By NICK BRILOWSKI
Special to The Gazette
The Stevens Point Area Senior High School (SPASH) boy's swimming team continued its dominance over the Wisconsin Valley Conference Thursday, Jan. 10, as the Panthers easily disposed of Wisconsin Rapids, 97-66, in a meet that wasn't nearly as close as the score.
SPASH head coach Rich Burhite said that his team's performance didn't necessarily come as a surprise and that the meet was a good opportunity to try individuals in events they may not normally compete in.
"We expected it," Burhite said. "We had some guys swim some other events. We wanted some guys to get some times for the conference meet coming up. I'm happy with the way we performed tonight."
Burhite went on to say that the squad has enjoyed a good deal of success to this point in the season, both within the conference and outside of it.
"We're very strong this year. We've been very successful so far. Out of the three invites that we've participated in, we've taken first in two of them and third in the other against some real good teams."
Andy Menzel won a pair of individual events for SPASH, capturing the 200-meter individual medley in a time of 2:09.24 and the 100-meter freestyle in :50.81.
By capturing titles in each of the first seven events, the Panthers were able to jump out to a commanding 86-24 lead. Overall, SPASH swimmers finished first in 10 of the 11 events but were only credited with points in eight of the victories after the Panthers exhibitioned three of the final four events.
Besides Menzel, other winners for the Panthers included Geoff Thill in the 100-meter butterfly (1:00.94), Evan Prince in the 200-meter freestyle (1:57.87), Jacob Nantell in the 500-meter freestyle (5:38.17), Ted Conachen in the 100-meter backstroke (:59.04) and Josh Siebert in the 50-meter freestyle (:23:80).
SPASH also got a first-place finish from its 200-meter medley relay team of Thill, Conachen, Siebert and Jon Ronzani that won the event in a time of 1:49.36.
As for the remainder of the season, Burhite said that the team is off to a good start but there is still work that needs to be done as they will begin tapering in the near future.
"We're still working real hard," Burhite stated. "Half of the guys will get ready for the conference meet while the other half will get ready for sectionals."
The Panthers will take to the pool again on Thursday, Jan. 24, at Marshfield.