Greendale/Greenfield surges to eighth at state swim

High finishes, school records and a top-10 team berth highlighted a productive day for the Greendale/Greenfield boys swimming and diving squad in the WIAA Division 1 State Meet on Saturday in Madison.

The Panther-Hawks captured eighth place with 116 points in the 40-team event, which was won by Madison Memorial with 316 points.

"We were much better than last season at state, when we were 15th," junior Ross Rybakowicz said.

Their 200-yard medley relay team of sophomore Rick Perez, Rybakowicz, senior Andrew Staszak and junior Adam Fleischhacker captured second in 1 minute, 35.6 seconds, a school record.

The team finished just .43 seconds behind the champion from Madison Memorial.

"Our 200 medley relay broke our old school record by almost two full seconds," head coach Dale Schrank said. "Our time of 1:35.6 is even a full second under the All-American consideration time standard for this season. We will have to wait and see if we made it when the results are posted later this year."

Rybakowicz also collected third place in the 100 butterfly with 51.47 seconds and fourth in the 100 breaststroke at a school-record 58.36.

Perez claimed third place in the 100 backstroke with a school-record 50.84, which broke Matt Junger's mark of 52.38 set in 2009.

"I was proud of the team and the way we were able to pull together," Rybakowicz said. "We had some good finishes, such as the 200 medley taking second and Rick in the 100 backstroke."

Perez, junior Shawn Lucchesi, Fleischhacker and Rybakowicz also came in eighth in the 400 freestyle relay at 3:14.03 and Perez finished ninth in the 200 individual medley at 1:57.13.

Lucchesi finished 19th in the 200 freestyle (1:48.09) and the 100 freestyle (49.41), while Staszak was 19th in the 500 freestyle (4:53.67).

Lucchesi, Fleischhacker, Staszak and senior Niko Mendelin placed 20th in the 200 freestyle relay (1:31.77) and Fleischhacker took 22nd in the 50 freestyle (22.62).

Senior diver Liam Duffy came in 13th with 337.4 points.

"Winning conference, establishing a new school record and qualifying for state were the three big goals for the season," diving coach Cheryl Weber said. "Scoring at the state meet was just a little extra gravy."

Better than expected

Schrank was pleased with the results, adding that Greendale/Greenfield finished ahead of Brookfield, Waukesha South and Hartland Arrowhead, all of whom had been rated higher than the Panther-Hawks this season.

He is already looking ahead to next season, as the team loses only Staszak, Mendelin and Duffy from its state squad.

"Three of the four swimmers on that school-record relay are back, and we have another butterflier (Lucchesi) eager to fill that spot," he said. "If we can just start building up our depth, the future looks bright."