Raiders expect time drops as they head to GNC, sectional

MEDFORD BOYS SWIMMING

It’s been a draining first half of January for the Medford swimmers, but they’re optimistic they’ll see the rewards in the next two meets.

The Raiders finished their Great Northern Conference dual meets Thursday with a 78-60 loss at the MASH pool to their friendliest rivals in the league, the Lakeland Thunderbirds. It was the last home meet for the team’s core group of five seniors, who put some solid times on the board as they work toward peaking at the GNC championships Friday at Shawano and the WIAA Division 2 Rhinelander sectional Jan. 30.

“We are tired,” head coach Shari Bergman said. “There are a lot of good things that I see, and obviously there are some things that we need to work on. I still feel they’ll be prepared. Our drag started last week and it’s going this week. They’re wearing about 7 to 10 pounds extra in practice. They do that for the first 1,200 to 1,500 yards. They feel a little looser when they’re in the pool racing.

“The guys want to see those times drop already,” she added. “You just keep telling them, you have to keep your positive mental attitude. It’s going to happen. It’s going to come. Trust me. It will happen.”

Medford got four wins in Thursday’s meet, starting with the all-senior 200-yard medley relay team of Ethan Kraemer, Nathan Sislo, Abe Miller and Tahtankka Damm. They won that opening race in 2:04.54, including a solid freestyle split of 25.64 seconds from Damm, and beat the T-Birds’ top team by 4.02 seconds.

Miller later won the 100-yard butterfl y in a season-best time of 1:11.35, beating Lakeland’s Tony Rice by 4.2 seconds, while Kraemer was third in a seasonbest 1:16.79.

Damm got the win in the 50-yard freestyle at 26.16 seconds, beating Rice by 2.44 seconds, while Raider freshman Adam Swedlund was third in 28.94 seconds. Swedlund later captured the 100-yard breaststroke with a season-best time of 1:15.38, while Sislo was third in 1:22.68.

Damm got under the minute mark for the second straight time in the 100-yard freestyle at 59.9 seconds and finished second, while Sislo was third in a seasonbest 1:04.63. Lakeland’s Max Nowak won in 56.1 seconds. Kraemer got his best time of the season in the 100-yard backstroke while taking third in 1:12.71. Lakeland star Liam Hogan won in 1:01.37.

Another senior, Isaac Dittrich, had a solid night in the distance races. He was second in the 200-yard freestyle at 2:22.99 and third in the 500-yard freestyle at 6:24.99. Both were among his best times of the winter.

Swedlund, Sislo, Dittrich and Miller were second in a close 200-yard freestyle relay at 1:55.46. The T-Birds held off the Raiders by 2.24 seconds.

Another all-senior squad of Miller, Dittrich, Kraemer and Damm closed out the meet with a second-place time of 4:20.27 that was, by far, its best of the year in the 400-yard freestyle relay.

“It’s sad for the five guys to have their last meet in Medford,” Bergman said of a group of swimmers that has certainly worked to get better each year they’ve been in the program.

Medford finished 1-7 in GNC duals and 1-8 overall during the condensed season that will quickly reach the finish line.

“For a lot of them, their times are right there,” Bergman said. “We just had to get past this week mentally and physically. It was just about pushing through it. Stay tough, stay motivated. Your times are going to drop. You have to trust in the drag.”