Whitnall Diver Rachel Stave Makes it Two Straight

Rachel Stave continues to etch her name in the and state record books.

Stave, a junior, won the WIAA Division 2 State Diving Meet on Friday at the University of Wisconsin Natatorium in Madison with apparant ease, just as she did in 2010.

The two-time state champion and one-time state runner-up finished with 444.20 points, far outdistancing herself from the rest of the 16-diver field. River Falls senior Sierra Becker, who was second to Stave last fall, was again Friday with 388.20 points.

Of the 16 divers, half were seniors. Of the possible challengers to Stave's crown next year, only Plymouth sophomore Taylor Knuth (third; 339.15) and Pius junior Alex Albrecht (10th; 302.15) finished with more than 300 points.

Stave is now one of just 15 divers in the state’s 31-year diving history to claim at least two state titles.

She became just the fifth Division 2 diver to win multiple state championships and the second in school history. Whitnall’s Crystal Szymanski won back-to-back titles in 2001-02.

Five D1 divers have also won more than one title, and from 1970 to 1991, five divers won back-to-back titles before the WIAA split the schools into two divisions in 1992.

Next fall, Stave will have a chance to move into an even more exclusive group should she win a third title. Brown Deer’s Gina Ketelhohn, who won four straight D2 titles from 1992-95, including a D2 state record 480.0-point effort in 1995, and Madison West’s Kylie Rosenstock, a four-time D1 champion from 2006-09, have won more than twice.

The Falcons had just two entries in the swimming portion of the meet Friday night. The 200-yard relay of seniors Laura Sullivan and Danika Johnson and juniors Sarah Arteaga and Lauren Zurkowski took 15th in 1 minute, 56.42 seconds, and Sullivan swam 15th in the 100 breaststroke in 1:10.70.