Swimmers dig deep to defeat Mosinee
Eight was the magic number for the Abby/Colby swim team last Thursday as eight swimmers captured eight events to give the swim co-op the victory over Mosinee, 94 to 75 That nearly 20 point margin is deceiving as the meet was tied at 31 at the break.
Colby was able to place several swimmers in the top three in the first four events, but Mosinee loaded up on points with their numbers advantage.
Head coach Monica Tesmer was asking a lot of her swimmers, with every swimmer competing in multiple relays and individual events, including ones they had only attempted in practice.
But the support of parents, and the urgency of the moment, led to extremely fast times as the swimmers dominated the tail end of the meet, taking six of the last seven events, using gritty performances from seniors Lanie Hediger, Morgan Weber and Brooklyn Filtzkowki to pull away.
It’s the co-op’s second dual victory of the year, joining their win over Tomahawk last week. Given the situation, this one was the more impressive of the two.
Tesmer was especially impressed by Paige Klement and Oliva Krause, who smashed their previous best times.
“Paige Klement and Olivia Krause each took five seconds off their individual events, Paige in the 100 backstroke and Olivia in the 100 breaststroke,” Tesmer said. “We also had ten other personal bests as a team.”
The co-op kickstarted the meet by taking second in the 200-yard medley relay. The team of Klement, Krause, Josie Hoppe and Zanza Haemer finished in a time of 2:25.77.
The girls placed first and second in the following event, the 200-yard freestyle. Filtzkowski took first in 2:25.74 and Klement was second in 2:33.47.
With Mosinee nipping at their heels, Weber took second in the 200-yard IM in 2:44.17, followed by White in third in 2:47.26. The swimmers continued to score points in the fourth event of the meet, with Hediger winning the 50-yard freestyle in 28.92 and Hoppe taking second in 33:35, to keep things tied up at 31.
After the fifteen minute break, the swimmers poured it on, and used the next three events to pull away from Mosinee. Weber scored six points by taking first in the 100-yard butterfly in 1:17.73 and Hoppe added three more as she took third in 1:29.23.
The co-op had its best race in the 100-yard freestyle, with three swimers finishing inside the top four, taking in another twelve points.
White was first in 1:04.02, Hediger was second in 1:05.33 and Krause was fourth in 1:11.38.
Filtzkowski was victorious in the following event, the 500-yard freestyle. Filtzkowski shaved more time off her season best by completing the grueling race in 6:34.29.
Haemer picked up two points, swimming the 500-yard length for the first this season as she took fourth in 7:31.92.
Weber, Filtzkowski, Hediger and White picked up another first place result in the 200-yard freestyle relay, winning it in 1:58.48.
Klement made it five races in a row for the co-op when she captured the 100-yard backstroke with her time of 1:16.23. Haemer was right behind, taking second in 1:21.36.
The swimmers kept up the pace, with Olivia Krause taking second in the 100yard breaststroke in 1:34.27.
The evening culminated with the 400-yard freestyle relay. The team of Weber, Filtzkowski, Hediger and White was first in 4:29.90, and the team of Hoppe, Krause, Haemer and Klement came soon after in 4:54.42.
Tesmer credited the victory to a hard week of workouts as the swimmers all worked on building their endurance.
Tesmer is hoping the swimmers carry that energy into their next meet, a Thursday night meeting in Minocqua against Lakeland High.
“The team swam well for building lots of yards in workouts last week. Hopefully we can continue to drop times at Lakeland this week.”
GIVING IT HER ALL -Morgan Weber churns up the water as she takes first in the 100-yard butterfly. Weber also swam on two winning relay teams. The co-op had just eight swimmers against Mosinee, but prevailed for their second dual meet victory of 2020.STAFF PHOTO/ROSS PATTERMANN
