Five more school records set as Franklin tankers take 16th at state

Franklin - There was pizza for everybody in the very celebratory camp of the Franklin boys swimming and diving team as it took over Marty's Pizza in Delafield on Saturday night after Josh Lefeber's two top six medal performances led the Sabers to a 16th-place finish in the WIAA Division 1 state meet.

"I had a good amount of it," laughed Lefeber after taking sixth in the 200 individual medley and fourth in the 100 free. "Everything actually happened the way we planned it, and that just made it all the more sweeter."

And just to show that the water never settles after a Saber leaves it, Lefeber and friends Takuto Kobayashi, Sam Karolewicz and August Beck broke and completely rewrote the five school records they set at the sectional the previous week.

"We knew that Josh would be going faster this week because we really hadn't tapered him at all (for the sectional)," said Franklin coach Ross Lennertz. "We knew that he would be going much faster and so anything we got in the relays would depend upon the other guys' excitement level. They had trained hard all season, and we rested them for the sectional.

"They swam well, and we could only hope that after a little more rest they'd do well again."

They did, as the Sabers scored 42 points for their high finish, as Madison Memorial defended its title with 326.

Lefeber, who had never medaled in a state meet before, got his feet wet by dropping more than three seconds off his best 200 IM time and turning in a time of 1:54.33.

"He was still a little concerned about that going into the week," said Lennertz, "but I told him, he wasn't rested at all and not to worry."

With that fine race under his belt, Lefeber went out and got another medal with his effort in the 100 free, dropping 1.3 seconds off his record time from a week ago with a 47.02 clocking.

"That race was just about perfect," Lefeber said. "I felt good after the IM and was ready to go. The only problem was that I had missed my last turn a little bit."

The rest of his teammates (which included Beck, who had opened the meet taking 13th in diving with a 332.90 point score), saw all this and reacted accordingly.

"They were pumped," said Lefeber.

And it showed in the 200 free relay as the team of Kobayashi, Beck, Karolewicz and Lefeber cut 1.32 seconds off their week-old school mark and moved up from 18th to 12th in the standings with a 1:30.7 time. Lefeber opened that relay with another school mark as he buried the school 50 free record with his leadoff leg of 21.71.

The team showed a little fatigue by the time it got to the last race of the meet - the 400 free relay - but still managed to trim .24 of a second from the previous school record with a 3:22.44, good for 20th.

Lefeber's fatigue wasn't too bad in the race, as his 100 split was an astonishing 46.49, the third-fastest anchor in the 24-school field.

The first-year coach Lennertz took pride in his team's efforts on another level, as Dale and Mark Schrank, his club and high school swim coaches, were at the meet and gave him friendly pats on the back for his fine work this season.

"They were really happy for me," he said.

The only thing left to do after that was go get the pizza.

"I was very happy with the results," Lennertz said. "The kids were happy, the parents were happy. It was a very fun day. Everybody worked very hard and earned what they got."

Lefeber was the only senior out of the group. He is heading to Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey, an NCAA Division III national swim power where he hopes to major in chemical engineering.

He hasn't had a chance to let all the superlatives of the last few weeks settle in yet and hasn't had a chance to think about the fact that in a few years when other young swimmers come to the Franklin pool and see those records on the wall that it will be his name they see up there and it will be his marks they shoot for.

"It's hard to think about everything being over soon," he said, "but it's a very special feeling with a lot of fond memories."