After tough week, Falcons advance three entries to state D2 swim meet

In a week of great pain and sorrow at Brown Deer High School, the members of the Falcons co-op boys swim team with University School did what veteran coach Bob Van Lieshout asked of them in a practice last week.

They went out and honored the memory of Shaun Wild with an excellent effort in the WIAA Division 2 sectional at Cedarburg on Saturday.

"They really did," Van Lieshout said. "They went out there and competed, and I can't tell you how nice the kids from USM were."

Wild, a recent graduate of Brown Deer and a respected and very well liked teacher in the Naperville, Ill., area, was killed trying to break up a bar fight. There was a large, emotional memorial service last week in Brown Deer that hundreds of people attended.

And Wild would have appreciated the effort of the Falcons and probably would understand the frustration Van Lieshout and the rest of the team had, as it suffered near-miss after near-miss in qualifying for this Friday's state D2 meet at the UW-Madison Natatorium.

Many near misses

"I think we had something like four 17th-place finishes," Van Lieshout said, noting that there are 16 competitors per event in the state D2 meet. "So many that would have made it easily in the past, didn't this time."

In the end, the Falcons did end up with three entries to state, all in the final three events of the meet, as Stephen Grambow in the 100 backstroke, Billy Wong in the 100 breast stroke and the 400 free relay team of Grambow, Adam Brostowicz, Berj Balzonyian and Wong, will all take part when timed finals start at 6:30 p.m. Friday.

"This is just the nature of the beast, what our sport is like," Van Lieshout said. "You taper the best you can, but you have no idea how well other people throughout the state will do."

Van Lieshout said that Grambow is extremely motivated and said that Wong will likely crush the decades-old school breast stroke record at state. He is the sixth-seed in the event.

The qualifying efforts led the Falcons to a fourth-place showing in the 12-school D2 sectional with 224 points as Cedarburg won with 403.

Grambow earned his spot with a third in the backstroke (57.18) while Wong was second in the breast stroke (1:03.32). The 400 free relay team advanced out of a deep sectional field, taking fifth with a five-second, season-best time of 3:28.83.

Elsewhere, it was frustration for the Falcons, no more so than in the first two events of the meet, as diver Gerry Giles turned in a fifth-place score of 276.5 points, a mark that usually makes the state D2 meet, but the cut this year was 281.76.

Then the 200 medley relay team of Grambow, Wong, Josh Thompson and Brostowicz turned in the second-fastest time in school history in taking third (1:45.66), but came up a maddening 0.01 of a second short of qualifying.

In the 200 free, Wong was sixth in 1:52.36 and was only 0.42 of a second out of state and later, Grambow turned in a spectacular 50.72 time, good for sixth, but was 0.38 away from a state slot.

"I really thought the medley was no problem and that our 400 free team was on the bubble," Van Lieshout said.

Team bounced back

Overall, Van Lieshout couldn't have been prouder, especially after the sadness of last week.

"After the week we had, it was amazing," he said. "We hit every time we were looking for. Everyone tapered a ton. I think overall, that we averaged about three seconds (of dropped time) per 100 yards. In any other normal year, I think we get about five individuals and two relays easy (to state)."

Other top 16 places for the Falcons included the following: 200 free: Matt Myszewski, 14th (2:05.22); 200 IM: Thompson, ninth (2:19.92); Zach Farrel, 12th (2:23.32); 50 free: Horst Burmeister, 16th (25.91); 100 butterfly: Thompson, seventh (1:02.02); Farrel, 10th (1:03.64); 100 free: Balzonyian, 11th (54.2); 200 free relay: Thompson, Balzonyian, Burmeister and Brostowicz, eighth (1:38.34); and 100 breast stroke: Balzonyian, fifth (1:09.06).