On Friday, February 15, Shorewood High School senior Evan Szablewski competed in the 95th Annual State Boys Swimming and Diving Championships at the UW Natatorium in Madison, Wis. where he captured a state title in the 500-yard freestyle race. For the past two years, Szablewski had taken second at the state meets but this time around, he finished with the fastest time out of all his state appearances--with an impressive time of 4:39.48.
"I'm glad all my hard work has paid off and I'm finally able to win at a state meet," he says. "I've never won in club or high school at a state-level competition, so I'm glad it happened this year."
Szablewski also swam in the 200-yard freestyle, finishing in second place.
Szablewski is Shorewood School District's first state champion since Michael Perry won the 100-yard butterfly in 2015 and he is the first 500-yard champion since Brandon Kipp won the 2002 title in DII.
"To cap off his career was a big deal for him," says Shorewood coach Cassie Rodriguez. "What really meant a lot to him was last week at our sectional meet he broke our school record in the 500 and the pool record at Whitefish Bay, and that was something he's been chasing since he started swimming."
Szablewski plans on attending Tufts University next year for college, where he will continue his swimming career.
"I couldn't have thought of a better finish...it's the greatest feeling," he says. "The four years of high school I've been training. I kind of thought this is the meet I've been training for my entire career and so I'm glad I could finish on top of it."
(Above are snippets taken from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel issue, Sat. Feb. 16, 2019; photo taken by: Bob Perry)