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Phil McDade

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Phil McDade

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http://www.wisca.net/swimming-diving-news/2015/11/1330/roll-tide-beloit-memorial-to-make-a-century-first-appearance-at-state

Roll Tide: Beloit Memorial to make a century-first appearance at state

Nov 10 2015

When your swim program hasn't sent a swimmer to the Division 1 state meet this century, there is cause for celebration.

So you can excuse the girls of the Beloit Memorial swim team, head coach Kim Waite and her staff, and -- why not -- the entire Beloit community for some excessive celebrations this week following Saturday's sectionals.

Competing at the always grueling and deep Middleton sectional, the Beloit Memorial foursome of sophomores Heavan Wells and Clare Santas and seniors Margaret Gianvecchio and Grace Roegner swam the 200 free relay fast enough to qualify for this Saturday's D1 state meet.

In doing so, the four Beloit Memorial swimmers became the first members of the girls Purple Tide swim team to make it to state since backstroker Alyssa Bartz in 1999.

"We knew going into Saturday that we had a chance to get to state," said Waite, noting that the same four girls had broken the team's school record in the 200 free relay two weeks earlier at the Big 8 Conference meet, held in their home pool. "The girls were really focused all week."

The Beloit quartet entered the meet with a seed time of 1:43.83 -- within striking distance of the recent qualifying times needed to make it into state. But they were also seeded 30th among all D1 teams in the relay, so that meant cutting time and passing several teams along the way.

They accomplished both -- by leaps and bounds. The foursome reeled off a time of 1:40.47 -- nearly a full second worth of time dropped by each swimmer. They ended up qualifying easily, and now find themselves seeded to score points in the meet as the 12th overall seed -- ironically, the exact spot that Bartz finished in during the team's last state appearance 16 years ago.

"We knew after swimming that race that we had a chance to be at state," Waite said, "but I don't think any of us expected to be seeded 12th this weekend."

The success achieved by the Beloit Memorial girls swim team was exactly the kind of accomplishment swim supporters envisioned when the Beloit school district included a new, 8-lane pool into a district-wide referendum three years ago. The Purple Tide went from having one of the worst pools in the state -- it leaked, for one thing, and a too-shallow start end meant swimmers couldn't even use starting blocks -- to one of the best.

Good pools have a way of breeding good swim programs, and Beloit Memorial started to see some immediate success following the opening of the new pool in 2013. Last year's girls team broke four school records at sectionals, and along with their record-setting and state-qualifying 200 free relay, broke five other school records Saturday at Middleton.

So this Saturday, during the D1 state meet, make sure to check out the team in Lane 6 of Heat 2 of the 200 free relay -- it's been a while since they've been there.

"The girls are really pumped and excited," Waite said. "They knew it has been a long time coming for a girl to qualify for state. I think after having a pretty successful sectional meet last season...that they knew that going to state this season was a real possibility."