The budding Platteville/Lancaster girls swim team finally popped this past weekend in a big way.
Collectively the Hillmen put together their best meet of the season. They qualified two relays and Claire Friederick in the 50-yard freestyle for this Friday's upcoming WIAA Division 2 State Championships.
As a team Platteville/Lancaster scored 145.5 points and finished seventh as a team in last Saturday's loaded WIAA Division 2 Baraboo Sectional. Defending D2 state champion Milton edged out DeForest 369.5-344 to win the sectional team title.
Led by an outstanding individual day by Friederick the Hillmen swimmers posted personal best times in 21 of their 29 events  (72 percent) and set five new varsity team records. Friederick was a part of or set all five records, despite competing in just four events.
She set a new varsity record while winning the 50-yard freestyle with a time of :24.38 seconds, breaking her own record of :24.89 set last year. Her first-place finish automatically qualified her for this weekend's state meet. Saturday's performance also qualified as an all-state honorable mention time.
In the final event of the meet Friederick led off the 400 freestyle relay with a new team record in the 100-yard freestyle with a new record time of :54.60 seconds, eclipsing Elise Manthe's old record of :55.55 set in 2006.
Friederick's teammates in the event Maddie Kieler, Sarah Loring and Melanie Schaefer, followed her record-setting pace and ended up breaking the team record in the event with a sixth-place 3:46.79 finish, which was also good enough for an at-large berth in the state meet.
The old 400-yard freestyle relay record of 3:47.36 was set by Bethany Scheppers, Tracy Mast, Sarah Felder and Carissa Bartels set in 1994.
Friederick, Kieler, Loring and Schaefer also combined to set a new team record in the 200-yard freestyle and earn the team's third state meet berth. The state-bound Hillmen quartet finished third in the 200 free relay with a new record time of 1:41.44, besting the old mark of 1:42.78 set by Friederick, Loring, Elisa Bilderback and Ally Klein just last year. Bilderback and Klein will serve as alternates for both state relays this year.
Platteville/Lancaster's fifth team record was set in the first event of the day, the 200-yard medley relay.
Friederick, Brooke Adams, Loring and Bilderback placed seventh in the event with a new record time of 1:57.78. The old record was set by Carissa Bartels, Colette Donahoe, Mindy Oxenford, and Brit Kinder in 1993 with a time of 1:58.15
"We've preached all year about the fact that we can't control our competition," said Hillmen head coach Tom Caacia. "We can only control ourselves. With 21 of 29 swims being personal best times, I most certainly am very happy with our girls. A coach can't ask for more than this team has given and I'm looking forward to the state meet this week."
The D2 state meet will be held at the University of Wisconsin Natatorium in Madison this Friday night beginning at 6:30 p.m.

WIAA Division 2
Baraboo Sectional
(from Saturday, Nov. 5 @ Baraboo)
Team scores - 1.Milton 369.5, 2.DeForest 344, 3.Madison Edgewood 262.5, 4.Baraboo 212, 5.Sauk Prairie 186, 6.River Valley 156, 7.Platteville/Lancaster 145.5, 8.Monona Grove 110, 9.Monroe 103.5, 10.McFarland 93, 11.Portage 82, 12.Lodi 68, 13.Jefferson/Cambridge 37, 14.Edgerton 20.

Platteville/Lancaster's state qualifiers
50 freestyle - 1.Friederick (P/L) :24.38. 200 freestyle relay - 3.Pla/Lan (Friederick, Kieler, Loring, Schaefer) 1:41.44. 400 freestyle relay - 6.Pla/Lan (Friederick, Kieler, Loring, Schaefer) 3:46.79.

Platteville/Lancaster's
other sectional results
200 medley relay - 7.Pla/Lan (Claire Friederick, Brooke Adams, Sarah Loring, Elisa Bilderback) 1:57.78. 200 freestyle - 9.Melanie Schaefer (P/L) 2:03.49, 15.Maddie Kieler (P/L) 2:09.85. 200 individual medley - 13.Brooke Adams (P/L) 2:29.27, 25.Haley Wood (P/L) 2:43.30. 50 freestyle - 7.Loring (P/L) :26.17, 14.Bilderback (P/L) :27.00, 22.Ally Klein (P/L) :27.34. 100 butterfly - 17.Haley Wood (P/L) 1:11.64. 100 freestyle - 19.Bilderback (P/L) 1:00.83, 24.Klein (P/L) 1:01.80, 27.Elissa Bahr (P/L) 1:02.84. 500 freestyle - 12.Schefer (P/L) 5:40.23, 14.Schaefer (P/L) 5:48.87, 24.Hannah Schambow (P/L) 6:11.37. 100 breaststroke - 12.Brooke Adams (P/L) 1:17.49, 15.Bahr (P/L) 1:19.71.