Lefeber leads Franklin tankers to five state slots

Franklin - A new day dawned in the history of Franklin boys swimming in the WIAA sectional meet at Greenfield last Saturday.

No longer content just to be qualifying just one or two individuals to state and maybe hope for a competitive finish, Franklin rode the mighty shoulders of Josh Lefeber to three individual and two relay slots in this Saturday's WIAA State Division I meet at the UW-Madison Natatorium.

Along the way, Lefeber and company set four new school records and tied yet another.

First-year coach Ross Lennertz was ecstatic.

"All the past few weeks I was asking myself, 'Was I training them right?' Did I taper them right?' " he said. " 'Could I transfer the energy and the belief in themselves that they needed?' "

"I think the answer was 'yes.' They were pumped for this meet. They knew they had the talent, and they just had to go out and do it."

The Sabers, who finished sixth in the sectional, advanced Lefeber in the 200 individual medley and 100 freestyle, August Beck in diving, and the 200 and 400 freestyle relay teams, which both consisted of Lefeber, Beck, Takuto Kobayashi and Sam Karolewicz.

Diving will take place at the Natatorium at 10 a.m. Saturday and swimming timed finals will start at 3 p.m.

Lefeber is the 11th seed in the 200 IM and made the fast heat of the 100 free as the eighth seed. The 200 free relay will be in the first (slow) heat, but Lennertz is optimistic that both can move up.

"It's a good feeling right now," said Lefeber.

"Now it's time to rest up and put on a fast suit. We do that, we're good to go."

Franklin scored 195 points for its spot in the 11-team sectional as Greenfield/Greendale won with 360.

Lefeber led the way by winning both his races. He was clocked in 1:57.94 in the 200 IM, close to his personal best. He dominated the race by four seconds. He then won the 100 free in a personal best of 48.35, taking the race by 0.69 of a second. Both times were school records.

Lefeber then led off the 200 free relay with a split of 22.09, which tied the school record in the 50 free. That group was clocked in 1:32.02, which was good for second and another Franklin mark.

The tension then built for the 400 free relay.

Lennertz said he was nervous before the race.

"I was really talking it up (the 400)," he said. "Then we hit the water and time was dropping right and left. Everyone swam awesome. The enthusiasm just built as the race went along. There wasn't close to a bad swim in that race.

"It just kept building."

All the way to a third-place finish and a clocking of 3:22.68, which shattered the old school mark by 10 seconds.

"There was just so much energy in that race," said Lefeber.

Beck had started the meet with a sound fourth-place finish in diving with a 335.85 mark, which was good enough to get a slot on the state agenda.

Other top 16 efforts for the Sabers in the meet included the following: 200 medley relay-Nick Banach, David Ciszewski, Bailey Pleva and Austin Koska, 10th (group best 1:55.82). 200 individual medley-Ciszewski, 10th (2:22.59); Banach, 11th ( 2:23.31). 50 free-Beck, fifth (22.98); Kobayashi, 15th (24.19). 100 butterfly-Pleva, 15th (1:09.19). 100 free-Kobayashi, 12th (53.5). 500 free-Karolewicz, 11th (16-second personal best 5:36.13). 100 backstroke-Banach, 12th (1:03.46). 100 breaststroke-Ciszewski, 11th (1:12.55).

Many of these times were either personal or season bests, said Lennertz.

In short, it was a perfect day as far as Lefeber was concerned.

"The bus ride home was all smiles," he said. "Everyone was excited, even the people who knew they weren't making state. Just a great way to end the season."