Nicolet's Siverhus brothers look to succeed in state diving

Glendale - Many things went right for the Nicolet boys swim team as the Knights hosted their first WIAA sectional meet Saturday.

It would have been nice to advance more than just divers Evan and Kyle Siverhus to this Saturday's WIAA State Division 1 meet in Madison, but coach Dwight Davis knew that was going to be an uphill battle.

So he settled for a sell-out crowd and good reports from fellow competitors concerning the organization of the meet.

"We also finished fourth, which, in that field, was really good," he said. "The kids swam really well. There were really no disappointments. We figured it was going to be tough to advance anyone else."

Evan was a state meet qualifier last season (taking 16th) and he and his brother will take part in diving competition at 10 a.m. Saturday at the UW-Natatorium. The diving field is very even, noted Davis, and they have an opportunity to do well if they have good days.

"I've sort of thrown the gauntlet at their feet," Davis said. "I told them that I've never seen two brothers on the medal stand before (top six) and I wouldn't mind them being the first."

Behind the divers, Nicolet scored 235 points in the 11-team sectional field for its spot as Arrowhead won with 423.

Davis said that Nicolet can seat about 300 people in its swimming pool area and had to stop selling tickets at one point because it had gone past sell-out stage.

In the diving competition, Evan Siverhus was third with a season-best of 366.35 points while Kyle was fourth with 346.65.

Other top 16 performances for the Knights included the following: 200 medley relay: Jamie DeGraff, Matt Bootsma, Roman Hoffmann and Grant Wilkie, third (season best 1:46.25); 200 free: Michael Mills, third (1:53.62); Charley Abrams, 12th (1:58.55); 200 IM: Danny Lerner, 11th (2:15.66); 50 free: Wilkie, seventh (22.94); 100 butterfly: Hoffmann, ninth (1:00.3); 100 free: DeGraff, eighth (51.08); 500 free: Mills, third (5:07.52); 200 free relay: Bootsma, DeGraff, Hoffmann and Wilkie, eighth (season best 1:33.56); 100 backstroke: Lerner, 10th (1:03.04); 100 breast stroke: Idan Ben-Yitschak, fifth (1:06.16); Bootsma, sixth (1:06.77); Nick Harris, 13th (1:10.25); and 400 free relay: Mills, Hoffmann, DeGraff, and Wilkie, seventh (season best 3:29.17).