This story is sponsored by: Valley Communities Credit Union
By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
MARSHFIELD – Swimming at his first state meet last year, Marshfield’s Aaron Scheets said nerves may have got the best of him.
Heading into his second WIAA State Boys Swimming Championships in Madison on Saturday, the Tigers’ senior feels much more at ease.
Scheets will swim in Lane 7 in Heat 1 of the 100-meter backstroke on Saturday afternoon at the University of Wisconsin Natatorium, his final event as a Tiger.
“I kind of now what to expect and I won’t be as anxious I was last year,” Scheets said. “I am definitely hoping to improve on my time and my place. Anything can really happen at state. There’s such a variety of great swimmers. You just have to swim your best and see what happens.”
Scheets finished 21st among the 24 swimmers in the same event last year at state with a time of 56.78 seconds. He comes into this year’s state meet ranked 21st again after swimming in a time of 56.76 seconds at last Saturday’s sectional meet at Hudson.
Scheets swam in a career-best 56.05 seconds at the Wisconsin Valley Conference Meet two weeks ago and said he feels he can push his time down toward that level again this week in Madison.
“At conference the week before I swam a faster time and my sectional time last year was faster than this time,” Scheets said. “There was a little more pressure to get to state the second time. Now that I got there I can relax and swim.”
Marshfield coach Faye Egger said Scheets was battling the flu for a few days leading up to the sectional meet, which may have slowed him down on Saturday. She expects big things at the state meet.
“We’ve got a game plan, so to speak,” Egger said. “Last year we sat on that pool deck and kind of stressed until the second to the last event. We’ve got a plan to keep him calmed down, keeping him cool. I definitely see that we’re going to move him up the standings at state.
“We’re looking for his state swim to be the top of his whole season. He’s feeling a lot better now.”
Scheets, the co-swimmer of the year in the Wisconsin Valley Conference, was a big part of the revival of the Marshfield program that was dormant for a few years in the early 2000s. This year, the Tigers had the largest roster in the conference.
He said getting the Tigers back to being a competitive part of the conference was a mindset he and the other seniors on the team created four years ago.
“We kind of decided then that we were going to work hard and that attitude carried over the new guys this year and with those guys from the years before,” Scheets said. “I think the guys have picked up the hard work attitude through practices. I think if they can recruit a couple of new guys, it will flourish (in the future).”
Egger said team chemistry was a big key in the team’s resurgence.
“The guys had so much fun together,” she said. “It wasn’t work, they challenged each other. That level they were at brought the whole team up. The quality of the guys that are moving into being seniors next year gives us a solid base.
“It’s all about the guys and their attitude, ‘Hey you can do this. Let’s have fun. It’s hard work, but it’s fun.’ They are able to talk to other guys and tell them they can do it.”