The Brookfield Barracudas ended their season with a great finish at the 2016 Wisconsin State Swim Meet. There, at the UW-Madison Natatorium, the team attained third place overall.

“This was the best season in the history of the program,” said Tomer Korabelnikov (‘16). “This was the highest finish at the state meet in 20 plus years.”

At the meet, every individual event and two out of three relays scored points, which contributed to Brookfield’s final score of 174 points. Brookfield was behind in total points only to Madison Memorial High School and Madison West High School, beating all teams in the Greater Milwaukee Area.

“This season was certainly one for the record books,” said Connor Rumpit (‘16). “It was incredible to see such a huge improvement in our place at state. I think the whole team was mature, focused, and dedicated throughout the entire season.”

The team entered in three relays and ten individual events. They qualified for these events at the sectional meet at Homestead High School the week before state. The three relays were ranked in 7th, 7th, and 8th place entering the state meet.

“The most memorable moment of this season was probably getting all three relays to the state meet with great seeds,” said Korabelnikov. “We have done this in the past but this was the highest we have ever gotten all three relays.”

Brookfield got second place overall at Sectionals, which was an improvement from previous years. Last year, Brookfield finished in third overall to Arrowhead and Homestead. Their second place finish was the best place the team had gotten in 20 years.

The sectionals meet followed a third place finish at the conference meet at Waukesha South a week earlier.

“This year we had a lot of young swimmers that were very important to our success,” said Varsity Coach Mr. Bill Twitchell.

The successful finish from sectionals carried through to the state meet the next weekend. The team had a total of six top six finishes and seven top 24 finishes. Every event but one scored points. This combination ensured a third place for Brookfield.

“I think the team’s 3rd place finish is due to the consistent nature of all our swimmers at the state meet,” said Rumpit. “Everyone was swimming as well as they could be expected to, and everything fell into place when the whole team executed on all of our races.”

Rumpit hopes that next year could be even better despite the loss of three graduating state qualifiers.

“I’m excited to watch the progress of the returning team next year,” said Rumpit. “I wish them all the best.”