Medford’s times keep dropping despite Hodags’ high team score

MEDFORD BOYS SWIMMING

The Medford swimmers ran into a buzzsaw Thursday as Great Northern Conference-leading Rhinelander came three points away from a perfect score, but a look inside the numbers shows the Raiders still continued to drop times in a 137-33 loss.

The big highlight was the 100-yard freestyle, where all three Medford entrants set season-best times. Abe Miller, in just his second meet of the season, broke up Rhinelander’s bid at a perfect score when he took third place in a time of 1:03.94, dropping 0.15 seconds from his opening swim of the season a week earlier. Nathan Sislo got the fifth-place point in 1:10.25, dropping 5.48 seconds, and Dylan Kraemer was sixth in 1:21.25, cutting just over a second from his previous best.

Ethan Kraemer and Blaze Kesan set new bests while finishing third and fourth in the 100-yard backstroke. Kraemer shaved 0.43 seconds off his Jan. 2 time by finishing in 1:16.22, while Kesan took a huge drop with his time of 1:30.1. His previous best was 1:34.62 against Tomahawk on Dec. 19. Dylan Kraemer added a sixth-place time of 1:42.49.

Jacob Mitchell knocked off a little more time in the 100-yard breaststroke with his fourth-place time of 1:19.6 and Sislo recorded a significant drop in time, taking fifth in 1:28.49, 3.45 seconds faster than the previous week.

Ethan Kraemer was fourth in the 100yard butterfly at 1:19, while Tahtankka Damm was fifth in a personal-best 1:20.3. Damm also took fourth in the 50-yard freestyle in 28.45 seconds, followed by Kesan in a personal-best 29.73 seconds and Christian Di Benedetto in 30.25 seconds.

Jack Griesbach swam to a fourthplace time of 2:48.66 in the 200-yard individual medley, while Mitchell was fifth in 3:01.26.

In the distance races, Matt Buchan and Isaac Dittrich were fourth and fifth in both the 200-yard and 500-yard freestyles. In the 200, Buchan came in at 2:22.58 and Dittrich’s time was 2:27.08, a season-best. Buchan finished the 500 in 6:35.36, while Dittrich’s time was 6:58.26.

The combination of Damm, Miller, Buchan and Griesbach earned Medford’s fastest time of the season in the 200-yard freestyle relay at 1:54.97, good for third place in the scoring. Mitchell, Dylan Kraemer, Kesan and Dittrich were next at 2:08.71. Damm, Griesbach, Buchan and Miller also posted Medford’s best time of the year in the 400-yard freestyle relay at 4:28.96. Ethan Kraemer, Sislo, Dittrich and Di Benedetto were next at 5:08.59.

Ethan Kraemer, Mitchell, Griesbach and Kesan took third in the 200-yard medley relay at 2:12.55, while Dylan Kraemer, Sislo, Miller and Di Benedetto were fourth in 2:32.99.

Jack Antonuk (200 freestyle, 100 backstroke), Daniel Gillingham (200 individual medley, 100 butterfly) and Thaddeus Heck (50 freestyle, 500 freestyle) won multiple individual events for Rhinelander, who improved to 7-0 in GNC duals.

Medford, now 1-5-1, is at Lakeland today, Thursday, and will host Antigo Jan. 23 at 5:30 p.m. for its final GNC dual meet of the winter.