Sauk-Heights swimmers on a roll

With one week remaining in the regular season, the goal of a fourth straight Badger North Conference title remains alive for the Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights boys swimming program. The Eagles recorded only four first-place finishes — three individual events and one relay — but once again used their superior depth to dominate host Waunakee, 102-68, in Sauk Prairie’s final conference dual of the season on Jan. 28. Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights ended the week by winning the five-team Platteville Invitational last Saturday. Against Waunakee, sophomore Matthew Loy won the 100-yard freestyle in 50.84 seconds and the 200 freestyle in 1:52.65. Freshman Sam King also won the 50 freestyle in 23.69 seconds for Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights, ranked seventh in the Wisconsin Swimming Coaches Association Division 2 poll. The Eagles overcame the emotions of Waunakee hosting Senior Night, Parents Night and Youth Night all rolled up into one big celebration. However, Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights coach Todd Wuerger was pleased with the support the Eagles received at the meet. “We brought a really nice home crowd with us,” he said. “Our rooting section was huge. It felt like a home meet. It was so loud each time a race would end. I’m really proud of the parents, they got the word out.” Wuerger said he was also proud of Loy’s continued success. “What I’m seeing more and more from him is he is emerging as a leader,” Wuerger said of Loy. “He’s just a big meet swimmer. That’s hard to find. Either you’ve got it or you don’t. He is such a clutch guy. Those were two strong races.” The Eagles’ 200-yard freestyle relay of Loy, King, senior Daniel Bakhchevnikov and junior Jordan Chao also won in 1:34.32. “Sam’s a talent,” Wuerger said of King, who finished with two wins and two seconds (200 medley relay and 100 breaststroke). “He just keeps getting better.” The victory capped a 4-0 finish in league duals for Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights and put the Eagles’ in the driver’s seat for the overall conference championship. Waunakee will host the conference meet on Feb. 7. “The story of the conference dual meets was starting with McFarland, they all had individuals who win quite a few races,” Wuerger said. “But what they have not been able to do is counter out depth.” Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights placed 2-3-4 in five individual events and two relays against Waunakee. “When we do that, that outscores their first-place 9-7. We lost the opening (200 medley) relay but went 2-3-4. In the 200 free relay, we went 1-2 and that was a 12-2 gap,” Wuerger said. “Waunakee was up 8-6 after the medley relay, but we never trailed after that. We went 1-3-4 in the 200 freestyle to go ahead by four points. We never looked back. They never caught up to us after that.” Wuerger said that while Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights doesn’t have a marquee swimmer like it did last year in Desmon Sachtjen, he likes the makeup of this year’s squad. “We just have a cluster of guys who are all pretty close in times that we can go into a meet and put three guys together who are solid and really good and that beats their No. 1,” Wuerger said. “The other teams just don’t have the depth that we have.”  • Eagles win Platteville Invitational: Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights won three events and finished first with a score of 664.5 points to easily outdistance runner-up Rockton (Ill.) Hononegah, which finished with 497 points. Platteville/Lancaster (321), Rockford (Ill.) Auburn (273), and La Crosse Central/Logan (239.50) rounded out the field that competed at UW-Platteville last Saturday. Junior Zach Guentherman won the 200-yard freestyle (1:57.76), Matthew Loy won the 500 freestyle (5:22.94), and the quartet of sophomores Evan Leece and Ryan Godwin, Daniel Bakhchevnikov and junior Sam Beattie won the 400 freestyle relay (3:36.42). • On deck: Following a non-conference dual against Verona/Mount Horeb on Tuesday, Sauk Prairie will compete at the Battle on the Rock Invitational hosted by Beloit Memorial on Saturday beginning at 10 a.m.   Jan. 21 Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights 102, DeForest 68  200-yard medley relay — 1, Waunakee (Vinson, Wallace, Kobza, Busse), 1:44.47; 2, Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights ‘A’ (Zach Guentherman, Sam King, Adam Stecker, Evan Leece), 1:49.16; 3, Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin ‘B’ (Alec Buss, Casey Vande Hey, David Heck, Jackson Shavlik), 1:56.17; 4, Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights ‘C’ (Austin Kaukl, Jack Boerger, Brayton Fandrich, Mason Gassman), 1:56.58. 