By Jennifer Eisenbart
Sports Editor
In spite of illness wreaking havoc on the team’s lineup over the past few weeks, the Burlington co-op swim team has survived the hardest part of its schedule.
On Saturday, in spite of the team’s best swimmer being gone on a college visit, the co-op team persevered to win the Racine Swimming and Diving Invite at Park High School.
Burlington scored 470.5 points, close to 100 points ahead of second-place Racine Case (373.5). Kenosha Tremper was third with 342 points.
Burlington did that without Serena Wanasek, who went on a college visit. She was given a choice between last week and the weekend of the WIAA state meet.
“I told her to go that weekend,” said co-op coach Denita Jones with a laugh.
The squad also had no divers, though, in the case of Tremper and Case, it was even ground.
Still, Jones was shocked by the final margin.
“I was going in thinking we might pull it off,” the coach explained. “I never thought we would win by (that much).
“They did very well,” Jones added.
The team finished with 16 top-five finishes, led by the remaining two Wanasek sisters – Sara and Olivia.
Sara finished first in the 200 freestyle in 2:02.86, while Olivia was third in that event in 2:07.08. Sara also won the 500 free in 5:33.54.
“Sara did an awesome job, and Olivia did,” Jones said. “And Kaley Brown had a pretty darned good meet.
“I had so many girls that did so well.”
Brown posted a third-place finish in the 100 butterfly (1:07.55), and was also fourth in the 200 individual medley in 2:29.07.
Samantha Dziak finished fourth in the 100 fly in 1:08.07, while Hannah Meyer was fourth in the 100 free in 1:01.64. Candace Dziubinski added a fourth-place finish in the 500 free (5:58.62), while Olivia Wanasek and Paytin Kennicott finished third and fourth in the 100 backstroke in 1:05.82 and 1:07.64, respectively.
Ellie Petrie also took fifth in that event in 1:07.77.
The final top-five individual finish came from Hannah Duerst, who tied for fifth in the 100 breaststroke in 1:21.76.
The final points were scored by the relays, which posted a number of strong finishes. The 200 A medley relay of Natalie Pufahl, Duerst, Dziak and Mayer was fifth in 2:04.87, while the B relay of Kennicott, Ellis Purath, DeAnn Jones and Petrie took sixth in 2:06.24.
Both of Burlington’s 200 free relays were also in the top five. The A relay of Kennicott, Olivia and Sara Wanasek and Mayer took second in 1:48.38, while the B relay of Pufahl, Purath, DeAnn Jones and Brown was fourth in 1:52.91.
Finally, Brown, Petrie, and Olivia and Sara Wanasek won the 400 free relay in 3:57.17.
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