LAKE GENEVA — The Platteville/Lancaster boys swim team continued its late season surge with a fourth-place finish at Saturday’s Southern Lakes Conference Championships at Lake Geneva Badger High School.

The Hillmen began the week 0–5 in duals and in last place in the SLC at 0–4, but swept Jefferson/Cambridge, 107–52, and Delavan–Darien, 89–79, in a SLC triple dual last Tuesday to finish 2–4 in conference dual meets, then sunk visiting La Crosse 91–79 in a non-conference duals on Parents’ Night Thursday at UW–Platteville.

Saturday, the improving Hillmen collected 247 team points to place fourth out of seven teams at the conference meet and climbed to fourth place in the final conference standings with 16 points. 

Elkhorn won both the team title on Saturday with 527 points and the overall conference title with 36 points.

Two points were awarded for each dual meet victory during the six regular season conference meets, then points were award for team finishes at the conference meet with first-place collecting 24, second getting 20, third 16, fourth 12, fifth 8, sixth 4 and seventh 0.

Lake Geneva (465, 30) finished second and Burlington (358, 24) was fourth both Saturday and in the final SLC standings.

“I am very proud of how the guys swam. We definitely won fourth place as opposed to got fourth,” said Platteville/Lancaster head coach Matt Wunderlin. “All season we’ve been improving and our taper worked well. There were many best times, and everyone swam with a lot of guts and heart which enabled us to finish in the middle of the conference and as the top division 2 team.”

Junior Tyler Moss third in the 100-yard butterfly (59.21) and fourth in the 50 freestyle (24.02) on Saturday. 

He also teamed with seniors Michael Prestegard, Trent Julius and Connor Feyen to finish third in the 200 medley with a time of 1:48.69. The same quartet finished sixth in the 200 freestyle relay (1:39.58).

Prestegard placed fourth in the 100-yard backstroke Saturday with a time of 1:01.83.

Feyen finished eighth in the 50 free (24.83).

“This meet is hopefully a good predictor of this week’s sectional meet,” said Wunderlin. “We have time to make a few minor adjustments this week and see where this takes us. Momentum is definitely on our side, and while I don’t want to overstate our chances of going to state, I believe we can be better still before this season is over.”

The Hillmen will travel to the WIAA Division 2 Baraboo Sectional on Saturday. The swimming finals begin at 1 p.m. at Baraboo’s Jack Young Middle School.

Southern Lakes Conference Championships

(from Saturday, Feb. 3 @ Lake Geneva)

Team scores — 1.Elkhorn 527, 2.Lake Geneva Badger 465, 3.Burlington 358, 4.Platteville/Lancaster 247, 5.Delavan–Darien 199, 6.Whitewater 170, 7.Jefferson/Cambridge 110.

Final SLC Standings — 1.Elkhorn 36 points, 2.Lake Geneva Badger 30, 3.Burlington 24, 4.Platteville/Lancaster 16, 5(tie).Whitewater 10, 5(tie).Delavan–Darien 10, 7.Jefferson 0.

Platteville/Lancaster’s top finishers (top 8)

200 medley relay — 3.Pla/Lan (Michael Prestegard, Trent Julius, Tyler Moss, Connor Feyen) 1:48:69. 50 freestyle — 4.Moss 24.02, 8(tie).Feyen 24.83. 100 butterfly — 3.Moss 59.21. 200 freestyle relay — 6.Pla/Lan (Moss, Trent Julius, M. Prestegard, Feyen) 1:39.58. 100 backstroke — 4.M. Prestegard 1:01.83. 400 freestyle relay — 8.Pla/Lan (Quentin Fritz, Luke Sigwarth, Ben Wilson, Dylan Prestegard) 4:19.42. 

Southern Lakes Triple Dual

(from Tuesday, Jan. 30 @ Delavan)

Team scores — Platteville/Lancaster 107, Jefferson/Cambridge 62.

Platteville/Lancaster 89, Delavan–Darien 79.

Delavan–Darien 95, Jefferson–Cambridge 70.

Platteville/Lancaster’s top finishers (top 3)

200 medley relay — 2.Pla/Lan (Dylan Prestegard 2:03.39, Luke Sigwarth, Watler Schwickrath, Noah Rhoden) 2:03.39. 200 freestyle — 3.Ben Wilson 2:17.66.  200 individual medley — 2.Michael Prestegard 2:26.56. 50 freestyle — 1.Tyler Moss 24.06, 2.Connor Feyen 24.98. 100 butterfly — 2.Moss 1:02.57. 500 freestyle — 3.Wilson 6:08.88. 200 freestyle relay — 1.Pla/Lan (Moss, Trent Julius, M. Prestegard, Feyen) 1:40.91, 3.Pla/Lan (Rhoden, Quentin Fritz, Sigwarth, Wilson) 1:52.15. 100 backstroke — 1.M. Prestegard 1:03.04, 2.D. Prestegard 1:07.20. 100 breaststroke — 2.Julius 1:17.30. 400 freestyle relay ­— 2.Pla/Lan (Schwickrath, Fritz, D. Prestegard, Wilson) 4:13.67.

Platteville/Lancaster 91,

 La Crosse 79

(from Thursday, Feb. 1 @ UW–Platteville)

Platteville/Lancaster’s top finishers (top 3)

200 medley relay — 1.Pla/Lan (Michael Prestegard, Trent Julius, Tyler Moss, Connor Feyen) 1:52.73, 3.Pla/Lan (Dylan Prestegard, Luke Sigwarth, Ben Wilson, Walter Schwickrath) 2:08.66. 200 freestyle — 2.Wilson 2:14.51. 200 individual medley — 2.M. Prestegard 2:23.45, 3.Noah Rhoden 2:37.15. 50 freestyle — 1.Moss 23.96, Juliua 25.82. 100 butterfly — 1.Moss 1:02.62, 2.Schwickrath 1:12.24. 100 freestyle — 1.Feyen 56.52, 3.Julius 59.70. 500 freestyle — 1.Wilson 6:04.19. 200 freestyle relay — 1.Pla/Lan (Moss, Trent Julius, M. Prestegard, Feyen) 1:40.99, 3.Pla/Lan (Jacob Krueger, Quentin Fritz, Rhoden, Sigwarth) 1:51.92. 100 backstroke — 1.M. Prestegard 1:02.78, 3.D. Prestegard 1:08.44. 100 breaststroke — 3.Feyen 1:20.30. 400 freestyle relay ­— 2.Pla/Lan (Wilson, D. Prestegard, Fritz, Sigwarth) 4:14.68.