Raiders dive in with solid efforts at Marshfield, Menomonie

Four second-place swims drove the Medford Raiders to a second-place team finish Tuesday in their second meet of the season, the Chase the Tiger Sprint Invitational in Marshfield.

The Raiders scored 178 points to edge the host Tigers by one for the second spot behind Merrill. The Blue Jays totaled 253 points. Black River Falls/Blair-Taylor finished fourth with 146 points, ahead of Great Northern Conference squads Tomahawk (125) and Colby-Abbotsford (55).

It was the second solid showing in four days for the Raiders in meets that featured several non-traditional events. Medford will return to the typical dual meet format next week when it hosts Merrill and Mosinee in 5:30 p.m. meets Aug. 31 and Sept. 2.

“The girls had some great times, most even improved from Saturday’s meet,” head coach Betsy Meinel said. “There were a few teams we see during the regular season at the meet, so it was a nice preview of what to expect.”

In one of the few typical races of Tuesday’s meet, Medford’s Lacey Brandner, Tana Rappe, Sydney Sperl and Kami Razink swam to a second-place time of 1:54.76 in the 200-yard freestyle relay, finishing 0.58 seconds ahead of thirdplace Tomahawk. Merrill won in 1:46.47. The Raiders’ team of Kassidy Koncel, Cadance Haenel, Mackenzie Petersen and Breanna Kraemer was seventh in 2:11.03.

Razink’s first 50-yard freestyle of 2021 resulted in a second-place time of 27.63 seconds, just behind Merrill’s Claire Schultz (26.4). Haenel (32.75) and Petersen (33.39) were eighth and ninth.

“Kami had a great night,” Meinel said. “She finished second overall in the 50 freestyle and had solid relay splits. She has come back for her senior year ready to make a statement and hopefully earn a state berth.”

Lydia Pernsteiner, Madisyn Pilgrim, Kirsten Weix and Jordyn Johnson were a solid second in the 100-yard freestyle relay at 59.36 seconds. They were in between Merrill (56.45) and Marshfield (1:03.07). Rappe, Brandner, Kraemer and senior Maddie Williams added Medford’s fourth runner-up finish of the meet in the final race, the 8x50-yard freestyle relay at 3:54.01, 3.63 seconds behind Marshfield.

Medford opened the meet with a thirdplace effort from Aiden Denzer, Chelsea Gebauer, Sperl and Razink in the 200yard medley relay at 2:05.6. Pernsteiner, Johnson, Koncel and Haenel were seventh at 2:30.44 and Pilgrim, Weix, Williams and Petersen were eighth at 2:32.96.

“We mixed up the medley relay with Aiden swimming the backstroke,” Meinel said. “It was a gamble as she has never swam backstroke in a high school meet but I believe it paid off. We will continue to tweak all of our relays as we usually do over the next couple weeks until we find the perfect fit.”

Williams, Weix, Brandner and Pernsteiner took third in the 100-yard medley relay at 1:09.08, while Haenel, Johnson, Koncel and Petersen were next at 1:12.51 Marshfield had the top two teams at 58.34 seconds and 1:03.09.

Gebauer, a freshman, had a nice night, taking third in the 50-yard breaststroke at 35.85 seconds and fifth in the 100-yard individual medley at 1:11.19. Denzer was sixth (1:11.21) and Kraemer was eighth (1:17.82) in the medley, while Denzer was sixth (37.53) and Johnson was ninth (40.13) in the breaststroke.

“Chelsea has really stepped up in the breaststroke so far this season,” Meinel said. “Between her and Aiden, we have the breaststroke depth we were missing last year.”

Brandner, a senior, took fifth in the 100-yard freestyle at 1:03.85, while Weix (1:09.62) and Pernsteiner (1:10.62) were 11th and 12th. Sperl, a freshman, placed eighth in the 50- yard butterfly in 32.65 seconds, while Rappe (33.83) and Kraemer (35.86) were 10th and 12th. Williams took 10th in the 50-yard backstroke at 36.98 seconds and Pilgrim was 15th in 41.89 seconds.

