Swimmers finish season at sectionals

Monica Tesmer has seen a lot during her long tenure as the Abbotsford/Colby swim co-op head coach. Over the past 25 odd years she’s seen swimmers win conference titles and punch tickets to the state tournament, but she’s never seen a year quite like 2020.

The challenges facing her team were many, but the co-op enjoyed multiple dual meets, and saw their season culminate with the WIAA D-2 sub-sectional meet in Medford over the weekend.

“Everybody has been in and out throughout the whole season,” Tesmer said on Saturday. “To finally have all 12 girls in the pool was kind of incredible, and we’re all just grateful to be here and to have a final meet.”

Like many other sports during this fall season, the Abby/Colby swimmers meet in Medford was unique, with the WIAA gingo with a sub-sectionals. As the co-op competed in Medford, other races were taking place, from Rhinelander to Whitefi sh Bay and beyond.

Tesmer’s swimmers made the most of their opportunity, picking up 15 personal bests. Abby/Colby will not be sending any swimmers to the WIAA D-2 state meet in Waukesha, but she’s happy that everyone got to have a season.

“I’m glad the girls got to have a final here,” she said. “It’s better than it being cancelled and I am just so glad we were able to swim. It’s been a hard year for all the kids, but we were able to finish.”

The sub-sectional kicked off on Friday with the dive portion of the competition. Colby High senior Morgan Weber finished eighth with a grand total of 226.85 points, and junior Zanza Haemer was ninth with a score of 183.05 points.

Saturday was when things began in earnest, with a spot in the state tournament up for grabs.

Between the six teams in Medford and the six teams in Rhinelander that made up a full sectional, Rhinelander took first with 387 points. Rice Lake was second with 301 and Wausau East was third with 273. Colby/Abby took twelfth with a final score of 68 points.

Saturday started with the 200-yard medley relay. Lanie Hediger, Olivia Krause, Josie Hoppe and Lilly Graun placed tenth in a time of 2:19.18. The following event was the 200-yard freestyle. Colby High senior Brooklyn Filtzkowski was 16th in a time of 2:21.48, with Paige Klement taking 19th in 2:26.20.

The girls 200-yard IM was next. Weber was 16th overall in 2:36.51. Sophomore Ivee Conley was 19th in 3:15.10. The fifth event of the day wa the 50-yard freestyle. Lanie Hediger was 23rd in 28.61 seconds, followed by junior Lexi White in 24th in 28.81 seconds. Freshman Lilly Graun was 30th in 30.98 seconds.

The co-op had just one swimmer take part in the 100-yard butterfly and the 100-yard freestyle. Josie Hoppe finished 16th overall in the butterfly in 1:30.85 and White was 22nd in the freestyle in 1:04.87.

Three swimmers competed in the 500- yard freestyle. Filtzkowski paced her team by taking 16th in a time of 6:28.80. Haemer was 20th in 6:45.39 and Conley was 22nd in 7:15.79. The 200-yard freestyle relay was next and featured the Weber, Hediger, White and Filtzkowski. They took tenth overall in 1:55.29.

Klement was the sole Abby/Colby swimmer in the 100-yard backstroke. She finished 15th overall in 1:14.33. The co-op entered three swimmers in the 100-yard breaststroke. Krause was 19th in 1:33.80. Meyer was 21st in 1:36.79 and Colby High senior Thea Fellenz was 22nd in 1:37.87.

The final race was 400-yard freestyle relay. Weber, Hediger, White and Filtzkowski took tenth in a time of 4:14.74.

With the season now over, Tesmer is hoping to use this strange year as a springboard for bigger things in 2021.

“For the future, we can look back and use this and say ‘Hey, remember the challenges that we had this for year? Let’s use those to get better for next year.’”