The 101st Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association state boys swimming and diving championships concluded Saturday with Division 1 competition at the Waukesha South Natatorium.
Middleton's athletes starred from start to finish, garnering eight event wins and setting three WIAA state records en route to 273 team points in a runaway repeat title victory. There were nonetheless milestone performances locally, including a repeat win in diving for a Waukesha South/Catholic Memorial athlete, a 500-yard freestyle win for a Muskego swimmer and a top area team finish for Brookfield.
Here are the area highlights from the closing day of the state meet.
Waukesha South/Catholic Memorial senior Brady Huettl went from the hunter to the hunted this year as the top-seeded diver seeking a repeat title entering Saturday. Huettl said his approach to the weekend was the same as what he had tried to harness all year in his title defense.
"I've had to just keep myself motivated, stay disciplined in the pool and continue to do my hard dives and work up to them," Huettl said.
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Huettl faced a significant challenge at state this year from Madison Memorial's AJ Beard, who actually led 359.05-355.80 over Huettl entering the final three dives. The positioning meant Huettl took each of his last three dives before Beard in the final three run-throughs of the finalists, allowing him to again hunt the top placement. After taking nearly a 19-point lead on the first dive of the final round, disaster nearly struck for Huettl.
A slight slip on his second-to-last of the 11 total dives nearly cost him critical points, as the 3.1 difficulty inward two-and-a-half came short of what he had set out to perform. The resulting score for the round of 35.65 put Huettl up by just less than four points entering the final dive over Beard.
"Obviously I didn't get a great score out of (round 10), so I had to really focus up for my last one to make sure I could take it home," Huettl said.
The Carthage commit came through in the clutch with a score of 49.40 on his final dive with a 2.6 difficulty, allowing him to edge past Beard's 45.15 on a 2.1 difficulty and hang on for a repeat title by a 502.45-494.65 margin.
"I feel like it just showed a lot of my discipline throughout the season, because I've lost a lot of friends and teammates that I've dove with (who have graduated)," Huettl said. "I keep doing it for my family and everyone that's still around here."
Also reaching the podium locally in diving were junior Franklin teammates Cole Waldron (355.55) and Amico Anderson (352.60), who finished fifth and sixth, respectively.
Muskego senior and UW-Madison commit Carter Jewell came into Saturday with top seeds to defend in the 200 and 500 freestyle events. He would come away with a replication of his 2024 state performance in both events, winning the 500 to repeat as champion while falling to second in the 200 freestyle.
"A lot of high expectations after last year, you know, it's like try to keep the momentum up," Jewell said. " A lot of pressure ... just a lot of stuff that goes on in someone's head. I just really wanted to do my best and be happy with whatever outcome I had."
Despite coming up short, Jewell said his 200 time of 1:37.22 was the "fastest in my life." Madison Memorial senior Alex Heinrich won the event in 1:36.70. Other locals on the podium included West Bend West/East junior Dawson Walters in fourth (1:38.95), Hartford Union/Slinger junior Finn Nelson in fifth (1:39.95) and Menomonee Falls/Hamilton junior Brody Carlson (1:41.18) in sixth.
"Alex is a great guy, and he just held it together a little better than me," Jewell said. "I was talking to him after, because we're pretty good friends, and he's like, 'Yeah, I was just trying to do whatever you did,' and I was like, 'Great, all right, we're just matching each other.' "
Jewell had no equals in a runaway win of the 500, touching in 4:28.59 to best the field by over eight seconds. Waukesha South/Catholic Memorial senior Kyle Johnson (4th, 4:40.43) and Menomonee Falls/Hamilton junior Brody Carlson (5th, 4:40.68) also podiumed from the area. Jewell almost seemed to lament his number being nearly three seconds behind his winning time from 2024, but a second gold in the event for his career softened the blow.
"The sport's all numbers, and some people ... you can get to (a point) to just value your self worth on a number and it's like, 'Just try to get close to what I want to be' or close to what a coach wants me to be or what you think everybody else wants you to be," Jewell said. "So just kind of do my best and get out there."
As his focus shifts to post-graduation and teaming up with friend and Neenah senior Drew Gaerthofner in Madison, Jewell reflected on his high school career with gratitude to those who have helped him along the way.
"I've met and am super close friends with some people I would have never had the opportunity to be friends with, and just some coaches that really changed my life," Jewell said. "My coach, Coach Dan, one of the most impactful dudes in my life, in and out of the pool. My life's completely different."
