Boys Swimming Relays Qualify for State
The boys swim team 200 medley relay and 200 freestyle relay, along with one individual swimmer qualifies for state at the sectionals meet on Jan. 30.
The boys 200 medley was made up of freshman Henry Williams doing backstroke, senior Quinn Worman doing breaststroke, senior Bobby Klockhow doing butterfly, and senior Adam Marx doing freestyle. This is good for the swim team because the last time a medley race qualified for state was in 2010.
The 200 freestyle is made up of Marx, Williams, Worman, and Slinger junior Cameron Koch. Worman also qualified for the 200 breaststroke.
Prior to sectionals, head coach MacGyver Zepezauer was hoping to get both relays to qualify for state, and to “sneak in one or two individuals.” His hopes came true.
To prepare for sectionals, tapering and drag were two methods of preparation implemented by Zepezauer.
These preparation techniques have been used before and are fairly effective for the swimmers.
“Drag” is an effective technique because it reduces the drag while they are swimming, which strengthens muscles. This means that all of the swimmers practice fully clothed.
Junior Drew Olejnik swam the 50 free at sectionals and was hoping for 25 seconds. He swam 25.2 seconds and was second in his heat.
“I am going to wear a hoodie today when I swim because it will increase my drag which will make me go faster [at sectionals],” Olejnik said.
The week prior to sectionals, the swimmers were tapering, which meant the practices were shortened and not as intense.
“Taper is the period where the muscles fully recover,” Zepezauer said. “When athletes train muscles slightly tear and build up and get stronger over time. Taper week is where those muscles fully recover and then you see the time drops at the end.”
Since it is his first year as the head varsity coach, Zepezauer did not have previous experience with tapering high school boys.
“This is my first time tapering boy athletes,” Zepezauer said. “Taper timing work kind of varies from athlete to athlete depending on the muscle mass so we will see if I did it correctly or if I need to make adjustments for future years.”
The taper timing done by Zepeauer was effective and the results were visible.
“The taper was definitely effective this year because almost every single swim at the meet was a lifetime best for the OriOwl athletes,” Zepezauer said.
The swimmers saw the improvement because of Zepezauer. According to Koch, Zepezauer is an excellent coach and him and his teammates have helped him succeed a lot. Koch said that Zepezauer focuses on individual time drops, not winning.
“I thought that [the preparation] was excellent and I thought Coach Mac couldn't have done any better,” Koch said. “I am a big coach Mac fan; this season has gone amazing and for a first season head coach he has done amazing.”
Sectionals was held at Waukesha South, which has one of the fastest pools in the state, design-wise. This caused many of the swimmers to have a “lifetime best''. The OriOwls placed eight out of 10 at sectionals, and according to Zepezauer, it was one of the toughest sectionals.
The medley race is looking to beat the previous record of 1:40.45 from 2009. Their current time is 1:42.70.
“I'm looking forward to all of our swims at state because these guys continue to make adaptations to their starts, turns, and their strokes,” Zepzauer said. “[The swimmers in the medley races’] main goal going into this meet is trying to break our schools Medley Relay record from 2009 and I do believe they have the ability to achieve that goal with how hard they have worked this season.”
Williams, who is a part of both relays, is a freshman and it is his first year on the team. He said that beating the record seems like a very reasonable goal.
“Me and the guys have been working very hard this season to get to state and swim fast,” Williams said. “Getting the record as a freshman (also swimming in another relay) is more than I expected when swimming my first year of high school. I am very proud of the team for having high hopes and attitudes.”
