Soper sets two marks at Madison meet

There’s more than one reason the Madison West Invitational resembles the WIAA swim state finals. Saturday’s boys meet was held at University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Natatorium, which also hosts the annual state finals. The invitational also featured a number of swimmers expected to return in three weeks to challenge for a state title. Shawano Community High School junior Zach Soper was one of them, as he demonstrated to the field of state-quality swimmers by setting a pair of records. Soper, one of three swimmers to claim a couple of wins in individual events, bested the field in both the 100 freestyle and 100 backstroke. His victories accounted for a majority of points earned by Shawano, which finished 14th with 54 points. Madison Memorial (525) won the meet and nearly doubled the point total of second-place Madison West (278). Soper’s two wins were the only top-10 finishes by the Hawks. Shawano coach Walberto Colon confirmed Soper set a meet record in the 100 backstroke and a school record in the 100 freestyle. Soper’s first win came in the 100 freestyle, which he completed in 47.6 seconds, nearly a half-second ahead of Aidan Meara (48.04) of Madison West. Shawano’s Collin Groch and Tyler Buerman also competed in the event. Groch (1:03.74) was 103rd and Buerman (1:06.05) was 105th. Three events later, Soper claimed his second victory by finishing the 100 backstroke in 51.1, less than a half-second off his 2014 state-title finishing time. Memorial’s Justin Temprano was second at 51.40. Griffin Rades finished 27th for the Hawks with a time of 1:01.58. Soper and Rades teamed with Rolando Colon and Jake Klister to finish in 1:46.21, good for 13th place, in the 200 medley relay. Madison Memorial won the event in 1:36.6. Rades finished 23rd in the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:16.29. Shawano’s 200 freestyle relay team (Klister, Adrian Tetting, James Krueger and Nathan Kane) finished in 1:43.62 to place 20th. The final top-25 finish for the Hawks came in the last event of the invitational, when Tetting, Colon, Rades and Soper finished the 400 freestyle relay in 3:40.66 to place 14th. The Hawks conclude the regular season Friday by hosting the Bay Conference meet. They will then have more than a week to prepare for the WIAA sectional at Stevens Point on Feb. 14.