400 relay win, three individual victories not quite enough at Lakeland

With Lakeland’s boys swim participation numbers down to single digits, the Medford Raiders had their most competitive meet with the Thunderbirds in some time on Dec. 22, falling 93-76 in Great Northern Conference competition in Minocqua.

The Raiders kept it close by earning the top two spots in two races –– the 100yard butterfly and the 500-yard freestyle –– and by winning the 400-yard freestyle relay. Adam Swedlund also won a close race to the finish in the 100-yard breaststroke.

But Lakeland still had enough firepower with familiar names like Liam Hogan and Avery Tucker to get by and improve to 2-1 in GNC competition. Medford fell to 1-3.

Tahtankka Damm, Ethan Kraemer, Isaac Dittrich and Abe Miller teamed up to win the meet’s final race, the 400-yard freestyle relay. They won convincingly by 25.89 seconds in 4:30.01, which was easily the fastest time of season thus far for a Medford team.

The teams opened the meet with a close race in the 200-yard medley relay. Medford’s Ethan Kraemer, Swedlund, Miller and Damm finished just 1.67 seconds off the pace in a season-best 2:05.6. Swedlund, Dylan Kraemer and Dittrich were part of an exhibition 200-yard freestyle relay team that finished in 1:57.94.

Just before the 400-yard win for the Raiders, Swedlund barely won a twoman breaststroke race with Lakeland’s Dave Meier, finishing in 1:18.24. He edged Meier by 0.66 seconds.

Isaac Dittrich lowered his time to a season-best 6:29.02 while winning the 500-yard freestyle. Teammate Dylan Kraemer almost cracked the seven-minute mark while setting a season-best and taking second in 7:01.57. Those two also competed in the 200-yard freestyle. Dittrich was just off his season-best with a third-place time of 2:24.74 while Kraemer was fourth in a season-best 2:37.99.

In a Medford-only 100-yard butterfl y, Miller won in a season-best 1:12.97. Damm came in second at 1:16.89 while swimming the event for the first time this season.

Swedlund (2:52.54) finished behind Hogan (2:14.07) in a twoman race in the 200-yard individual medley. Damm swam the 50-yard freestyle in 26.73 seconds to finish second behind Tucker (24.98). He was 1.09 seconds ahead of Meier.

Ethan Kraemer placed third in the 100-yard freestyle at 1:07.34. Hogan won that race in 50.82 seconds. Kraemer added a third-place time of 1:19.51 in the 100-yard backstroke, which was easily his best of the season. Miller took fourth in 1:22.21.

The Raiders hosted Menomonie Tuesday in a meet that took place after this week’s early holiday deadline for The Star News. They will be back in the pool Tuesday when they visit the Shawano Hawks. GNC powerhouse Rhinelander visits the MASH pool Jan. 7 for a 5:30 p.m. dual meet.