Wanezek Sisters, Thomas Break WIAA Records As Brookfield East Wins D1 Title

2021 WIAAWI State Girls Swimming & Diving Championships

It was a record-setting weekend for the Brookfield East High School girls at the 2021 WIAAWI Division I State Championships in Waukesha Nov. 12-13, as the team combined to lower five state records en route to winning a third straight team title.

The school was led by senior Abby Wanezek, junior Lucy Thomas and sophomore Maggie Wanezek, who combined for five individual victories and all swam on two of the team’s three winning relays.

BROOKFIELD EAST LOWERS FIVE STATE RECORDS

Abby Wanezek, a Wisconsin commit for next fall, repeated her title in the 50 freestyle in a new best time of 22.54, breaking her own Division I state record of 22.63 set last year. Younger sister Maggie was second in 22.68, and Arrowhead junior Hailey Tierney picked up third in 22.85.

The older Wanezek sister also won the 100 free in a time of 49.35, repeating her title from last year, with Arrowhead junior Francesca Smith the runner-up in 50.29. Wanezek’s best time sits at 49.33 from this meet last year.

Maggie Wanezek set a state record of her own in the 100 back, using a sizzling back-half (25.35/26.24) to finish in a time of 51.59, breaking Beata Nelson‘s 2015 record of 52.13. Tierney was notably second in that race in 53.65.

Wanezek’s times in both the 100 back and 50 free were personal bests, with the 100 back clocking launching her up into 11th all-time in the girls’ 15-16 age group.

Thomas became the third Brookfield East swimmer to set a record in the last individual event of the day, clocking 1:00.00 in the 100 breaststroke to erase the 2018 record of 1:00.65 set by Grace Bennin. Thomas, 16, now ranks 18th all-time in the girls’ 15-16 age group.

Thomas also won the 200 free in a time of 1:46.82, with junior teammate Reese Tiltmann (the younger sister of UVA swimmer Reilly) the runner-up in 1:48.17.

Tiltmann picked up a win of her own in the 500 free, recording a time of 4:52.08 to edge out Cedarburg senior Grace Drabot (4:52.90). Drabot is the younger sister of former Stanford swimmer Katie Drabot.

Additionally, the Brookfield East girls also snagged a pair of state records in the freestyle relays.

In the 200 free relay, A. Wanezek (22.75), Audrey Olen (22.90), Tiltmann (23.32) and Thomas (22.16) combined for a time of 1:31.13, absolutely smashing the previous record of 1:33.51 set by Verona/Mount Horeb in 2014.

In the meet-ending 400 free relay, it was A. Wanezek (49.69), Olen (50.67), Tiltmann (49.99) and M. Wanezek (48.97) scorching their way to a time of 3:19.32, lowering their previous record of 3:20.92 set last year.

For the runner-up Arrowhead team, Tierney led off in 50.14, and they also had a pair of sub-50 splits from Smith (49.83) and Campbell Stoll (49.98).

STOLL HIGHLIGHTS OTHER EVENTS

Stoll, a junior and a teammate of the Wanezek sisters and Thomas at Elmbrook Swim Club, also won two individual races, repeating in both the 200 IM  and 100 fly.

In the 200 IM, Stoll won by four seconds in 1:58.19, ranking 59th in 15-16 age group history, and then she dropped an incredible time in the 100 fly.

In the 100 fly, Stoll clocked 51.89 to finish just off of Beata Nelson‘s state record of 51.62 set in 2015 and move herself up into ninth all-time among 15-16s.

Brookfield East also had M. Wanezek lead off in 24.21 as they won the 200 medley relay in 1:41.05, with Thomas splitting 27.06 on breast and Kathryn Dembny (25.73) and Callie Gregg (24.05) rounding out the team on fly and free.

The runner-up team from Waukesha West/CathMem included a 23.90 fly leg from junior Victoria Brostowitz.

Arrowhead senior Sydney Nelson was victorious in the 1-meter diving event, putting up a score of 437.00.

TOP 5 TEAM SCORES

  1. Brookfield East, 304.5
  2. Arrowhead, 264.0
  3. Middleton, 193.0
  4. Waukesha West/CathMem, 163.0
  5. Germantown, 149.0

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Wes Sinclair
2 years ago

Elmbrook Swim Club Head Coach Brent Book has been doing great things there in Wisconsin!

About James Sutherland

James Sutherland

James swam five years at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario, specializing in the 200 free, back and IM. He finished up his collegiate swimming career in 2018, graduating with a bachelor's degree in economics. In 2019 he completed his graduate degree in sports journalism. Prior to going to Laurentian, James swam …

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