Swimmers start fast

The Sauk Prairie/Wisconsin Heights boys swimming team knows there are no guarantees. Nothing is promised. In this COVID world, their season could be halted at any team. So the Eagles are approaching the year with the mantra of racing as hard as they can every moment of every meet. That mentality paid huge dividends on Dec. 8 when the Eagles rolled past Watertown, 125-45. “For a meet nine days into our season without a lot of opportunity to prepare, I thought the guys raced hard and looked almost in mid-season shape,” Eagles coach Todd Wuerger said. “They realize their season can end at any time, so they were racing as if it was their final meet of the season.”   The Eagles also recognized their nine seniors before the meet. That group includes captains Sam Beattie, Zach Guentherman and Adam Stecker, Mason Breunig, Alex Dunning, Derek Frey, Phillip Geiselman, Jackson Shavlick and team manager Lauryn Drager. “I thought the rest of the team rallied around our seniors and left it all in the pool to honor them,” Wuerger said. The Eagles’ quartet of Guentherman, Sam King, Stecker and Jackson Shavlik won the 200-yard medley relay. Sauk Prairie’s foursome of Austin Kaukl, Phillip Geiselman, Finn Rayle and Kurtis Price finished third. Beattie, Breunig, Evan Leece and Matthew Loy won the 200-yard freestyle relay, while King, Ryan Godwin, Alex Dunning and Stecker were second. The quartet of Beattie, Shavlik, Leece and Guentherman won the 400-yard freestyle relay, while Godwin, Breunig, Dunning and Loy were third. Beattie, Godwin and Leece went 1-2-3 in the 200-yard freestyle, while Loy and Guentherman finished first and second, respectively, in the 200-yard IM. King was first and Shavlik was third in the 100-yard butterfly, while Loy and Guentherman were first and second, respectively, in the 100-yard butterfly. Leece won the 100-yard freestyle and Breunig was third, while Godwin, Shavlik and Dunning went 1-2-3 in the 500-yard freestyle. Beattie won the 100-yard backstroke and Carter Buss was third. King also won the 100-yard breaststroke and Phillip Geiselman was third. “I told them before the meet started that this is the final season in this pool before they demolish it and the new pool opens next summer,” Wuerger said. “So I think they wanted to contribute to the history of this facility.”