Times continue to drop in a pair of swim double-duals

The Medford Raiders were credited with four event wins and made a run at the Tomahawk Hatchets Tuesday, but they fell just short and also lost to Antigo in a Great Northern Conference doubledual swim meet held at the MASH pool.

The Raiders led Tomahawk 47-44 with three events to go but couldn’t quite hold on, falling 68-63 in a dual that went down to the last race. Leading 60-59, Tomahawk’s team won the 400-yard freestyle relay in 4:02.05 easily defeating Medford’s team of Brandon Curtis, Reese Travis, Dawson Gasek and Logan Rouiller, which finished in 5:24.89, while Antigo was second in 4:04.82.

Antigo went 2-0 in the meet, defeating Medford 99-51 and Tomahawk 72-69.

Medford got overall victories from Mason Reimann in the 200-yard individual medley and Logan Rouiller in the 500yard freestyle in the meet. When matched up with Tomahawk, Reimann won the 100-yard butterfly and Rouiller won the 200-yard freestyle.

Rouiller lowered his time to 6:03.17 in the 500-yard freestyle to beat Tomahawk’s Trey Morrison (6:12.65) and Antigo’s Dawson Behm (6:17.62). In the 200, Rouiller finished in 2:16.3 as he and teammate Rhys Buskerud (2:55.41) were uncontested by the Hatchets. Behm won the race for Antigo in 2:15.52, while Red Robin Garrett Tomzcyk was third in 2:31.83. Buskerud’s time was his best of the winter.

Reimann won the 200-yard individual medley in 2:31.12, beating Antigo’s Ezra Santiago (2:37.12) and Tomahawk’s Jack Amelse (2:53.22). Reimann’s 100-yard butterfly time of 1:10.06 was his second-best of the season and was third overall behind Antigo’s Santiago (1:02.55) and Rutger Busse (1:09.78). He was uncontested by the Hatchets.

Roger Mann and Travis each posted season-best times in the 100-yard freestyle at 1:06.86 and 1:11.73, respectively. They were third and fourth against Tomahawk and second and third against Antigo. Mann finished in 1:24.41 and Buskerud came in at 1:52.74 in the 100-yard breaststroke. Those were season-best times for both that put them in second and third place against Tomahawk behind Zach Germano (1:10.15) and second and fifth against Antigo.

In the 100-yard backstroke, Gasek came in at 1:37.4 and Curtis lowered his time by more than seven seconds to 1:40.53. They were third and fourth against Tomahawk and fourth and fifth against Antigo. Travis swam the 50-yard freestyle in 31.6 seconds, followed by Gasek (35.59) and Curtis (37.76). Medford’s trio was third through fifth against Tomahawk and fourth through sixth against the Robins.

Rouiller, Mann, Reimann and Buskerud posted a time of 2:15.08 in the 200-yard medley relay that was Medford’s best of the season. Tomahawk won that race in 1:58.73 and Antigo was second in 2:03.9. Buskerud, Mann, Travis and Reimann set their best time of the year in the 200-yard freestyle relay at 2:04.59. Tomahawk won that in 1:44.82, while Antigo was second at 2:01.75.

The Raiders have two more meets before they host the Feb. 2 Great Northern Conference championships. Tuesday they have a dual meet at Shawano-Seymour. A double-dual at Tomahawk with Rhinelander on Jan. 18 was added to the schedule Wednesday.

0-2 at Rhinelander

The Raiders returned to the pool after their two-week holiday break and were defeated by host Rhinelander and Shawano- Seymour in a Great Northern Conference double-dual.

The Hodags did nothing to hurt their standing as the conference’s top squad, beating Medford 105-41 and Shawano-Seymour 106-42 and winning every race. Medford fell 85-53 to Shawano-Seymour but got four wins in that dual meet.

Rouiller got two of those wins with his times of 2:19.9 in the 200-yard freestyle and 6:08.27 in the 500-yard freestyle. He was second overall in each race behind Rhinelander’s Mathias Fugle (1:54.05) and Charles Antonuk (5:41.72).

Reimann was third overall and second against Shawano-Seymour while swimming his first 500-yard freestyle and finishing in 6:18.13. Buskerud was sixth overall in the 200-yard freestyle at 3:06.43.

Reimann was the uncontested winner of the 200-yard individual medley against the Hawks while finishing second overall at 2:33.65 behind Rhinelander’s Shawn Denis (2:05.55).

Mann posted a 100-yard breaststroke time of 1:29.07 and just got by Shawano-Seymour’s Logan Zahn by 0.12 seconds to get credit for the win in that dual meet. He was second overall, trailing Antonuk by 15.6 seconds. Mann lowered his 100-yard freestyle time to 1:07.81 and placed sixth overall, while Travis also set a new best time of 1:14.09 and was eighth overall.

Travis lowered his time to 31.55 seconds in the 50-yard freestyle and placed fifth overall and third in each dual meet. Gasek shaved 0.12 seconds and was seventh in a season-best 35.0 seconds and Curtis dropped almost two seconds while finishing eighth overall in 37.31 seconds.

Curtis also dropped time in the 100yard backstroke, finishing fifth overall in 1:48.16. Gasek was fourth overall and second against Shawano-Seymour at 1:32.63.

Medford’s 400-yard freestyle relay team of Curtis, Travis, Gasek and Rouiller took second in each dual meet and third overall with its time of 5:27.52. The Raiders trailed the top teams from Rhinelander (3:22.93) and Shawano-Seymour (4:22.49).

Medford’s 200-yard freestyle relay team of Buskerud, Mann, Travis and Reimann was fourth overall and second against the Hawks in a time of 2:10.79. Rhinelander had the top two teams in 1:36.02 and 1:36.54, while Shawano-Seymour’s team finished in 1:59.09.

The Raiders DQ’ed in the 200-yard medley relay, led by Rhinelander’s A (1:41.17) and B (1:54.04) teams.