200 freestyle — 1, Matthew Loy, SP/WH, 1:52.65; 3, Sam Beattie, SP/WH, 1:57.09; 4, Daniel Bakhchevnikov, SP/WH, 2:00.47. 200 individual medley — 1, Busse, W, 2:04.94; 2, Guentherman, SP/WH, 2:10.92; 3, Jordan Chao, SP/WH, 2:16.33; 4, Ryan Godwin, SP/WH, 2:16.55. 50 freestyle — 1, King, SP/WH, :23.69; 2, Stecker, SP/WH :24.25; 3, Leece, SP/WH, :24.98. 100 butterfly — 1, Vinson, W, :59.63; 2, Stecker, SP/WH, 1:00.72; 3, A. Buss, SP/WH, 1:03.25; 4, Shavlik, SP/WH, 1:03.50. 100 freestyle — 1, Loy, SP/WH, :50.84; 3, Chao, SP/WH, :53.29; 4, Leece, SP/WH, :55.26. 500 freestyle — 1, Busse, W, 5:03.21; 2, Beattie, SP/WH, 5:16.38; 3, Shavlik, SP/WH, 5:40.05; 4, Boerger, SP/WH, 5:47.52. 200 freestyle relay — 1, Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights (Loy, King, Bakhchevnikov, Chao), 1:34.32; 2, Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights ‘B’ (Leece, Godwin, Heck, Beattie), 1:38.58; 4, Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights ‘C’ (Phillip Geiselman, Fandrich, Gassman, Mason Breunig), 1:45.60. 100 backstroke — 1, Vinson, W, :55:76; 2, Guentherman, SP/WH, :59.98; 3, A. Buss, SP/WH, 1:02.98; 4, Godwin, SP/WH, 1:04.11. 100 breaststroke — 1, Wallace, W, 1:05.65; 2, King, SP/WH, 1:07.66; 3, Bakhchevnikov,, SP/WH, 1:09.86; 4, Vande Hey, SP/WH, 1:14.36. 400 freestyle relay — 1, Waunakee (Kobza, McCook, Shrader, Vinson), 3:29.88; 2, Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights ‘A’(Beattie, Stecker, Godwin, Loy), 3:32.28; 3, Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights ‘B’ (Shavlik, Chao, Guentherman, Bakhchevnikov), 3:41.31; 4, Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights ‘C’ ( Alex Dunning, Geiselman, A. Buss, Vande Hey), 4:00.05.   Jan. 25 Platteville Invitational Team scores: Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights 664.5, Rockton (Ill.) Hononegah 497, Platteville/Lancaster 321, Rockford (Ill.) Auburn 273, La Crosse Central/Logan 239.50. 200-yard medley relay — 1, Platteville/Lancaster, 1:50.70; 2, Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights ‘A’ (Alec Buss, Daniel Bakhchevnikov, Zach Guentherman, Jordan Chao), 1:51.67; 3, Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights ‘B’  (Matthew Loy, Casey Vande Hey, Sam King, Adam Stecker), 1:54.01.  200 freestyle — 1, Guentherman, SP/WH, 1:57.76; 2, Stecker, SP/WH, 2:01.55; 4, Sam Juckett, SP/WH, 6, A. Buss, SP/WH, 2:10.96. 100 frosh/soph. individual medley -- 1, Kitzman, RH, 1:00.27; 2, Loy, SP/WH, 1:00.31; 3, King, SP/WH, 1:02.23; 4, Ryan Godwin, SP/WH, 1:02.62; 6, Evan Leece, SP/WH,1:03.85; 9, Gage Ranzenberger, SP/WH, 1:09.07; 10, Coleman Frost, SP/WH, 1:10.91; 13, Carter Buss, SP/WH, 1:14.18; 15, Kurtis Price, SP/WH, 1:14.86. 200 individual medley — 1, Miles, RH, 2:13.43; 2, Sam Beattie, SP/WH, 2:17.25; 3, Jackson Shavlik, SP/WH, 2:22.02.  50 freestyle — 1, Hayag, RH, :24.14; 2, Chao, SP/WH, :24.52; 3, Bakhchevnikov, SP/WH, :24.57; 17, Jasper Thierfelder, SP/WH, :29.60. 100 butterfly — 1, Edleman, A, 1:01.33; 3, Leece, SP/WH, 1:02.19; 4, Chao, SP/WH, 1:03.32. 6, Shavlik, SP/WH, 1:05.87. 100 freestyle — 1, Miles, RH, :52.49; 2, Stecker, SP, :53.18; 4, King, SP/WH, :55.11; 6, Mason Breunig, SP/WH, :58.07; 7, tie, A. Buss, SP/WH, :58.54; 9, Alex Dunning, SP/WH, :59.07; 12, Vande Hey, SP/WH, :59.54; 16, Juckett, SP/WH, 1:00.60; 17, Ranzenberger, SP/WH, 1:01.17; 21, Price, SP/WH, 1:05.31; 26, Derek Frey, SP/WH, 1:08.59; 30, Zane Ziegler, SP/WH, 1:13.08. 500 freestyle — 1, Loy, SP/WH, 5:22.94; 2, Guentherman, SP/WH, 5:23.20; 3, Bakhchevnikov, SP/WH, 5:44.25.  200 freestyle relay — 1, Rockton Hononegah, 1:36.69; 2, Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights ‘A’ (King, Godwin, Beattie, Breunig), 1:38.40; 3, Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin ‘B’ (Loy, Leece, Shavlik, Vande Hey), 1:39.89.  100 backstroke — 1, Stimes, RH, :59.26; 5, C. Buss, SP/WH, 1:12.23; 9, Breunig, SP/WH, 1:16.82. 100 breaststroke — 1, Hale, RH, 1:06.29; 4, Godwin, SP/WH, 1:11.36; 5, Beattie, SP/WH, 1:11.57; 7, Vande Hey, SP/WH, 1:12.18; 9, Jack Boerger, SP/WH, 1:13.25; 15, Frost, SP/WH, 1:19.74; 17, Dunning, SP/WH, 1:20.19; 8, Jack Balch, SP/WH, 1:29.30; 19, Derek Frey, SP/WH, 1:34.20. 400 freestyle relay — 1, Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights ‘A’ (Leece, Godwin, Bakhchevnikov, Beattie), 3:36.42; 2, Sauk Prairie ’B’ (Shavlik, Stecker, Chao, Guentherman), 3:38.43.