Another of the area's leading performances at state came from Homestead senior Noah Van Zuidam, who defended two top four seeds with a second in the 200 IM (1:49.48) and a fourth in the 100 butterfly (:49.47). He joined Waukesha West/Mukwonago sophomore Ryan Wanner (4th, 1:50.63), Waukesha South/CMH junior John Brostowitz (5th, 1:51.35) and Waukesha West/Mukwonago freshman Benjamin Wisotzke on the 200 IM podium, as well as Walters (3rd, :48.36) and Badger Co-op junior Colton Clark (6th, :49.96) among area athletes on the 100 butterfly podium.
The Indiana University Indianapolis commit said he wanted to enjoy his last experience at state despite some lofty personal expectations. His 200 IM came in his first season trying the event after qualifying as a 200 freestyle swimmer in 2024.
"In summer I realized that there might be more potential with the IM, so just going into the high school season I tried to take advantage of that," Van Zuidam said. "I would definitely say my senior year was my most enjoyable. This last year with the team, placing here, just having fun."
The fight for the runner-up trophy behind Middleton was fierce for a handful of teams that included area programs. Second in the team standings was tied at 83 points after seven scored events between West Bend West/East, Waukesha South/CMH and Verona Area. Through 10 events, WS/CMH held the runner-up spot (136) followed by Verona (131) and Brookfield Central/East (123.5). A Brookfield sixth for the 400 freestyle relay team of senior Caleb Smith, sophomore Owen Patterson, junior Luke Thomas and sophomore Logan Loppnow (3:09.66) helped hoist it over WS/CMH for third. The area's leading team finish was also highlighted by other podium finishes including:
"I was really proud. We got 14 of 18 swims from sectionals here. We had 10 athletes in individual events. I had two relay-only athletes ... I got a team of 47, so to be able to advance that many kids into the postseason, that's the goal," Barracudas head coach Van Donkersgoed said.
Van Donkersgoed highlighted Loppnow as an example of the bright future on a young team returning many of the pieces that earned the third-place finish. The sophomore surpassed 2017 state champion Ryan Linnihan's school-record time of :20.99 in the 50 freestyle with his fifth-place time of :20.58.
"It means a real lot, now I get to put my name up on that board and leave a part of me behind for the rest of the people to try to break that," Loppnow said.
Donkersgoed credited Loppnow's work in the offseason for his strong improvement year-to-year.
"My experience has been I see a lot of my sophomores make a really big transition in terms of what they do in the spring and summer and even in the fall in the weight room," Donkersgoed said. "Logan is going to be somebody who, I think we're going to see that, that change in him."
Middleton's dominance left little room at the top of the podium for athletes from across the state Saturday, but self-proclaimed "swimming connoisseur" Donkersgoed said their competition raises the bar for their peers.
"Fast swimming is infectious, right? Having that at the top of our state with the depth that they have, that elevates everybody," Donkersgoed said. "Everybody should be going, 'Wow, keep doing that,' because it makes our people hungry. That's what it is, keep striving, keep pushing the boundaries ... (Wes Lagerhausen) should be so proud of what they have done. That program, their energy is just infectious."
Full results from the Division 1 state boys swimming and diving meet are available on the WIAA website.
1, Middleton, 273; 2, Verona Area, 175; 3, Brookfield Central/East, 151.5; 4, Waukesha South/Catholic Memorial, 144; 5, West Bend West/East, 140; 6, Badger Co-op, 118; 7, Madison Memorial, 117; 8, Madison West, 115.5; 9, Neenah, 113; 10, Arrowhead, 108; 11, Menomonee Falls/Hamilton, 96; 12, Franklin, 87; 13, Waukesha West/Mukwonago, 83; 14, Homestead, 68; 15, D.C. Everest, 57.5; 16, Sun Prairie West, 49; 17, Muskego, 44; 18, Racine Case Co-op, 43.5; 19, Hartford Union/Slinger, 38; 20, Appleton West Co-op, 34; 21, Sheboygan North/Kohler, 33; 22, Burlington Co-op, 27; 22, Bay Port, 27; 24, Fond du Lac Co-op, 25; 24, Marquette, 25; 26, DeForest, 23; 27, Hudson, 22; 28, Kenosha Indian Trail, 17; 29, Oshkosh North Co-op, 16; 29, Sun Prairie East, 16; 31, New Berlin West/Eisenhower, 9.5; 32, Appleton North/Appleton East, 9; 33, Eau Claire Memorial/North, 7; 34, La Crosse Logan Co-op, 4.5; 35, Green Bay Southwest Co-op, 4; 35, Marshfield, 4; 37, Beloit Memorial, 1.