Second place in GNC clinched; team looks forward to sectional

GNC GIRLS SWIM CHAMPIONSHIPS

The Medford Raiders went into Friday’s Great Northern Conference girls swim championships basically looking to beat one team, the Ladysmith Co-op.

By doing that, by a margin of 204-183, the Raiders clinched sole possession of second place in the final conference standings. It’s Medford’s highest league finish since the 2012 Raiders also placed second, one year after the 2011 team won it.

“We went into the meet second in the conference and finished second overall,” head coach Betsy Meinel said. “We knew we would not be able to catch Rhinelander with their three powerhouse swimmers, but we wanted to make sure we kept our current standings and we did.”

The Raiders came up a little short in their quest for individual GNC awards while earning fourth-place finishes in three events and sixth-place finishes in four more. They opened the meet by taking fourth and fifth in the 200-yard medley relay to score 42 points and they added 31 more points by stacking four swimmers in the 200-yard individual medley.

In the relay, Aiden Denzer, Chelsea Gebauer, Sydney Sperl and Kami Razink posted a time of 2:05.48 to fall 3.37 seconds behind the third-place team from Ladysmith. Colby Bergman, Jackie Williams, Erica Brandner and Jordyn Johnson got the fifth-place points in 2:14.21. Breanna Kraemer, Kirsten Weix, Kassidy Koncel and Maddie Williams were 11th in 2:27.8.

In the individual medley, Denzer took fourth in 2:29.88, just 1.23 seconds behind third-place finisher Genna Fugle of Rhinelander, while Sperl was sixth in 2:35.04, Bergman was seventh at 2:41.5 and Jackie Williams was ninth in 2:46.65. Sperl and Bergman set their best times of the fall, while Denzer and Williams were less than a second away.

“We took a gamble and put four girls in the 200 IM,” Meinel said. “Each of them has swam it during the season and they all did well enough to score on Friday. We were able to gain 31 points in that event alone. This helped us get into second place early on in the meet since other schools did not have four swimmers in that event. We also put four girls in the 100 backstroke to gain 20 points. With 24 entries, we were able to put girls where we thought they would do best instead of filling a typical dual meet lineup. It definitely helped having so many girls to fill these spots this year.”

Denzer also led the Raiders in the 100yard backstroke with another fourthplace time. This one was 1:08.52, 2.52 seconds behind third-place finisher Saylor Timmerman of Lakeland. Bergman was ninth at 1:11.81, Kraemer was 10th in 1:12.63 and Maddie Williams was 11th at 1:13.49. The times were season-bests for Bergman and Williams.

Senior Lacey Brandner earned a pair of sixth-place finishes in the longer freestyle races. First, in the 200-yard race, she posted a time of 2:17.89, while Tana Rappe came in eighth at a season-best 2:20.48. Lydia Pernsteiner was one spot short of scoring, taking 13th in 2:30.63 and Koncel was 14th in a personal-best 2:32.04.

In the 500-yard freestyle, Brandner finished in 6:12.51, Johnson was eighth in a season-best 6:27.2, Weix was 10th in a season-best 6:37.77 and Shaniah Brandt was 14th in a season-best 7:13.99.

Freshman Chelsea Gebauer was sixth as Medford’s lone entrant in the 100-yard breaststroke. She finished in 1:18.05. Sperl took seventh in the 100-yard butterfl y in a season-best time of 1:12.22, while Erica Brandner was ninth in a new best of 1:14.5.

Razink, a senior, was eighth in the 50-yard freestyle at 27.45 seconds, while Mackenzie Petersen was 16th (31.68) and Cadance Haenel was 17th (31.84). Razink also took eighth in the 100-yard freestyle at 1:01.32, while Madisyn Pilgrim was 16th in 1:12.91.

“Our times were exactly where I expected them to be at this time in the season,” Meinel said. “It did help having conference a week earlier than usual, but we still had put in a lot of yards during the week, so the girls were tired and it showed. I think taper is going to work great this year and we will see some big drops in times at sectionals next week.

“Unfortunately we can’t take all the girls to sectionals this year, so some of them did taper for this meet and they cut significant time in each of their events,” Meinel added. “Mackenzie cut over a second in her 50 free, while in each of her relays she also was able to shave off signifi cant time. Erica finished the season with a PR in the 100 fly, an event she has been working at all season. Cadance had great splits in the relays, and Madisyn had a PR in the 100 free.”

Medford scored 30 points in the 200yard freestyle, led by the sixth-place team of Maddie Williams, Rappe, Gebauer and Erica Brandner. Their time was 1:56.76. Kraemer, Pernsteiner, Weix and Haenel were ninth in 2:03.67 and Koncel, Pilgrim, Brandt and Petersen finished 12th in 2:11.29.

Jackie Williams, Pernsteiner, Bergman and Rappe took seventh in the 400yard freestyle relay at 4:25.36, while Petersen, Pilgrim, Brandt and Haenel were 11th in 4:56.03. Medford’s A team unfortunately disqualified due to an early takeoff.

Rhinelander won 10 of 11 events Friday to pile up 435 points and easily clinch its third straight GNC championship. The Hodags set new GNC records in six events. Lakeland would’ve set new records in the 200- and 400-yard freestyle relays had Rhinelander not been in the way. The T-Birds finished fourth in the team standings with 176 points, followed by Tomahawk (100), Antigo (87), Mosinee (61) and Colby-Abbotsford (47), who had the only two entries in the GNC diving competition held in Colby on Thursday. Riley Bellendorf earned 337.3 points and Hailey Meyer earned 217.7.

Next up for everyone in the conference is the WIAA Division 2 sectional meet at Menomonie, set for Saturday, Nov. 6 at 12:30 p.m. Winners in all events will qualify for state. The rest of the competitors will wait to see if they are among the top 12 non-winning times statewide to see if they are added to the state field.

The state meet will be held Nov. 12 at Waukesha South High School.

“We will begin taper this week with our sights set on sectionals next weekend,” Meinel said. “We have never had a sectional meet at Menomonie so it will be interesting to see how that goes. I believe it will be fast with Rhinelander and Wausau East, but the girls are ready for whatever they bring. Our ultimate goal is always to send someone to state.”

Fans not able to attend the sectional can watch the livestream at http://sdmaonline. com/s_d_m_a_livestream_channels.

Medford’s Kirsten Weix swims to a 10th-place finish in the 500-yard freestyle during Friday’s GNC Championships in Rhinelander. Weix finished in a season-best time of 6:37.77.BRETT LaBORE/THE LAKELAND TIMES