A Coronation

This year Division 1 was more of a coronation than a competition. Madison West came into the event with an average rating of 1648, 60 points higher than their nearest competitor, Nicolet, and nearly 300 points higher than any other team.

And it wasn't even that close.

A good performance from USM managed to keep West in second place on tiebreaks, but when the two teams met in round 4 there was no contest, West giving up only a draw on second board. They closed out with a vengeful sweep of last year's champions, Milwaukee School of Languages.

West's domination was nearly complete, taking four of the five board prizes, being denied the prize on first board by a perfect performance from Brookfield Academy's Alex Gianos-Steinberg.

Nicolet finished in clear second place, losing only to West, while Marquette University High School took third place overall on tiebreaks.

West's domination carried on into Division 2, as their second squad took first place, over Marion High School and Nicolet's second team.

In individual performances, Steve Wachowiak (Milwaukee Pulaski) was best first board with a perfect score, tied with Justin Shultz and Paul Lacosse. On second board there was a tie between Jesse Blashe (Marion High School) and Daniel Graves (Nicolet). There way a tie as well on third board between Jacob Kouteks (Milwaukee Tech), Tim Hintz (Marion) and Adam Smka (Waupaca) with another three-way tie on fourth board between Tim Bauman (Jefferson), Jacob Putirskis (South Milwaukee), Jon Lund (University School). On fifth board we finally escape the ties, as Ryan Ben-Hur (St John's) was the lone perfect score.

Riverside University High School took the team title for JV (K-12) while the individual title went to Stephan Desmoulin (Plymouth Home School) witha perfect score. The K-8 team title went to Marion, while Jeremy Kane (Madison Hamilton) and Chris Brown (Hales Corners Lutheran) tied for individual honors with perfect scores.