Raiders can’t keep up with strong Merrill squad in first home dual

MEDFORD GIRLS SWIMMING

The Medford swimmers monopolized the second-place spots, but Merrill won all 11 varsity events and grabbed most of the thirds to pull away for a 111-59 nonconference win Tuesday in Medford’s 2021 home opener.

The Raiders knew this was a meet they probably weren’t going to win after seeing how good Merrill was at last week’s Chase the Tiger Invitational in Marshfi eld, but head coach Betsy Meinel was hoping to see Medford’s depth show up a little more in the final results.

“We had a hard time getting third place in this meet,” Meinel said. “A lot of seconds, a lot of fourths. Thirds kind of eluded us and that’s the one we needed for the points. If we don’t get first, get second and third. We just couldn’t do it.”

In fact, Medford took second in all 11 events, accounting for 44 of their 59 points.

Individually, senior Kami Razink, junior Aiden Denzer and freshman Tana Rappe swam to two runner-up finishes apiece.

Razink was edged by Merrill’s Claire Schultz in the 50-yard freestyle and Grace Schultz in the 100-yard freestyle. Razink’s time was 27.62 seconds in the 50, 0.96 seconds off Schultz’s pace and she finished the 100 in 1:00.71, 2.92 seconds out the lead. Lacey Brandner (28.95) and Jordyn Johnson (30.13) were fourth and fifth in the 50, while Kirsten Weix (1:09.11) and Cadance Haenel (1:12.94) were fifth and sixth in the 100.

Grace Schultz won the 200-yard individual medley in 2:17.08, but Denzer outlasted Blue Jay Bailey Orzech by 2.1

MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS

seconds to take second in 2:29.18. Orzech, though, got the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:15.93, 1.83 seconds ahead of Denzer’s time of 1:17.76. That was the one event Medford got a third. Chelsea Gebauer got it in 1:19.39, while Johnson, who Meinel said had a strong meet overall, took sixth in 1:29.5.

Sydney Sperl was fourth in the medley in 2:36.81 and Gebauer was sixth at 2:43.77.

Rappe and Sperl are the freshman making the biggest early impact for the Raiders. Rappe swam the 200-yard freestyle in 2:23.03 to beat Merrill’s Laney Zuelsdorff by 2.57 seconds for second place. Claire Schultz won in 2:11.08. Rappe later added a second-place time of 1:17.71 in the 100-yard backstroke. Amber Winter of Merrill won in 1:09.17.

“Tana’s backstroke is strong,” Meinel said. “We’re going to do a little bit of critiquing on her underwaters, but she’s really come a long way on that in the last two weeks. It looks like backstroke for her and probably the 200. She likes it and wants to swim it, so we’ll let her do that as long as we can.”

Senior Lydia Pernsteiner added fifthplace swims in both of those events. She finished in 2:36.05 in the 200 freestyle and 1:25.49 in the backstroke. Kassidy Koncel was sixth in the freestyle at 2:43.84 and Madisyn Pilgrim took sixth in the backstroke at 1:32.1.

Sperl led the Raiders in the 100-yard butterfly, taking second in 1:14.92 behind Winter (1:06.15). Freshman Erica Brandner took fourth in 1:22.08 and senior Maddie Williams was fifth in 1:24.7. Lacey Brandner, a senior, took second in the 500-yard freestyle at 6:26.5, while Jackie Williams was fifth at 6:49.59 and Breanna Kraemer was sixth in 7:01.7.

“Breanna swam the 500 for the first time,” Meinel said. “That’s a good time for her in a first-time swim. That’s a hard, hard event for the first one. Normally we expect 7:15 to 7:30 for the first one because swimmers go out too fast and then they run out of gas. She did well.”

Denzer, Gebauer, Sperl and Razink teamed up to take second in the 200-yard medley relay in 2:05.54, 7.16 seconds behind Merrill’s winning team. Rappe, Johnson, Erica Brandner and Weix were fourth in 2:19.11 and Pernsteiner, Jackie Williams, Kraemer and Maddie Williams took fifth in 2:25.55.

Maddie Williams, Johnson, Kraemer and Lacey Brandner swam the 200-yard freestyle relay in 2:03.34, 7.46 seconds behind Merrill’s winning team. Pernsteiner, Erica Brandner, Jackie Williams and Weix took fourth in 2:09.34, while Pilgrim, Koncel, Petersen and Haenel were fifth in 2:12.57.

To wrap up the meet, Sperl, Denzer, Gebauer and Razink finished in 4:19.62 in the 400-yard freestyle relay, which Merrill’s top team won in 4:01.45. Rappe, Kraemer, Maddie Williams and Lacey Brandner were fourth in 4:33.52. Haenel, Koncel, Petersen and Pilgrim were fifth in 5:10.05.

Meinel said making out the lineup card for the season’s first dual meet was a difficult task with Medford’s added depth, but that’s a nice problem to have. Haenel (31.03), Petersen (32.33) and Pilgrim (33.98) were the top three finishers in the JV 50-yard freestyle. Jackie Williams (1:32.1) and Weix (1:35.21) were the top two swimmers in the JV 100-yard breaststroke and Petersen (1:12.53), Koncel (1:13.22) and Erica Brandner (1:16.93) battled each other in the JV 100-yard freestyle.

“We have so many more girls than we’re used to,” Meinel said. “We had JV swimmers for it seems like the first time ever. It’s nice to have that depth. We’re still figuring out where everyone is going to be. That’s what’s nice about this meet, it’s non-conference. Mosinee is here Thursday which will still be a nice meet to figure out the lineup. We have our eyes on a few people going places, they’ll get there. It will take a little while.”

Today’s meet with Mosinee starts at 5:30 p.m. as does a home meet with the Ladysmith Co-op on Sept. 9.

Medford’s Jordyn Johnson gets a breath during her swim in Tuesday’s 100-yard breaststroke. Johnson was sixth in a time of 1:29.5.MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS