As expected, Hodags dominate; Raiders able to get some strong times

MEDFORD GIRLS SWIMMING

It’s an experience each team in the Great Northern Conference will likely have to go through, and Thursday marked Medford’s turn to be blown away by the Rhinelander Hodags.

The host Hodags not only maintained a perfect meet record at 4-0 by winning 128-42, but they remained undefeated in every race so far in GNC competition by going a perfect 11 for 11 again on Thursday at the Heck Family Community Pool.

The Raiders did set several seasonbest times in the meet, which was the big positive to take away from it.

“We knew going into this meet that it would be a tough meet for us,” Medford head coach Betsy Meinel said. “Rhinelander is very good and has almost twice as many girls as we do on our team. Our goal of the meet was to hit a certain number of points and improve our times. Overall the girls swam well. They have been working hard the last week in practice so they were a little tired but overall we saw good times for this point in the season.”

Medford earned four second-place finishes, two in relays and two individually, both by senior Erin Bergman, who was also part of both high-finishing relays.

Bergman, Aiden Denzer, Morgan Ball and Kami Razink started the meet with a time of 2:03.08 in the 200-yard medley relay, which put them 14.97 seconds behind Rhinelander’s top team. Maddie Williams, Jackie Williams, Colby Bergman and Lacey Brandner took fourth in 2:21.83 and the team of Jordyn Johnson, Kirsten Weix, Shaniah Brandt and Olivia Rau finished sixth in 2:32.71.

Brandner, Ball, Razink and Bergman claimed second in the meet-ending 400yard freestyle relay in 4:08.84. Rhinelander’s A team won in 3:49.71.

Maddie Williams, Breanna Kraemer, Johnson and Weix were fourth in 4:46.71, while Kaya Fortin, Rau, Lydia Pernsteiner and Jackie Williams were sixth at 5:09.89.

“Our relays had some great splits,” Meinel said. “We had to change things up halfway through the meet due to an injury but the girls adapted well and performed excellent exchanges even without practice.”

Bergman just nudged past Hodag Karis Francis by 0.29 seconds to take second in the 100-yard backstroke, 4.92 seconds behind winner Lisa Kennedy. Maddie Williams added a fifth-place point at 1:16.88 and Brandt was sixth in 1:27.32. Those two set season-best times.

Bergman got her first crack this fall at the 500-yard freestyle and finished it in 6:01.61 to take second behind Hodag Maria Heck (5:53.61). Jackie Williams got the fifth-place point in 7:10.31, while Weix improved with a time of 7:14.12 and took sixth.

Senior Morgan Ball notched two third-place finishes. Her first came in the 100-yard butterfly with a season-best time of 1:05.75. She was 0.09 seconds behind Francis and 1.98 seconds behind winner Makenna Winnicki. Colby Bergman got the fifth-place point in 1:20.05 and Maddie Williams was sixth in an improved 1:21.6. Ball swam the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:27.29, while Jackie Williams was fifth in 1:35.52 and Rau came in at 1:40.39. Rau improved by about four seconds and Ball’s time was a season-best by 1.06 seconds.

“Kirsten and Olivia both had a great Girls swim

meet,” Meinel said. “They each cut time in almost all of their events posting season- best times.”

Razink sprinted to third place in the 50-yard freestyle in a time of 27.19 seconds. Johnson (29.68) was fifth and Fortin (34.58) was sixth. Denzer had a solid time of 2:31.21 that was good for third in the 200-yard individual medley, 6.52 seconds behind Winnicki, who won it, and 0.37 seconds behind Heck. Colby Bergman got the fifth-place point at 2:51.65.

“It was great to see what Jordyn and Kaya could do this week,” Meinel said. “Both posted great times in their events and were huge assets to their relays.”

Lydia Pernsteiner led Medford in the 200-yard freestyle with her fourth-place time of 2:37.36. She was followed by Weix (2:38.87) and Brandt (2:43.87), who set season- best times. Brandner took fourth in the 100-yard freestyle at 1:07.29, followed by Kraemer (1:09.48) and Pernsteiner (1:15.12).

Johnson, Colby Bergman, Brandner and Razink earned two points with their third-place time of 2:01.05 in the 200-yard freestyle relay, while Fortin, Brandt, Kraemer and Pernsteiner were fifth in 2:16.65. Rhinelander’s Noelle St. Pierre, Makenna Winnicki, Malia Francis and Abishea Winnicki set a pool record with their time of 1:42.68.

The JV 100-yard freestyle was a highlight as Rau (1:13.96) and Fortin (1:15.98) set their best times of the fall while placing third and fifth.

Medford hosts the winless Tomahawk Hatchets tonight, Thursday, before heading to Colby-Abbotsford on Oct. 8.

“Overall it was a tough meet, but we knew that going into it,” Meinel said. “We saw improvement in our turns and relay exchanges which was one of our goals. I’m happy with how we did against this tough team. We’re definitely ready to be back home this week however.”

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