The Wisconsin Interscholastic Swim Coaches’ Association (WISCA) has released its 6th poll of the 2017 girls’ high school season, and as they have been all year, Middleton (Division 1 – big schools) and Madison Edgewood (Division 2 – small schools) hold the #1 spots in the rankings. The two both won state titles comfortably last year (Edgewood by 113 points), and both are favored to repeat this year.
Edgewood solidified its favored status this past weekend’s Small School State Invite. The meet is a remnant of an era when there was just one division in Wisconsin high school swimming, prompting smaller schools to create a team championship meet just for smaller squads. The meet lives on as a D2 State Championship preview.
This past weekend at Shorewood High School, the invite, which included 7 of the top 10 teams in the WISCA D2 poll, saw Edgeood score 367 points – again more than 100 better than runners-up McFarland. Among Edgewood’s best results was a 5:04.69 in the 500 free by senior Kelly Rodriguez – the fastest time in the state this season (either division) by 2 seconds.
For McFarland, who rank 7th in the latest polls, the star was Alex Moderski. She won the 50 free in a state-leading 23.30 – later this semester, she’ll look for a 3rd-straight title in that event. She also won the 100 free in another state-leading 51.88.
Among the top D2 teams not participating were #3 Deforest and #9 Fort Atkinson.
