Raiders buzz past Hornets, gear up for tough meet with T-Birds

MEDFORD GIRLS SWIMMING

Led by a sweep of the relay races and two individual wins from senior Morgan Ball, the Medford swimmers improved to 4-2 in the Great Northern Conference Thursday with a 98-72 win over host Colby-Abbotsford.

The meet didn’t produce Medford’s best times of the fall, but that wasn’t expected, as the Raiders have been pushing through the dog days of October hoping to create another late-season surge. The WIAA has now announced plans for a WIAA Division 2 sectional meet to be held in Wisconsin Rapids as planned on Nov. 7 and a state meet at Waukesha South Nov. 13.

“The girls had a good meet,” Medford head coach Betsy Meinel said. “At this time in the season we don’t expect personal- best times, but a few of them managed to do that even with all the long yards they are putting in during practice.”

Ball got her wins in the 200-yard individual medley and 100-yard butterfly and was part of two of the winning relays for a perfect four-win meet. Erin Bergman won the 100-yard backstroke and was on all three winning relays. Kami Razink won the 50-yard freestyle and also was on all three winning relays.

Ball, swimming the individual medley for the first time this fall, won the race in 2:34.45, beating Colby-Abbotsford’s Morgan Weber by 3.7 seconds. Raider Colby Bergman took fourth in 2:54 and Jackie Williams was fifth in 3:03.9. Two events later, Ball swam the butterfl y race in 1:10.57 to beat Weber by a 6.38-second margin. Maddie Williams took third in 1:24.8 and Shaniah Brandt got the fifth-place point in 1:48.71 in her first fly of the fall.

In between those races, Razink posted her winning time of 27.42 seconds in the 50-yard freestyle, 1.01 seconds ahead of Hornet Lanie Hedinger. Raider Jordyn Johnson placed third in 30.0 seconds and Kaya Fortin was sixth in 34.74 seconds.

Erin Bergman’s winning time in the backstroke was 1:10.59, putting her 6.92 seconds ahead of Hedinger. Maddie Williams was third for Medford in 1:20.95 and Fortin placed fifth at 1:28.97, while competing in that event for the first time.

“Kaya’s really taken off these last couple of weeks and I’m excited to see how she ends the season,” Meinel said.

Jackie Williams got Medford’s last individual win of the meet in the next race, taking the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:30.9, 2.41 seconds ahead of runner-up Olivia Krause. Raider Kirsten Weix placed fourth in 1:40.63 and Olivia Rau took fifth in 1:41.1.

Maddie Williams, Erin Bergman, Ball and Razink teamed up for Medford’s first relay win of the meet. They took the 200-yard medley relay in 2:09.78, while Medford’s team of Colby Bergman, Jackie Williams, Breanna Kraemer and Johnson added four second-place points at 2:25.81. Lydia Pernsteiner, Rau, Brandt and Lacey Brandner were fourth in 2:41.71.

Maddie Williams, Johnson, Razink and Erin Bergman pulled away for a win in the 200-yard freestyle relay at 1:52.85. They were 1.51 seconds ahead of Colby-Abbotsford’s top team. Jackie Williams, Fortin, Weix and Brandner were fourth in 2:08.86.

“Colby has a couple good sprinters, but we were able to hold them off in the 200 free relay,” Meinel said. “Kami caught us up and Erin sealed the win.”

Brandner, Razink, Ball and Erin Bergman comfortably won the 400-yard freestyle relay in 4:13.51, 10.33 seconds ahead of Colby-Abbotsford’s top team. Johnson, Colby Bergman, Weix and Kraemer got two third-place points at 4:44.4 and Brandt, Fortin, Rau and Pernsteiner placed fifth in 5:17.84.

The 500-yard freestyle was a highlight for Medford as all three Raiders set season- best times. Colby Bergman was second in 6:41.39. Pernsteiner was third in 6:57.83, cutting almost five seconds, and Weix was fourth at 7:00.73, cutting 2.04 seconds. Brooklyn Filtzkowski won it for Colby-Abbotsford in 6:29.03.

“Colby is becoming our new distance swimmer I think,” Meinel said. “She dropped another nine seconds on the 500 and I don’t doubt she will be able to drop more time in her future. All of our 500 swimmers did well this week.”

Brandner was the runner-up in the 100-yard freestyle at 1:04.98, 2.88 seconds behind Hornet Lexi White. Kraemer was fourth in 1:10.03 and Rau was sixth at 1:17.57. Kraemer led Medford in the 200yard freestyle with a third-place time of 2:35.97. It was her first time in that race this year. Pernsteiner was fourth at 2:37.63 and Brandt was fifth in 2:52.88. Filtzkowski won in 2:22.94.

Medford closes out the round-robin portion of its GNC schedule today, Thursday, when it hosts 5-1 Lakeland at the MASH pool.

“The girls were tired and that’s expected,” Meinel said. “We were happy our meet was so close to home. It was nice having some more spectators cheering us on. We still don’t know what to expect over these next couple weeks, but we are taking it day by day and focusing on Lakeland this coming week.”