Pomfret sets new school mark at state

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Junior Andy Yelken competes in the diving competition Friday at the WIAA Division 2 State Swimming and Diving Championships in Madison. Yelken was the only athlete in either division to compete in both diving and swimming at the state meet. Steve Dzubay photo.

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Wildcat senior Roland Pomfret wrapped up his high school swimming career in style by setting a new River Falls school record in the grueling 500 yard freestyle on his way to an eighth place finish at the WIAA Division 2 State Swimming and Diving Championships Friday night in Madison.

Pomfret cut more than four seconds off his sectional qualifying time and shaved several hundredths of a second off the school record to touch the wall in 4 minutes, 58.81 seconds, at state. Jeff Maxwell of Milton took first in 4:38.48, over 13 seconds ahead of second place Nic Halverson of Kiel.

Pomfret also took 13th in the 200 yard freestyle with a time of 1:50.49, more than a second faster that his sectional qualifying time from a week earlier. Chase Stephens of Madison Edgewood won the event with a time of 1:41.44, over two seconds faster than runner-up Brian Heiser of McFarland.

Later that night Pomfret teamed up with senior Mike Schorn, senior Navid Rahgozar and junior Andrew Yelken in the 200 yard freestyle relay for a 16th place time of 1:34.67.

Schorn opened the race with a split time of 24.06 seconds over the first 50 yards before Rahgozar followed with a time of 23.84 seconds. Pomfret was timed at 24.02 seconds before Yelken anchored with a time of 22.75.

McFarland won the 200 freestyle relay with a new state record time of 1:26.42.

The Cats’ day got off to a rough start when the 200 yard medley relay team of junior Tim Weller, junior Daniel Schraufnagel, Yelken and Rahgozar was disqualified. McFarland also set a new state record in that event with a time of 1:36.36.

Yelken kicked off the Wildcats’ weekend at state by competing in the diving competition earlier Friday, placing 14th with a score of 111.2. Yelken, a first-year diver for the Cats, was the only athlete in Division 1 or Division 2 to qualify for the state meet in both swimming and diving.

Twenty-eight teams were represented at this year’s Division 2 state meet. McFarland took first with 340.5 points followed by Whitefish Bay with 238 and Monona Grove with 187. River Falls finished 21st with 20 points.

Tags: river falls, sports, wildcats, swimming, wisconsin