vinson, Busse), 1:47.33; 3, Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights ‘A’ (Shavlik, Chao, A. Buss, Stecker), 1:54.69; 7, Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights ‘B’ (C. Buss, Vande Hey, Ranzenberger, Mason Breunig), 2:10.92. 300-yard butterfly: 1, DeForest (Ramminger, Wolf, Ridd), 2:55.37; 2, Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights ‘A’ (Guentherman, Loy, Stecker), 3:05.31; 6, Sun Prairie/Wisconsin Heights ‘B’ (Juckett, Frost, Ranzenberger), 3:51.25. 300-yard backstroke: 1, Waunakee (Kobza, McCook, Vinson), 2:54.83; 3, Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights ‘A’ (A. Buss, Chao, Guentherman), 3:01.61; 7, Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights ‘B’ (Breunig, Thierfelder, Frey), 4:28.39. 200-yard freestyle (grades 9-10): 1, Sauk Prairie (King, Godwin, Leece, Loy), 1:36.79; 6, Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights (C. Buss, Balch, Kaukl, Kurtis Price), 1:59.34. 200-yard freestyle (grades 11-12): 1, DeForest (Wolf, Ridd, Jaccard, Ramminger), 1:35.99; 3, Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights ‘A’ (Beattie, Chao, Guentherman, Stecker), 1:38.90; 6, Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights ‘B’ (Heck, Vande Hey, Gassman, Shavlik), 1:45.83 300-yard breaststroke: 1, Baraboo (Laux, Stelling, Lohr), 3:15.20; 3, Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights ‘A’ (Bakhchevnikov, Godwin, King), 3:34.02; 6, Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights ‘B’ (Geiselman, Boerger, Dunning), 4:07.98. 400-yard freestyle: 1, Waunakee (Kobza, Busse, Vinson, Wallace), 3:27.13; 4, Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights ‘A’ (Leece, Beattie, Godwin, King), 3:43.54; 9, Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights ‘B’ (Heck, Frost, Price, Boerger), 4:18.99.   Dec. 14 Blackhawk Invitational Team scores: 1, Sun Prairie, 499.5; 2, Verona Area/Mount Horeb, 357; 3, Madison Edgewood, 231; 4, McFarland, 200.5; 5, Monona Grove, 178; 6, Baraboo, 166; 7, Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights, 123.5; 8, DeForest, 121; 9, Hartford/Slinger, 103; 10, Lake Geneva Badger, 85.5; 11, Burlington, 61; 12, Oregon, 41; 13, Fort Atkinson, 3. 200-yard medley relay: 1, Verona/Mount Horeb (Benin, Rozeboom, Best, McCartney), 1:40.39;  12, Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights ‘A’ (Zach Guentherman, Sam King, Matthew Loy, Sam Beattie), 1:51.30; 15, Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights ‘B’ (Alec Buss, Daniel Bakhchevnikov, Brayton Fandrich, Casey Vande Hey), 1:55.67. 200-yard freestyle: 1, Ramminger, D, 1:47.04; 12, Jordan Chao, SP/WH, 2:00.36; 13, Ryan Godwin, SP/WH, 2:02.24. 200-yard IM: 1, Schluesche, SunP, 2:01.84; 10, Loy, SP/WH,  2:14.31; 15, Guentherman, SP/WH, 2:16.51; 21, Jackson Shavlik, SP/WH,  2:22.12. 50-yard freestyle: 1, Wiegand, SunP, :21.10; 15, tie, King, SP/WH, :24.46; 18, Evan Leece, SP/WH, :24.72; 20, Bakhchevnikov, SP/WH, :24.80; 26, Beattie, SP/WH, :25.40; 29, Vande Hey, SP/WH, :25.67; 31, Fandrich, SP/WH, :25.82. 100-yard butterfly: 1, Best, VA/MH, :51.92; 20, A. Buss, SP/WH, 1:02.94; 26, Shavlik, SP/WH, 1:04.36; 27, Beattie, SP/WH, 1:04.66; 29, Leece, SP/WH, 1:06.40. 100-yard freestyle: 1, Lohr, Bar., :47.83; 4, Loy, SP/WH, :50.88; 20, Fandrich, SP/WH, :58.01. 500-yard freestyle: 1, Ramminger, D, 4:49.96; 10, Guentherman, SP/WH, 5:24.65; 14, Chao, SP/WH, 5:36.13. 200-yard freestyle relay: 1, Sun Prairie (Roggenbauer, Anhalt, Sullivan, Braatz), 1:29.54; 9, Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights ‘A’ (Bakhchevnikov, King, Godwin, Chao), 1:37.83; 14, Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights ‘B’ (Vande Hey, Shavlik, Fandrich, Leece), 1:43.63. 100-yard backstroke: 1, Lohr, Bar, :51.63; 13, A. Buss, SP/WH, 1:03.01. 100-yard breaststroke: 1, Webb, /S, 1:00.25; 13, King, SP/WH, 1:09.28; 16, Bakhchevnikov, SP/WH, 1:10.09; 21, Vande Hey, SP/WH, 1:12.40. 400-yard freestyle: 1, Sun Prairie (Wiegand, Braatz, Schluesche, Roggenbauer), 3:15.14; 8, Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights ‘A’ (Beattie, Chao, Guentherman, Loy), 3:36.06; 12, Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights ‘B’ (Shavlik, Leece, Godwin, A. Buss), 3:45.74.