MEDFORD GIRLS SWIMMING - Undermanned Mosinee no match for Medford swimmers

MEDFORD GIRLS SWIMMING

The Medford Raiders had no trouble in their Great Northern Conference girls swim opener Thursday, dominating undermanned Mosinee 133-24 at the MASH pool.

Medford won all 11 events, earning the maximum points in eight of them to stay undefeated in dual meets at 3-0 overall.

Individually, seniors Sydney Sperl and Tana Rappe won multiple events while four more Raiders won a race apiece.

Sperl’s first win came in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 1:09.85, 1.15 seconds ahead of teammate Chiara D’Arienzo. D’Arienzo got her win for the meet just before that in the 50-yard freestyle. She swam that in 26.9 seconds, while teammates Layla Petersen (27.38) and Jayda Fryklund (29.15) were second and third.

Sperl’s second win was in the 100-yard backstroke. She came in at 1:13.32, while Adalyn Dittrich and Jolie Steliga were second and third in 1:16.24 and 1:21.86. Dittrich was a winner earlier in the 500-yard freestyle. She finished in 6:10.73, comfortably ahead of Fryklund (6:39.04) and Petersen (6:48.57) who completed Medford’s sweep of the top three spots.

Rappe took control of the 200-yard freestyle in the first length and created separation from there with a winning time of 2:21.07. Cadance Haenel was second for Medford at 2:34.09, while Aliyah Galan took fourth at 2:55.81. Rappe led a Raider sweep of the top spots in the 100-yard freestyle with her time of 1:04.15. Freshmen Sophie Sperl (1:05.1) and Tori Nicks (1:07.75) were second and third. Sperl later took the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:17.65, while Chelsea Gebauer was second in an improved 1:20.48 and Kodi Rappe was third at 1:25.8.

Kodi Rappe won the 200-yard individual medley in 2:38.08 and Gebauer was second, 0.59 seconds behind.

D’Arienzo, Sophie Sperl, Sydney Sperl and Kodi Rappe took the 200-yard medley relay in 2:05.45, while Dittrich, Fryklund, Petersen and Nicks were second in 2:10.3, well ahead of Mosinee’s third-place team (2:35.96).

D’Arienzo, Sydney Sperl, Kodi Rappe and Gebauer won the 200-yard freestyle relay in 1:54.05, while Tana Rappe, Haenel, Fryklund and Nicks were next at 1:58.7, easily beating the third-place Mosinee team (2:09.21). Medford’s Mata Decker, Elizabeth Bartnik, Galan and Autumn Venzke were fourth at 2:35.02.

In the 400-yard freestyle relay, Petersen, Tana Rappe, Sophie Sperl and Gebauer won in 4:33.13, while Dittrich, Steliga, Galan and Haenel were second at 4:55.49.

Bartnik swam the JV 100-yard freestyle in 1:33.42, while Decker was timed at 1:38.25. Haenel won the JV 100-yard backstroke in 1:24.46, followed by Galan (1:36.52) and Venzke (1:43.96). Venzke was second in the JV 50-yard freestyle with a time of 35.72 seconds. Bartnik (39.97) and Decker (40.91) were fourth and sixth.

Medford is back at home today, Thursday, hosting the Antigo Red Robins in GNC competition at 5:30 p.m. A non-conference meet at the Black River Falls Co-op has been added for Tuesday, starting at 5 p.m. Then Medford will test itself at defending WIAA Division 2 state champion five-time defending GNC champion Rhinelander Sept. 19 at 5:30 p.m.