BY RICH PALZEWIC
CORRESPONDENT
ASHWAUBENON – The Bay Port girls swim and dive teams are officially in the midst of a dynasty.
For the fourth year in a row, the Pirates took home the Fox River Classic Conference title, this time by a big margin at Ashwaubenon High School on Oct. 28 in front of a large and raucous crowd.
Bay Port’s 602 points easily outdistanced Ashwaubenon’s 439, while Sheboygan North finished third with its 341 total. In all, the Pirates won nine of the 12 events.
“I’m happy with how we swam,” said Bay Port head coach Meghan Wood, who was announced as the FRCC swim coach of the year after the meet. “We had like eight or nine pool records, and two or three events that were right on school-record pace. I’m just excited to see where things go next weekend at sectionals (in Neenah).
“It’s hard to predict at sectionals, but I think top three is very attainable, even going after that top spot. I’d love to bring home a sectional championship. It’s probably been about ten years since we’ve won one.”
Even more impressive than four consecutive conference titles, is the fact that the Pirates have won seven of the last eight overall. Since 2010, the only year they did not win the FRCC title was in 2013.
Bay Port divers Brightyn Zuelke, Sasha Sliwinski and Ella Thibert swept the dive competition, and dive coach Tricia Zuelke was honored as dive coach of the year in the conference. Brightyn also repeated as FRCC diver of the year.
“All our divers did great and had personal bests scores,” said Zuelke, who is the mother of Brightyn. “I’m very impressed and happy with the practice that they’ve been putting in. I’m looking forward to higher scores at sectionals.
“I think each and every one of our divers has a chance to make it to state. Brightyn is in the top ten and Sasha and Ella have a good chance of making it, too.”
FRCC swimmer of the year Emma Lasecki won two individual events (200 IM, 100 Butterfly), while Sophia Thibert (50 Freestyle), Riley Melendy (100 Backstroke) and Erin Samels (100 Breaststroke) each won an event. The 200 Medley Relay, the 200 Freestyle Relay and 400 Freestyle Relay teams all won a conference championship as well.
Bay Port’s junior varsity squad also won an FRCC title by a wide margin.
Top three Bay Port varsity results are as follows:
1-meter diving: 1, BP, Brightyn Zuelke, 448.35. 2, BP, Sasha Sliwinski, 402.10. 3, BP, Ella Thibert, 390.80.
200 Medley Relay: 1, BP (Riley Melendy, Erin Samels, Emma Lasecki, Sophia Thibert), 1:48.82
200 IM: 1, BP, Lasecki, 2:08.70. 2, BP, Melendy, 2:12.34.
50 Freestyle: 1, BP, S. Thibert, 24.95.
100 Butterfly: 1, BP, Lasecki, 57.46.
100 Freestyle: 2, BP, S. Thibert, 55.87.
200 Freestyle Relay: 1, BP (Samels, Shae Gustafson, Emily Zimmer, Lacy Geurts), 1:44.82.
100 Backstroke: 1, BP, Melendy, 1:00.16.
100 Breaststroke: 1, BP, Samels, 1:07.25. 3, BP, Cora Seroogy, 1:12.66.
400 Freestyle Relay: 1, BP (Melendy, S. Thibert, Gustafson, Lasecki), 3:42.60.
Varsity – Final Team Rankings
1, Bay Port, 602. 2, Ashwaubenon, 439. 3, Sheboygan North, 341. 4, Pulaski, 251. 5, Green Bay United, 200. 6, De Pere High, 184. 7, Manitowoc Lincoln, 159. 8, Sheboygan South, 74.