Koncel was a winner for Medford in the JV 50-yard freestyle at 33.75, just ahead of Pilgrim’s time of 34.38 seconds.

4th at Menomonie

The swimmers opened the new season Saturday with a solid fourth-place finish at the seven-team Menomonie Relays.

All but two of Medford’s 14 entries were top-five finishers, which allowed the Raiders to pile up 414 points. The Raiders trailed Eau Claire North (521), Wisconsin Rapids (480) and Marshfield (428), while beating La Crosse Central-Logan (388), Menomonie (339) and Black River Falls/Blair-Taylor (264). The Raiders will return to this pool in November for the WIAA Division 2 sectional.

“We didn’t know what to expect with half of our team never having swam at this meet before, but it went better than expected,” Meinel said. “The girls put up some good times in all of their events. A few girls stepped up to fill some holes in events they normally do not swim in and I think they even surprised themselves. We are going to have a lot of flexibility in our lineup when we get into dual meets.”

The veteran team of Brandner, Pernsteiner, Kraemer and Weix took second in the 800-meter freestyle relay with a time of 10:08.73. They were comfortably ahead of third-place North (10:22.26). The La Crosse team swam away from the rest of the field and won in 9:20. Medford’s team of Johnson, Koncel, Petersen and Rappe took fourth in 10:29.26.

“The 800 free relays both did very well,” Meinel said. “The 200 is a difficult length for a lot of swimmers, but I think between these eight girls we found a few who will start swimming it more regularly.”

The team of Rappe, Kraemer, Gebauer and Sperl was Medford’s other runner-up in the meet thanks to their second-place time of 2:16.45 in the 200-yard butterfly relay. Black Fiver Falls/Blair-Taylor won in 2:08.45, while the Raiders touched the wall 1.18 seconds ahead of the La Crosse squad.

The 200-yard medley relay team of Williams, Denzer, Sperl and Razink was Medford’s first third-place finisher of the meet with its time of 2:09.98. They trailed Eau Claire North (2:06.3) and La Crosse (2:06.75). Sperl, Rappe, Brandner and Razink captured third in the 200yard freestyle race at 1:53.88, just behind Menomonie (1:50.61) and North (1:52.85). Petersen, Koncel, Haenel and Pernsteiner added a seventh-place time of 2:10.14.

Rappe, Kraemer, Johnson and Williams took third in the 200-yard backstroke relay at 2:16.23, trailing Central-Logan (2:05.66) and Menomonie (2:13.44) and beating Rapids by 7.17 seconds.

Gebauer, Sperl, Denzer and Razink got fourth in the 400-yard freestyle relay at 4:12.44, one spot ahead of team- mates Williams, Brandner, Johnson and Weix (4:37.14). The Raiders were just 0.97 seconds behind third-place Eau Claire North. Marshfield won in 3:56.66. Weix, Johnson, Gebauer and Denzer took fourth in the 200-yard breaststroke relay at 2:34.19, just 0.6 seconds behind thirdplace Eau Claire North. Marshfield won in 2:22.75. Kraemer, Gebauer and Denzer added 30 fourth-place points in the 300yard medley relay at 3:42.86.

Petersen, Haenel, Koncel and Pernsteiner sprinted to fifth in the 100-yard freestyle relay at 1:00.82. Razink, Williams, Brandner and Weix took fifth in the 500-yard crescendo relay, while Haenel, Petersen, Koncel and Pernsteiner were eighth in 6:32.08.

“There were a couple new schools at the meet this year, but of the Division 2 teams, we finished first,” Meinel said. “Overall this was a great first meet for the girls. It showed them what they still need to work on and we will use that over the next couple weeks before going into the conference duals.”

Chelsea Gebauer