Witt-Birn's Metropulos earns pair of top-10 finishes at state swim meet

Senior posts personal records in both of her events
By: 
Morgan Rode
Sports Editor

Updated: Nov. 16, 10:15 a.m.

Wittenberg-Birnamwood senior McKenna Metropulos capped her high school swim career with a pair of top 10 finishes at the Division 2 State Girls Swimming and Diving Championships on Friday at the Waukesha South Natatorium in Waukesha.

Metropulos placed sixth in the 200-yard freestyle. She claimed seventh in the 100 freestyle.

“Finishing at state is always the goal but it is the little cherry on top to have placed so well and make the podium (top-six finish) so I couldn’t be happier to be ending my season this way,” said Metropulos.

Metropulos posted a time of 1 minute, 58.84 seconds in the 200.

“My 200 was probably the better of my two races for me personally,” said Metropulos. “I dropped a full second and made podium.”

Metropulos swam faster than her seed time in both events, finishing with a time of 54.11 seconds in the 100.

“My 100 was a good race, but I just missed the podium spot which I was a little bummed out about. But I can’t be upset with a PR (personal record),” said Metropulos.

She entered the meet with a seed time of 1:59.98 in the 200 and 54.39 in the 100.

Her finishes earned her school 25 total points, which was good enough for 21st place as a team. Rhinelander won the meet with 255 points.

It was the second consecutive season that Metropulos appeared at the state meet. In 2019, she participated in the 50 freestyle and 100 butterfly as an individual and also was on the Witt-Birn 200 freestyle relay team.

This season, Metropulos decided to focus all of her attention on swim after being a dual-sport athlete in the past, also playing volleyball in past fall seasons.

The move paid off, as the senior racked up tons of first-place finishes as an individual while also helping relay teams to strong finishes.

The senior finished as the Bay Conference champion in the 50 and 100 freestyles before claiming third-place finishes in the events at the sectional meet. She was named the conference’s swimmer of the year and leaves the program holding school records in five events.

Before the season, Metropulos admitted that she didn’t know if there would be a state meet because of coronavirus restrictions, so just to have the chance to compete at state was a win in the senior’s mind.

Even though the meet had a bit of a different feel and was held at a new venue, she found other forms of motivation.

“The energy around me just from other swimmers and in the room was so high,” said Metropulos. “You could tell everyone was super thankful to be having a state meet so it made me want to swim fast and pushed me to get those PRs.”

 

ONLINE

Full results from the state meet can be found at https://www.wiaawi.org/Sports/Fall/Girls-Swim-Dive/Tournament.