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Schaffer, Iselin lead Hillmen to fourth-place SLC finish
pla swim schaffer
Senior Jack Schaffer won four silver medals at Saturdays Southern Lakes Conference Championships, finishing second in the 100 butterfly, 100 breaststroke, 200 medley relay and 200 freestyle relay. - photo by File photo by Mike Momot

WHITEWATER — The Platteville/Lancaster boys swim team continued its improvement with a fourth-place finish at Saturday’s Southern Lakes Conference Championships at Whitewater.

The Hillmen won five silver medals in 10 events and finished fourth out of seven teams with 263 points.

Defending champion Lake Geneva Badger won the meet with 519 points and repeated as the SLC overall conference champion.

Elkhorn finished second with 396 points and second in the final SLC standings. Burlington (353) finished third.

“Overall we couldn’t have expected a better ending in the conference standings,” said Platteville/Lancaster head coach Matt Wunderlin. “We started the season in last place and finished in fourth place with barely enough athletes to fill all the events. I’m very proud of all our swimmers, how they grew over the course of the season, and how they bonded to overcome adversity.”

The Hillmen went 3–3 in regular season SLC duals, but opened the season with a seventh-place finish at the Southern Lakes Conference Relays.

“Nearly every swim was a lifetime best and some of the guys aren’t even fully tapered,” added Wunderlin. “At the beginning of the meet the medley relays set season-best times and that momentum kept building so psychologically we expected great times and thus got them. It was a lot of fun.”

Lancaster senior Jack Schaffer had a hand in four of Platteville/Lancaster’s five silver medal performances. 

He earned individual second-place finishes in the 100-yard butterly in 55.55 seconds and the 100 breaststroke (1:05.39).

He was also a part of both of the co-op’s second-place relays.

Schaffer teamed with junior Dan Iselin and seniors Vince Momot and Nick Demaree to finish second in 200 medley relay, the first event of the meet, in a season-best time of time of 1:48.90.

Schaffer, Iselin and Demaree  later teamed with sophomore Connor Feyen to finish second in the 200 freestyle relay with a time of 1:36.71.

Iselin earned Platteville/Lancaster’s other silver medal with a second-place swim of 1:00.62 in the 100 backstroke. He also placed fourth in the 200 individual medley (2:14.79).

Feyen placed seventh in the 200 freestyle at 2:06.49.

The second Hillmen 200 medley relay team of sophomores Michael Prestegard and Ben Wilson and seniors Kevin Donovan and Marvin Kaye placed 10th with a season-best time of 2:04.92.

The Hillmen will return to action this Saturday’s WIAA Division 2 Baraboo Sectional.

“We look good going into the sectional meet on Saturday,” added Wunderlin. “I’m expecting to see more best times and if we keep improving as we have, we might even get someone to state, which would be quite the accomplishment given where we started the season.”

 

Southern Lakes Conference Championships 

(from Saturday, Feb. 6 @ Whitewater)

Team scores — 1.Lake Geneva Badger 519, 2.Elkhorn 396, 3.Burlington 352, 4.Platteville/Lancaster 263, 5.Whitewater 229, 6.Delavan–Darien 200, 7.Jefferson 193. 

Final conference standings — 1.Lake Geneva Badger 36, 2.Elkhorn 30, 3.Burlington 24, 4.Platteville/Lancaster 18, 5.Whitewater 10, 6.Delavan–Darien 6, 7.Jefferson 2.

Platteville/Lancaster results

 

200 medley relay — 2.Pla/Lan (Dan Iselin, Vince Momot, Jack Schaffer, Nick Demaree) 1:48.49, 10.Pla/Lan (Michael Prestegard, Kevin Donovan, Ben Wilson, Marvin Kaye) 2:04.92. 200 freestyle — 7.Demaree (P/L) 2:06.49, 11.Donovan (P/L) 2:24.17. 200 individual medley — 4.Iselin (P/L) 2:14.79, 14.Prestegard (P/L) 2:34.66. 50 freestyle — 11.Connor Feyen (P/L) 26.42, 20.Alex Lee (P/L) 32.21. 100 butterfly — 2.Schaffer (P/L) 55.55, 11.Momot (P/L) 1:09.04, 19.Wilson (P/L) 1:18.86, 20.Kaye (P/L) 1:23.26. 100 freestyle — 12.Feyen (P/L) 58.37. 500 freestyle — 15.Donovan (P/L) 6:17.02, 17.Ben Wilson (P/L) 6:35.13, 18.Tyler Moss 6:55.43. 200 freestyle relay — 2.Pla/Lan (Schaffer, Iselin, Demaree, Feyen) 1:36.71, 10.Pla/Lan (Prestegard, Trent Julius, Moss, Wilson) 1:51.73. 100 backstroke — 2.Iselin (P/L) 1:00.62, Demaree (P/L) 1:05.56, 10.Prestegard (P/L) 1:08.11, 14.Moss (P/L) 1:13.73. 100 breaststroke — 2.Schaffer (P/L) 1:05.39, 11.Kaye (P/L) 1:16.78, 16.Jackson Gormley (P/L) 1:22.47, 20.Julius (P/L) 1:26.26. 400 freestyle relay — 10.Pla/Lan (Feyen, Donovan, Kaye, Momot) 4:06.95, 14.Pla/Lan (Moss, Alex Lee, Julius, Gormley) 4:36.62.