Raiders glide to best times of the season at sectional

WIAA DIV. 2 GIRLS SWIMMING

As expected, the ability to spend two weeks planning a taper process worked brilliantly for the Medford Raiders as every entrant set a season-best time during Saturday’s WIAA Division 2 Menomonie girls swim sectional.

Unfortunately, with top-notch swimmers from schools like Rhinelander, Rice Lake and Merrill snatching top spots in the Menomonie meet and a plethora of speedy times from the DeForest sectional, none of Medford’s times made the cut for qualification to this year’s state meet, set for Friday night at Waukesha South High School.

The Raiders finished a solid sixth out of 13 teams in the final standings Saturday and earned eight top-10 finishes in the meet. Defending state champion Rhinelander outscored Rice Lake 371-323 to win the sectional team championship, while Merrill (264), the Ladysmith Coop (196) and Wausau East (180) finished ahead of the Raiders, who scored 171 points to get by host Menomonie (157).

“Our sectional was fast and should be represented well at state,” Medford head coach Betsy Meinel said. “Our conference overall had some great swims and will send quite a few to state. Overall our girls had a great meet. Their taper worked well and they all cut time.”

Individually, junior Aiden Denzer registered Medford’s highest finishes, placing fifth in the 100-yard backstroke and sixth in the 200-yard individual medley. Senior Lacey Brandner took seventh in the 500-yard freestyle. Medford was sixth in the 400-yard freestyle relay and seventh in the 200-yard medley and 200yard freestyle relays.

In the backstroke, Denzer finished in 1:05.78, cutting 2.07 seconds off her previous best time of the fall. She was 0.19 seconds behind fourth-place finisher Megan Miles of Merrill and beat Lakeland’s Saylor Timmerman by 0.14 seconds.

The top 12 non-winning times statewide in each event qualify for state. The qualifying standard in this race wound up being 1:01.44.

Sophomore Breanna Kraemer added a ninth-place time of 1:10.3. She cut 1.65 seconds off her season-best backstroke time of 2021. Rhinelander’s Malia Francis won the race in 55.28 seconds and Merrill senior Grace Schultz was the only other sectional qualifier. She was second in 59.76 seconds.

Denzer dropped 4.58 seconds in the individual medley, falling to 2:24.6. Raider Colby Bergman dropped 6.69 seconds to 2:34.81, good for 11th place, and Jackie Williams cut 5.48 seconds to take 13th in 2:40.42. The qualifying standard was 2:16.41 and three swimmers from the meet made it, led by Francis (2:06.85) and Schultz (2:12.15).

Brandner’s seventh-place time in the 500-yard freestyle was 5:54.24, a drop of 8.82 seconds from her previous best. Out of 23 entrants, Raider sophomore Jordyn Johnson took 15th in 6:14.54 and cut 12.66 seconds off her previous best. Junior Kirsten Weix took 16th in 6:30.71 and cut 7.06 seconds. Senior Shaniah Brandt was 21st in her final swim in 7:02.23 and cut 11.76 seconds off her previous best time of the fall. Only one sectional swimmer advanced. That was winner Madeline Bunton of Ladysmith (5:27.62).

Brandner added a 12th-place time of 2:11.65 in the 200-yard freestyle and shaved off 2.03 seconds. Freshman Tana Rappe was 13th in 2:13.48 and took a big chunk of 7.0 seconds off her Great Northern Conference time.

Freshman Chelsea Gebauer was the ninth-place finisher as Medford’s only entrant in the 100-yard breaststroke at 1:16.55. She cut 1.09 seconds. Freshman Sydney Sperl was 11th in the 100-yard butterfly at 1:10.4, dropping 1.82 seconds.

Senior Kami Razink placed 11th in both of her freestyle races. First she swam the 50-yard sprint in 26.36 seconds, getting under 27 seconds for the first time this season. Johnson was 17th in 28.14 seconds and senior Maddie Williams was 20th in 29.1 seconds, a drop of 1.58 seconds. The sectional qualified a high of six swimmers for state in this event, led by Rice Lake’s Faith Forsberg (24.3) and Ladysmith’s Brooke Lechleitner (24.34). The state cutoff time was 25.2 seconds set by Lakeland’s Brie Wescott.

In the 100-yard freestyle, Razink set a personal-best time of 58.35 seconds, knocking off 0.23 seconds from her Oct. 7 time against Colby-Abbotsford. Five sectional swimmers advanced to state, led by Rhinelander’s Abi Winnicki (53.66) and Lakeland’s Rylee Ahlborn (54.5).

The 400-yard freestyle relay team consisted of Denzer, Brandner, Sperl and Razink and finished in 4:02.12. That combination swam together for the third time this year and smashed its previous best of 4:11.23. Rhinelander (3:37.32) and Wausau East (3:50.27) advanced to state.

Denzer, Gebauer, Sperl and Razink swam the 200-yard medley relay together virtually the entire season and set its best time of 2:00.36, knocking off 3.15 seconds. Rhinelander (1:48.56), Merrill (1:51.12) and Rice Lake (1:53.89) advanced.

Gebauer, Brandner, Johnson and Sperl teamed up for the first time and swam the 200-yard freestyle relay in 1:51.11. Rhinelander (1:39.51), Merrill (1:42.54) and Rice Lake (1:42.71) were the meet’s state qualifiers.

“We knew it would be more challenging this year to qualify for state and we just missed out in a few events,” Meinel said. “It was a great meet to show off the work that they have done all season. We as coaches are very proud of them for how well they swam this weekend.”

Medford senior Lacey Brandner pushes hard through the final swim of her career, her leg of the 400-yard freestyle relay, during Saturday’s sectional meet. Aiden Denzer, Brandner, Sydney Sperl and Kami Razink finished sixth in a season-best 4:02.12.BOB MAINHARDT/NORTHWOODS RIVER NEWS

Raider senior Kami Razink competes in her final race, the 400-yard freestyle relay, during Saturday’s sectional meet. Medford took sixth in this race and finished the year sixth in the sectional team standings.BOB MAINHARDT/NORTHWOODS RIVER NEWS