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Milton sophomore wins state swim title

MADISON — Jeff Maxwell executed his game plan to perfection Friday night at the WIAA Division 2 Boys State Swimming and Diving Championships at the UW-Natatorium.

The Milton High sophomore raced out to the early lead in the 500 freestyle, then held off Cedarburg’s Tommy Radtke to win the gold medal. Maxwell finished in a time of 4:42.72, while Radtke was second in 4:42.99.

Maxwell also finished second in the 200 freestyle, and helped the Red Hawks’ 400 freestyle relay team that also included Riston Furseth, Adam Homan and Ian McSweeney, finish fourth.

Coming into the 500, Maxwell was the second-seed behind McFarland’s Graham Thoresen. Maxwell’s strategy was to push the pace early and hope he could get far enough ahead to hold off any challengers. And that’s exactly what he did in becoming Milton’s sec ond individual state champion in swim this calendar year. Red Hawk sophomore Jenna Haney won her second-straight 100 breaststroke title during the girls’ fall season.

“My third 50 was the key to the race,” Maxwell said. “My turns were good, and I had enough at the end to hold off Tommy because I knew he was right there on my tail.

“I was hoping to get a time of at least 4:39 which would’ve qualified me for the U.S. Junior Nationals, but I’m real happy to win state. And I got the school record, too.”

A pair of Delavan-Darien swimmers also had a productive meet. Sophomore Alex Riegert was second in the 100 breaststroke and third in the 50 freestyle, along with helping the 200 individual medley and 200 freestyle relay teams finish third. Junior Nathaniel Johnson was third in both the 200 individual medley and the 100 breaststroke, along with swimming on the two third-place relay teams. Kevin Schneider and Travis Kruise also swam on the 200 medley and 200 freestyle relay teams. The Comets finished sixth overall with 138 points, with McFarland repeating as team champion with 251.