Silver records for Port’s Prince:

A foot injury may have slowed Charlie Prince, but not enough to keep him off the Division 2 state podium or from topping his own school record times.

The Port Washington High School senior capped his prep career by winning two silver medals at the state swim meet at Waukesha South Feb. 20.

Prince was second in the 100-yard breaststroke, his signature race, in a school-record 56.62 seconds, and he finished second in the 200 individual medley in a school-record 1 minute, 53.81 seconds.

Stoughton’s Gavin Resier won both events, the breaststroke in 54.77 seconds and the 200 IM in 1:52.35.

Prince has finished fourth twice in the breaststroke and was third last season at state. He thought he had a chance to win this year.

“But I kinda had to take a step back from that after I hurt my foot a little bit,” he said.

The race, he said, went well.

“It wasn’t amazing, but it wasn’t horrible,” he said.

Prince never swam the 200 IM at state before.

“It’s not one that I swim very often. I felt like it was good for the situation and good for not swimming it very often,” he said.

“The past two years or so I’ve been on the edge of doing the IM. I kind of decided not to. I just didn’t really know how to turn out. It’s the last year. Why not do it? It might be fun.”

Prince knew how to time his best swims for state. Swimmers will taper — lighten up on workouts — as the season winds down to let muscles recover and prepare for a burst of energy and power during the biggest meets. Prince and his coaches have it down to a science.

“We have a notebook that has my two-to-three-week progression,” he said. “After doing this for so many years, it’s pretty normal.”

His final two medals brings his total to six for the Pirates’ star. Prince owns every individual school record but the 500 freestyle and is part of one of the three relay records.

He swam the 500 once this season and was three seconds from breaking that mark.

“I just missed it. Then it got to the point where I had to pay attention to other races,” he said.

Prince quickly appreciated the stamina it takes to swim the longest prep event.

“I will never return to that event,” he said.

All those records weren’t targets when he entered high school, although he started breaking school records as a freshman.

“I set my sights on a few records but I couldn’t imagine breaking all except three,” he said.

Port coach Brittany Roecker said Prince was special from the instant he jumped into the pool.

“From day one, Charlie has been an outstanding athlete, bringing a strong work ethic and a positive, determined attitude,” she said. “He continually pushed himself to improve, faced challenges with resilience and never wavered in pursuing his goals.”

Prince also anchored the 200 freestyle that finished 14th, one place ahead of its seed. Nathan Nisiewicz, Caleb Winker and Caden Hafele were the other swimmers. The team finished in 1:33.14.

Prince didn’t even get time to celebrate. He got home late on Friday and had to be at his Ozaukee Aquatics lifeguard job early Saturday.

“I got to sit there for 10 hours and eat free food. There’s not many complaints there,” he said.

His coaches occasionally beg to differ. Prince burns up so many calories that they would like him to eat more.

“Coaches get a little mad at me when I’m not eating enough. I’m living the teenage dream,” Prince said.

He can’t get enough of swimming either. He went right back to practice with his club team, foot injury or not.

“Now I’m back training with them. My break is in a month and a half or so,” he said.

“I get a week.”

He’s not tired, and he’s not tired of the pool.

“I miss it when I walk away. That’s how I know that I love the sport,” he said.

Prince received an athletic and academic scholarship from Northern Michigan University, where he plans to major in business.

Grafton picks up valuable experience

None of Grafton’s five entries at state earned a medal, but they got something better: memories and experience.

“They had such a good time,” coach Adan Burgos said. “We brought a second van of teammates to cheer them on. It was a really good experience.”

Sophomore Aiden Werdin was 12th in the 500 freestyle in 5:05.42 and 14th in the 200 freestyle in 1:51.07.

“I think Aiden was a little disappointed. He’s going to have a long career ahead of him,” Burgos said.

It wasn’t a surprise that Werdin slipped from being seeded eighth in both races. Burgos said the tapering plan was to have him peak at sectionals to qualify for state. Next year, he said, he will be faster.

The 400 freestyle relay of Werdin, Jacob Butler, Matt Ciche and Sam Jacoby was 13th in 3:27.61, and the 200 freestyle relay of Butler, Werdin, Ciche and Jacoby was 15th in 1:33.4. Both times were faster than at sectionals.

The team only loses Jacoby, who Burgos said “had a phenomenal season. If it wasn’t for him, we wouldn’t be going to state.”

The Black Hawks want to return with more swimmers.

“You could year a lot of the kids who didn’t qualify saying I’ve got to get here next year,” Burgos said.

“As a team next year I think they’re going to have higher goals.”

Junior diver Shambav Ashwinkumar scored 204.75 points and finished 16th.

“I was very proud of Shambav and what he learned and accomplished this season,” diving coach Dennis Hubert said. “State was a learning and fun experience for him.”