With a dominating 101–55 non-conference victory over La Crosse last Thursday night, the Platteville/Lancaster boys swim team made history.
     With the win the Hillmen finished the regular season 11–0 in dual meets, the first perfect regular season in the 33-year history of the program.
     In 2005, the Platteville/Lancaster team went 10–0–1, but finished one tie away from a perfect dual meet season.
     Thursday’s meet capped off the home career of 10 seniors.
     “This is a very good bunch of guys,” said Hillmen coach Tom Caccia. “They work hard, they show outstanding sportsmanship and they really, honestly earned it.
     “I think a lot of teams that I have coached might have been as talented as this group. All those guys who came before set a pretty high standard. Finally, this year, we had the biggest team in history and that allowed us to set up some depth in events, which is where the real wins are — below the first place finishers. We can be very proud of this group to represent all the other groups as the first. They are terrific ambassadors for our program. I’m very happy for them.”
     Last Tuesday the Hillmen won seven of 11 events to sweep a Southern Lakes Conference triple dual at Delavan.
Platteville/Lancaster (6–0 SLC) hammed host Delavan–Darien 124–46, while beating the Burlington co-op 114–56.
     Lancaster senior Brenden Polkinghorn won the 50-yard freestyle with a time of :24.02. Platteville sophomore Sam Iselin won the 100 butterfly (1:02.17), Lancaster senior Ryan Heberlein won the 100 freestyle (53.68) and Platteville senior Jordan Kress won the 100 backstroke (1:07.59).
     "We swim some pretty tough schools,” added Caccia. “Some of the meets had luck going our way and others we just swam better. Whatever the case, I’ve been around long enough to know this doesn’t happen a lot and was able to really enjoy the season.”
     The Hillmen will next travel to Lake Geneva on Saturday for the Southern Lakes Conference Championships, where they will look to win the overall conference title.
     "We’re looking forward to the conference meet,” added Caccia. “It could be a place where we really come through and put a cap on the end of this very special season.”


Southern Lakes Triple Dual
(from Tuesday, Jan. 22 @ Delavan)
Team Scores: Platteville/Lancaster 124, Delavan–Darien 46; Platteville/Lancaster 114, Burlington Co-op 56.
Platteville/Lancaster’s winners
200 medley relay — 1.Pla/Lan (Jordan Kress, Ryan Schroeder, Sam Iselin, Ryan Murray) 1:58.36. 50 freestyle — 1.Brenden Polkinghorn (P/L) 24.02. 100 freestyle — 1.Ryan Heberlein (P/L) 53.68. 200 freestyle relay — 1.Pla/Lan (Ben Bahr, Nicholas Volkmann, Colin Salzmann, Polkinghorn) 1:39.96, 6.Ben Bahr, Colin Salzmann, Ryan Murray, Jordan Kress) 1:38.69. 100 butterfly — 1.Iselin (P/L) 1:02.17. 100 backstroke — 1.Kress (P/L) 1:07.59. 400 freestyle — 1.Pla/Lan (Polkinghorn, Bahr, Jake Fulton, Wade Roberts) 3:42.05.

Platteville/Lancaster 101, La Crosse 55
(from Thursday, Jan. 24 @ UW–Platteville)
Platteville/Lancaster’s winners
200 medley relay — 1.Pla/Lan (Jordan Kress, Ben Bahr, Sam Iselin, Colin Salzmann) 1:52.93. 200 freestyle — 1.Wade Roberts (P/L) 2:03.88. 50 freestyle — 1.Ryan Heberlein (P/L) 24.51. 100 butterfly — 1.Iselin (P/L) 1:01.44. 100 freestyle — 1.Brenden Polkinghorn (P/L) 51.52. 200 freestyle relay — 1.Pla/Lan (Heberlein, Ryan Murray, Nicholas Volkmann, Polkinghorn) 1:36.94. 100 backstroke — 1.Jake Fulton (P/L) 1:08.40. 100 breaststroke — 1.Bahrr (P/L) 1:09.94 400 freestyle — 1.Pla/Lan (Polkinghorn, Bahr, Jake Fulton, Wade Roberts) 3:42.05.