WIAA State Championships

Congratulations to Peter Loftus who qualified for the WIAA State Swim Championships held Saturday, February 22nd at the Natatorium at the University of Wisconsin - Madison.
After a great week of practice and with supportive teammates and parents, Jay and Patty, in the bleachers, Peter was ready to give it all he had. He swam his best IM race of the 2013-2014 season taking well over a second off his previous PR with a time of 2:01.64!
At the recent End of Season Swim Awards Banquet, Peter earned the well-deserved Craig Boys Swim Team MVP award. WAY TO GO, PETER! We're so proud of you!

P.S.  This marks the fifth consecutive year one of the Loftus brothers has won the Craig Boys Swim Team MVP award. Alex ('11) won the award in both the 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 seasons and Jimmy ('13) won the award in 2011-2012 and 2012-2013. 

WIAA Sectionals

CONGRATULATIONS to all of our Sectional swimmers! What an AWESOME meet! 

The 200 Medley Really team of Loftus, Wojcek, Bradley and Reese had their best time of the season with a 1:45.58. They earned 8th place on the Sectionals podium. 

In a sport that is often defined by hundredths of seconds, our Cougars had some AMAZING personal records at Sectionals. Sophomore Alex Condon set two PRs taking four seconds off his 200 Free and a whopping EIGHT seconds off his 500 Freestyle (that's TWENTY laps by the way). Senior Zach Boutelle left it all in the pool for the final 200 Freestyle of his high school career taking almost FOUR seconds off his previous PR. Sophomores Sullivan Bradley and Alex Goswick set PR's with their times in the 200 Individual Medley taking more than 2 seconds off their times. Senior Erik Tollefsrud turned on the jets for his final 50 yard freestyle and broke the 24 second barrier with a PR 23.90! Junior Bearach McCarthy's finished the season strong with his performance in the 100 yard Freestyle 55.52, his best time of the season. The 200 Free Relay team of Reese, Tollefsrud, Bradley and Loftus earned an 8th place podium spot with their best time of the season as did Peter Loftus with his 57.66 in the Backstroke. Craig's Breaststrokers, Evan Reilly, Zach Boutelle, Colin Wojcek and Grayson Lindau all had great swims. Junior Grayson Lindau saved up a lightning fast 1:07.30 in his 100 Breaststroke and set a PR by over two seconds. 

A special congratulations goes to Peter Loftus who qualified for the State Championship Meet! Peter's 2:02.90 in the 200 Individual Medley earned him a fifth place medal at Sectionals and qualified him as the 19th seed at the state meet! Way to go Pete! Let's all get to the NAT on Saturday to cheer for PETE! 

Junior Colin Wojcik in the 200 Medley Relay

Sophomore Sullivan Bradley in the 200 Medley Relay

Senior Travis Reese in the 200 Medley Relay

Senior Zach Boutelle in the 100 Freestyle

Sophomore Alex Condon in the 500 Freestyle

The 200 Medley Relay Team of Loftus, Reese, Wojcik and Bradley

Teammates cheering for Peter in the 200 Individual Medley

Peter earns 5th place in the 200 IM and qualifies for the WIAA State Championships

Junior Bearach McCarthy in the 100 Freestyle

Senior Erik Tollefsrud in the 100 Freestyle

200 Freestyle Relay Team of Loftus, Bradley, Reese and Tollefsrud

Junior Grayson Lindau in the 100 Breaststroke

Peter on the podium in the 100 Backstroke

Travis flies in the 400 Freestyle Relay

Big 8 Conference

The Craig team came to the Big 8 Conference meet held for the first time at the new Beloit Memorial pool ready to swim their fastest times of the season.
The 200 Medley Really team of Loftus (Back), Boutelle (Breast), Bradley (Fly) and Reese (Free) had their best time of the season with a 1:48.93.
In the 200 Freestyle, senior Zach Boutelle (2:00.09) and sophomore Alex Condon (2:04.16) both swam personal bests.
Freshman, Drew Carter and Michael Cullen lettered at the Conference meet. Drew lettered in the 100 Freestyle with a PR of 58.20 and PR'd the 100 Backstroke 1:08.16). Michael Cullen earned PRs in both the 200 (2:06.82) and the 100 Freestyle. He lettered in the 100 Free with a time of 57.07.
Sophomore, Alex Goswick earned a PR in the 200 Individual Medley (2:28.63) dropping a second and a half off his previous time. Also in the 200 IM, Peter Loftus earned 6th place in the Conference and set a new PR (2:03.54) by slicing more than THREE seconds off his time.
Three of Craig's sprinters set personal records in the 50 Freestyle: Sophomores, Howard Fritch (27.04) and Cole Chesemore (26.05), Junior Grayson Lindau (24.78).
Flyers Cole Chesemore (1:06.83) and Sullivan Bradley (1:00.83) both swam their best times of the season.
In addition to Michael and Drew's PRs in the 100 Freestyle were PRs set by Trevor Young (1:04.94), Bearach McCarthy (57.13) and Erik Tollefsrud (55.70).
Craig High School's lone 500 yard Freestyle swimmer at Conference, sophomore Alex Condon, was 'in the zone' in his race. Alex managed to keep his pace steady throughout the twenty laps and burned more than SIX seconds off his time (5:29.65).
Craig's A and B 200 Freestyle Relay teams recorded their best times of the season. The B team of Lindau, McCarthy, Goswick and Boutelle had a time of 1:39.49 and the A team of Reese, Tollefsrud, Bradley and Loftus recorded a time of 1:35.53.
Peter Loftus earned a 7th place spot on the Conference podium following his PR (57.74) in the Backstroke.
Grayson Lindau continued dropping time from his Breaststroke setting a new personal record with a time of 1:09.75.
The A and B 400 Freestyle Relay teams beat their seed times. The B team of Carter, Cullen, Wojcik and Reilly swam a 4:09.93 and the A team of McCarthy, Condon, Goswick and Lindau swam a 3:45.90.
With the end-of season taper going into effect, it was awesome to see the swimmers setting personal records left and right. Congratulations and GO COUGARS at the WIAA Sectionals Meet next Saturday!

