By Chris Bennett
Sports Correspondent
The members of the Burlington Co-op boys high school swimming team that competed Feb. 19 & 20 at the WIAA Division 1 State Swimming and Diving Championships did not win state titles.
The young men finished among the lowest in the two events in which they competed. But they went where many of their contemporaries did not but desperately wanted to, and are better than most high school swimmers in the state. It can be assumed they are richer for the experience.
The state meet took place at the University of Wisconsin Natatorium in Madison. Madison Memorial won the Division 1 boys state team title.
BC’s Bailey Bleser finished 23rd in the 500-yard freestyle in 5:05.63. Brookfield Central/East’s Connor Rumpit won the Division 1 state title in 4:34.26.
Bleser swam with Luke Piccione, Connor Krattiger and Luke Herman on BC’s 400 freestyle relay, which finished 24th in 3:28.36. Madison Memorial won the event in 3:07.83.
Burlington Co-op consists of swimmers from Burlington, Catholic Central, East Troy, Union Grove and Waterford high schools.
The Demons qualified for state Feb. 13 at a WIAA Division 1 sectional meet hosted by Kenosha Bradford at Carthage College in Kenosha.
Bleser finished second in the 500 freestyle in 4:58.01 and qualified for state as an individual. Franklin’s DJ Nowacki won the event (4:48.56).
Bleser, Herman, Krattiger and Piccione finished third in the 400 freestyle relay in 3:25.09 and qualified for state in that event. The relay bested its seed time by more than three seconds.
The winner in each event at six Division 1 sectional meets, plus the next 18 fastest times in each event from the six sectionals, advanced from the sectional to s
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