Brown Deer/USM Diver and Swimmers Qualify for State

When pressure situations present themselves, many top athletes perform at their peak. Sophomore Kimberly Roos, senior Lauren Isnard, and senior Caroline Bridges, students at the and members of the Brown Deer/University School co-op girls swimming and diving team, performed well under pressure Saturday at the Plymouth Sectional of the WIAA Division 2 State Tournament at Plymouth High School. By virtue of their performances, Roos, Isnard, and Bridges won the chance to compete at the state tournament on Friday in Madison.

Roos automatically qualified for the state meet by winning the 500-yard freestyle race in the sectional. Roos won with a time of 5:12.77. She led the entire race and, for the first time in her athletic career, Roos beat junior Elizabeth Bucholz of the Kiel /Elkhart Lake-Glenbeulah team who finished second at 5:13.48 and Ellen Stello, a junior from Shorewood High School, who finished third at 5:16.06.

Roos also qualified to swim in the state meet in the 200-yard freestyle by taking third place in the sectional race. Roos finished with her best high school time of 1:59.38. Bucholz won the race with a time of 1:57.36.

Isnard qualified for her third trip to the state meet by finishing fourth in the sectional 1-meter diving competition with her personal best score of 347.9. Taylor Knuth, a sophomore from Plymouth, won the sectional diving event with a score of 379.35

Bridges qualified for the state meet in both the 100-yard freestyle and the 50-yard freestyle events.

She set school records with both swims and had two personal best times. Bridges finished third in the 100-freestyle event with a time of 53.90 seconds. Kristin Malone, a sophomore at Shorewood won the race in 52.74 seconds.

Bridges came in sixth in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 24.59 seconds.   Freshman Samantha Senczyszyn of Grafton won by finishing the race in 23.94 seconds.

The host team, Plymouth, won a trip to the state tournament by taking first the sectional meet against 12 other teams. Plymouth compiled a winning total of 332 points in the sectional. Shorewood finished in second place with 318 points followed by Whitefish Bay with 302 points, Grafton with 272 points, Sturgeon Bay/Sevastopol with 228 points, Wauwatosa West with 223 points, BD /USM with 187 points, Kiel /Elkhart Lake-Glenbeulah with 108 points, Port Washington with 101 points, Berlin /Green Lake with 63 points, Brookfield Academy with 46 points, Milwaukee Lutheran with 33 points, and Two Rivers with 26 points.

BD/USM swimmers also did well in several events despite not making it to state. Senior Kevlyn Holmes had a season best swim in the 50 freestyle race. Holmes finished fourteenth with a time of 27.22 seconds.

Bridges, Roos and Holmes teamed with sophomore Ariana Sparapani in the 200 freestyle relay, and recorded a season best time. The quartet finished fifth with a time of 1:44.71. Senior Lauren Halle, junior Becca Ebbott, senior Saray Coley, and senior Kate Criter of Plymouth won the event with a time of 1:38.91.

Bridges, Roos, Sparapani, and sophomore Natalie Surfus swam together for BD/USM in the 400 freestyle relay event and finished sixth with a season best time of 3:51.12. Wauwatosa West freshman Anna Larson, sophomore Rachel Stuberg, freshman Alli Welsh, and senior Lexi Utech took first place in the race with a time of 3:40.73

As a result of her performance on Saturday, Roos is the number one seed in the 500 freestyle race at the State Tournament. She is also seeded 11th in the 200 freestyle event. Isnard is the sixth seed in the diving event. Bridges is seeded eighth in the 100 freestyle event and 10th in the 50 freestyle event at state. 

The Division 2 State Tournament will be held Friday at the University of Wisconsin Natatorium in Madison. Diving competition commences at 2:30 p.m., and the swimming events begin at 6:30 p.m.