Senior Kennedy Gilbertson placed third in the 100 backstroke to lead the Stevens Point Area Senior High School (SPASH) girls swimming team at the WIAA Division 1 State Meet at the University of Wisconsin Natatorium Saturday, Nov. 10.

Gilbertson finished in 55.5 seconds to come in just behind her seed time (55.49 seconds) and place third behind sophomore Reilly Tiltmann of Brookfield East and senior Katrina Marty of Madison West (54.76 seconds).

Gilbertson also teamed up with junior Alaina Breitbach, senior Anna Vandehey and senior Casey Summers to place fourth in the 200 medley relay. The girls finished in 1:45.18 to beat their seed time from a week earlier (1:45.32), while Verona Area/Mount Horeb won the State Title in 1:43.34.

Vandehey, Summers, Breitbach and Gilbertson also combined to finish ninth in the 400 freestyle relay in 3:35.27, while Gilbertson added a ninth-place finish in the 100 freestyle in 52.52 seconds.

Sophomore Sydney Hoff placed 10th in the 500 freestyle in 5:09.17, as she beat her seed time (5:11.27). Hoff also finished 15th in the 200 freestyle in 1:54.6, as she beat her seed time of 1:54.99.

Breitbach tied for 11th in the 100 breaststroke, and also finished 23rd in the 200 IM.

Vandehey was 12th in the 100 butterfly in 57.48 seconds, with Summers right behind in 13th (57.68 seconds), while Summers also took 20th in the 50 freestyle.

Vandehey, junior Alli Scharbarth, junior Sophie Emerson and Hoff also joined forces to finish 14th in the 200 freestyle relay.

The Panthers ended up 10th in the final team standings with 102.5 points, while Middleton had 249.5 points to win the State Title over Cedarburg (188) and Sun Prairie (170).