Swim team looks to build off last season
While the numbers remain tight for the Colby-Abby co-op swim and dive team, the 2023 squad still has their sights set high. After sending one of their members to the state competition last season, the co-op will be looking to follow up last year’s success with more this year.
That goal appears attainable, with much of the team’s young core returning, though challenges will arise when it comes to facing off against some of the larger teams in their conference.
All of their top-20 finishers at the sectional meet from last season will be on this year’s team. Senior Olivia Krause, junior Chloe Cihlar and a trio of sophomores, Brezlyn Boyer, Madisyn Schraufnagel, and Jordan Jakel, all found themselves in that range at the 2022 sectional meet in Merrill and will be looking to improve on those results this year.
Schraufnagel had the top finish at the sectional meet for the team, taking first place in the backstroke to advance to the state meet. She also took eighth in the 100-yard butterfly. Meanwhile, Cihlar took fifth in the 50-yard freestyle and ninth in the 100-yard freestyle, Jakel took 12th in the butterfly, Boyer 15th in the breaststroke and Krause 18th in the butterfly.
The medley and freestyle relays of Boyer, Cihlar, Jakel and Schraufnagel also placed sixth and seventh respectively. It is these relays that head coach Monica Tesmer expects her swimmers to find the most success when the postseason comes around.
“The medley relay and the 200-meter freestyle relay, they would like to get through to state,” Tesmer said of her team’s early season goals. “And I think that both of those can. The individuals that we have for the medley work well together; Maddie swims backstroke, Jordan swims butterfly, Chloe swims freestyle and Brezlyn swims breaststroke and they all have fast times. They could do it.”
The possibilities are also there when it comes to individual events. Where the team may have difficulty competing is during dual meets against other squads that can field a full roster, a luxury that the co-op currently does not have. With 11 swimmers on the team, Colby-Abby is one short of being able to adequately cover all the events of a typical dual competition.
“With 12 swimmers I can fill all three relays,” Tes- mer said. “But with 11, three people will not get to swim all the events that they could.”
With the numbers where they are, navigating meets and even practices can be a challenge, one that the team will have to overcome.
Last season, the team faced a similar difficulty and while they were competitive with the swimmers they were able to field, some teams that came in able to fill their lanes were able to take advantage of those empty spots that the co-op could not fill. Even with those difficulties, the team went 3-4 in their conference duals, nearly defeating Tomahawk and the dual against Ladysmith being more competitive than would appear just by looking at the final scores. With the solid group of returners and a few fresh faces, the co-op seems primed to tackle that challenge once more.
They will also have two divers this season, with Boyer and newcomer Bridget Cloud looking to compete in those events when possible. Tesmer is excited to see what they can do in the upcoming season and notes that, even while relatively new to the sport, with Boyer having a year under her belt and Cloud having a background in gymnastics, there is potential for them to do well in a relatively open field.
The pentathlon hosted by the team on this Wednesday often offers the Colby coaching staff with more information on how the swimmers perform in each of the events, an important step in the process of finding out the best fits for the team.
“Each of the girls swim butterfly, backstroke, freestyle and breaststroke, as well as an IM,” Tesmer said. “So we get a time, a competitive time, for each of these events. Then we can see how things have changed since last year. It also lets me watch each of them individually and notice things that you might not be able to in practice or in other meets, as they are swimming in events they might not normally be swimming competitively in.”
Following the pentathlon, the Colby- Abby team will be beginning its regular season duals with a trip to Lakeland on Thursday, Aug. 31. Last season, the Thunderbirds were in dire straits when it came to numbers, as the team consisted of only two swimmers. That being said, both were very good, with Olivia Mickle winning the Great Northern Conference’s Swimmer of the Year award and going to state in two events and Saylor Timmerman taking all-conference honorable mention honors in the 50-meter freestyle. The Thunderbirds seem to still be struggling with numbers, though they look to have over doubled their total athletes, eyeing to field a team of five in 2023.