Senior Zach Boutelle in the 200 Medley Relay

Freshman Michael Cullen in the 100 Freestyle

Sophomore Alex Condon in the 500 Freestyle

Junior Peter Loftus in the 200 IM

6th Place in the 200 IM

Teammates cheering on Craig's backstrokers

Senior Travis Reese in the 100 Backstroke

Peter earns 7th place in the 100 Backstroke

Menomonee Falls Invite

The Craig Boys Swim Team looks forward to the Menomonee Falls Invitational Swim Meet every year. This year was no different. First, the guys have the opportunity to swim against teams they are not used to seeing. Secondly, they get to celebrate their hard work with dinner at the Cheesecake Factory.  

The 200 Medley A Team (Loftus, Boutelle, Bradley and Reese) took 3rd place with a time of 1:49.71.

Both Alex Condon (2:04.98) and Zach Boutelle (2:01.05) had PRs in their 200 Freestyle races. 

Alex Goswick swam his best Individual Medley time of the season (2:30.01), while teammates Peter Loftus (2:06.89) and Sullivan Bradley (2:18.14) earned 2nd and 4th place times respectively in the 200 IM. Freshman Carlos Veguilla (29.20) and Senior Erik Tollefsrud (24.87) swam PR times in the 50 Freestyle. Sophomore Trevor Young (1:08.48), Freshmen Drew Carter (1:00.06) and Michael Cullen (58.42), Junior Bearach McCarthy (57.78) and Senior Erik Tollefsrud (57.60) all earned season best times in the 100 Yard Freestyle. Sophomores Cole Chesemore swam his best 100 Butterfly of the season with a time of 1:11.59 and Alex Condon PR'd in the 500 Freestyle with a time of 5:38.32. 

Both of Craig's 200 Yard Freestyle Relay teams swam well too. The B team of Lindau, McCarthy, Goswick and Boutelle earned 6th place with a 1:40.63 and the A team of Reese, Tollefsrud, Bradley and Loftus took third place with a 1:37.08.Freshman Carlos Veguilla cut almost three seconds off his time in the 100 Breaststroke with a time of 1:33.02. Sophomore Alex Goswick (1:15.82) and Junior Grayson Lindau (1:11.20) also shaved time off their Breaststroke times both earning season PRs. 

Finally, the Craig 400 Freestyle Relay team of McCarthy, Condon, Goswick and Lindau earned 5th place with a time of 3:53.33. 

BRING ON THE CHEESECAKE!  

Honoring the flag

Freshman Drew Carter in the 100 Freestyle

(SO) Sullivan Bradley and (JR) Peter Loftus in the 200 IM

Freshman Carlos Veguilla in the 50 Freestyle

Sophomore Cole Chesemore in the 100 Butterfly

Sophomore Alex Condon in the 500 Freestyle

Sophomore Alex Goswick in the 200 IM

Junior Peter Loftus in the 200 IM

@ Parker & Madison West

Craig beats Parker for 13th straight year 98-72

http://www.gazettextra.com/article/20140124/ARTICLES/140129788

Senior Zach Boutelle gets set for the 100 Freestyle

Peter Loftus getting in the 200 IM ZONE

Teammates cheering for one of their own

Peter's Butterfly in the 200 IM

Peter's Breaststroke in the 200 IM

Sullivan Bradley 'flying'

Grayson Lindau cuts through the water in the 100 Breaststroke

Menomonee Falls Invite

Always a favorite meet for the Craig swim team, the Cougars had high hopes coming in to the Menomonee Falls Invite. Relying on it's depth, Craig remained at the top of the standings the entire meet. Top performances were turned in by Jimmy Loftus (200 & 500 Free), Peter Loftus (200 IM & 500 Free), Troy Thornton (200 IM & 100 Fly), Travis Condon (200 & 500 Free), Nick Krueger, Tad Martin and Zach Boutelle. The "A" relays all finished in the top 4 and the "B" relays added extra points. After the last race the Cougars found out that they had won (tied for 1st actually) the Menomonee Falls Invite for the first time ever! A celebratory trip to Cheesecake Factory capped off a great day for the team.

Seniors, Travis Condon and Jimmy Loftus in the 500 Free

 Peter Loftus and Troy Thornton in the 200 IM

Pointing the way for a teammate

 Troy swimming the 100 Butterfly

Tad Martin in the 50 Free