Dennis Semrau covers prep sports for 100.5 ESPN and ESPNWisconsin.com
Desmon Sachtjen, Lodi High School
Year: Senior.
Sports: Swimming, football.
Sports highlights: Desmon is a three-time letterwinner and three-time state qualifier in swimming, competing for the Sauk Prairie co-op program, which also includes swimmers from Wisconsin Heights. He will serve as a captain his senior year. He is a three-time All-American in the 100-yard backstroke and 200-yard medley relays and has earned seven All-State and five All-State honorable mention awards. The Eagles won the Badger North Conference championship his sophomore and junior seasons. He was the team’s Most Valuable Swimmer as a sophomore and junior and received the Eric Krueger award for perseverance and dedication to the team as a freshman.
As a junior, He finished third in the 200 individual medley (1:52.95) and fifth in the 100 backstroke (:50.64) and swam on the fourth-place 200 medley relay (1:34.31) and the eighth-place 400 freestyle relay (3:12.06) to lead the Eagles to an eighth-place finish at the 2018 WIAA Division 1 state meet.
His sophomore season, Desmon swam on the winning 200 medley relay (1:34.04) and fourth-place 200 freestyle relay (1:26.42) and placed sixth in the 200 individual medley (1:54.87) at the Division 1 state meet. He also swam on the sixth-place 200 medley relay (1:37.69) his freshman season at Division 1 state.
He is a two-time letterwinner and two-year starter in football for Lodi as an offensive lineman, playing tackle as a freshman and guard as a sophomore before opting to concentrate on swimming. He earned All-Capitol North Conference second-team honors at guard as a sophomore. Lodi won the Capitol North Conference title and advanced to the WIAA Division 4 title game his freshman season.
Pre meet ritual or superstition: I wear almost the same outfit every Friday before a meet, if not the whole outfit I always wear my lucky underwear. Before and during a meet I always listen to my special pre-meet playlist. At the blocks, I always get pumped by slapping my chest and getting it beat red.
Cumulative GPA: 3.347 (unweighted).
Favorite subject/class: Mathematics or Business.
Favorite teacher: Mr. Persike (gym teacher, wrestling coach).
Quick quote: “Competing in sports has taught me that most games and meets are won before you actually play them. Hard work always pays off. Almost all sports are more about your mental approach than anything else. Anything can happen and anyone can be defeated.”
Three words to describe me: Outgoing, friendly, clumsy.
I got my start in sports: I would swim around while my mom lifeguarded and watched my sister during meets. Also, my dad is a football coach so I have always been around football.
I wish I could play: Hockey, basketball, volleyball, and tennis.
My most memorable moment in sports: Winning the WIAA state semi-final football game my freshman year to go to state for the first time in program history, winning the 200 medley relay at state my sophomore year, and coming back to win the Verona dual by 2 points in the last event for the first time in program history.
I like about high school sports: The competition and all the people you meet and friends you make from it
I enjoy swimming because: Of all the lifelong friends I made from it.
Advice: “Be in is much as you can and have as much fun as you can, it goes by fast.”
My role model: My sister, Sierra.
Most inspirational teammate: Matt Saager and Jake Guentherman.
My family also includes: My parents, Karl and Tracy, and my dog, Josie.
Nickname: Dez, Big man, Dezzymon.
Words to live by: “Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.”
Favorite athlete: Ryan Murphy or Vernon Davis.
Favorite team: San Francisco 49ers.
Favorite opponent: Wes Jekel, Ayden Frey, or Verona/Mt. Horeb.
Favorite facility/site to compete in: Camp Randall Stadium, University of Iowa, University of Minnesota.
Favorite Movie: ‘300’; ‘Black Panther’; ‘Avengers Infinity War’.
Favorite TV show: ‘The Office’; ‘How I Met Your Mother’; ‘The Flash’.
Favorite Food: Anything Mexican.
Favorite fast food place/restaurant: Ishnala.
Favorite sport on TV: College football.
Favorite place to visit: The Sachtjen cabin.
I want to visit: Spain or Switzerland.
Top 3 favorite songs: ‘Never Recover’; ‘Drip Too Hard’; ‘2009’.
Primary news source: Twitter.
Favorite website: ESPN.com.
Radio present: My aux.
I Drive: A Toyota Rav4 and Ford Escape.
Dream car: A Maserati.
I can’t live without: My goggles or nose plug.
I like Lodi High School because: We do a good job of supporting different sports.
If I could change anything: There was a cure for cancer.
I wish we could compete against: Monona Grove.
I wish I could meet: Grandma Zeman.
Dream date: Go on a hike and a picnic.
Dream gift: A house on a lake or beach.
Preferred brand of shoe: Birks.
My perfect day: Wake swim, eat, hang with friends, eat, lift, hang with more friends, swim, eat, go to bed.
I like to read: Magazines.
This and that: I played lacrosse from sixth through eighth grade but then had to quit because of injury … volunteer work includes Unified Sports, set up and tear down at the Fairgrounds, the Ironman and our Lodi crew … earned Academic All-American recognition in swimming … member of McFarland Spartan Sharks club swim program … member of Honor Roll throughout high school.
Hobbies: Boating, hiking, golfing, volunteering.
Post-high school plans: Attend the University of Minnesota to continue my academic and swimming career. I plan to study Sports Management.
Did you know: I would always have to bring my birth certificate to lacrosse and soccer games because no one believed my age.
Career goal: Working for or coaching a college or professional sports team.