By Mike Ramczyk
Sports Editor
Saturday’s WIAA Division 1 state swimming meet won’t necessarily be about winning it all for the Burlington Co-op swim team.
Burlington’s Sara and Olivia Wanasek and Ellie Petrie along with Waterford’s DeAnn Jones and Kaley Brown are more concerned with finishing with a bang.
While all five achieved season bests at sectionals last weekend, the quintet hopes to swim just a little faster Saturday in Madison.
Sara Wanasek, a senior who will compete in the 500 and 200 freestyles along with the 200 and 400 freestyle relays, has competed at state every year since she was a freshman.
“It’s still a big deal,” she said Tuesday at the Aurora Wellness Center. “I’m trying to get sixth again in the 500. I got sixth my sophomore year.”
Olivia, Sara’s younger sister, is making her second straight trip to state. The sophomore will compete in the 100 backstroke and the relays.
“I was worried I wasn’t going to make state this year,” Olivia said. “But I just want to improve on my seed in the 100 back (22nd coming in).”
Ellie Petrie, a senior at Burlington, is focusing on breaking the school record in the 200 freestyle relay in her first state appearance. The current record is at 1:41, and Petrie, the Wanaseks and Jones are at 1:42.
“We want our best split times,” Petrie said. “I think we’ll beat it. We’re all going to get our best times.”
Petrie said making state is “bittersweet,” because she just missed qualifying in the 100 backstroke by 5 hundredths of a second.
Jones, a Waterford sophomore who qualified in the 200 freestyle relay and is an alternate for the 400 relay, got personal best times at sectionals.
“State is a pretty big deal for me,” she said. “Last year I barely made it to varsity meets. I improved a lot, but I wasn’t expecting to make it. It’s pretty exciting.”
Last, but not least, there’s Brown. A senior at Waterford, she has been working hard her entire career for this moment.
She will compete in the 400 freestyle relay and is an alternate for the 200 relay.
“It’s a huge deal,” she said. “I’ve never been able to make it. I’ve been working really hard. I’m pumped.”
The girls said they will bond over a team dinner Thursday night. Then, in Madison, after all is said and done, they will pig out a little at Olive Garden. The athletest have been tapering, or resting for the last few weeks to conserve energy for the postseason run.
“We get out of practice early,” Sara Wanasek said. “It’s everyone’s favorite time of the year. We save our energy in order to get our best times.”
Petrie said the girls will play hard after working hard at state.
“We try to eat healthy when we taper and just focus on our technique,” she said. “We cut down on our yardage to get our energy built up for state. We will go crazy at Olive Garden.”
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