GETTING A GOOD EARLY PUSH

Depth, key wins get Medford past Merrill 89-80

The Medford Raiders don’t get many swim meets that come down to the last event, but they came through in one that did Tuesday, winning the 400-yard freestyle relay to clinch an 89-80 win over Merrill in the home opener.

Medford led 79-76 going into the last race. A win or a second- and third-place finish was needed to secure the team win. Breanna Kraemer, Jolie Steliga, Layla Petersen and Colby Bergman got that win in a time of 4:14.88 that easily beat Merrill’s top team by 13.12 seconds.

For good measure, Adalyn Dittrich, Mackenzie Petersen, Jordyn Johnson and Tana Rappe got the two third-place points at 4:35.78 and Medford’s team of Jayda Fryklund, Chloe Pipkorn, Kassidy Janda and Cadance Haenel was fourth in 4:50.41.

Medford improved to 2-0 in non-conference duals, following up their win at Black River Falls Thursday.

“I think at the end the girls realized they had to kick it into gear,” Medford head coach Morgan Wilson said. “Thursday was a great meet for them. We had a significant lead the whole time, but in this one I don’t think they realized how close it was until the end, so seeing that last race was really good. All four of those girls dug deep and were like ‘we’re going to kick it into high gear for this one.’” Tuesday’s meet featured several races, whether they were for first place or other places and points, that went down to the last couple yards, making it a valuable meet for both teams. With the win, Medford got its first dual-meet win over Merrill since 2017.

“It’s awesome to have a couple of these meets where we can actually have some tight races because a lot of the teams in the GNC don’t have very many girls,” Wilson said. “It’s really cool to have a team come in and be able to swim well against us. They have some really good swimmers and they swam some really good races tonight, so they were pumped up and ready to go. A good experience for our girls moving forward, especially with Rhinelander coming in next week.”

Besides the last relay, Medford got four more event wins Tuesday.

Bergman got the first one in the 200yard freestyle. Racing the event for the first time this fall, she finished in 2:16.31, while teammate Tana Rappe was second in 2:23.95 and Mackenzie Petersen was fifth in 2:28.85 to give Medford 11 points in the event.

Bergman added a second-place time of 6:06.34 in the 500-yard freestyle, which was an improvement from Thursday and trailed winner Oliva Pajtash by 11.48 seconds. Rappe was third in 6:36.14 and Janda was fifth at 7:06.72.

Sydney Sperl got the second win, taking the 200-yard individual medley in 2:26.57, a 4.41-second margin over Pajtash. Jackie Williams added a fourthplace time of 2:51.05. Sperl wasn’t done, tacking on a second-place time of 1:08.67 in the 100-yard butterfly, while Layla Petersen was fourth in 1:15.01 and Kraemer was fifth at 1:17.74. Merrill’s Marissa Miles won in 1:04.

“Sydney had a solid time in the butterfly again at 1:08, significantly faster than what she was doing last year which is awesome to see,” Wilson said.

Dittrich’s first 100-yard freestyle of the year resulted in a winning time of 1:02.98, 0.49 seconds ahead of Merrill’s Claire Jirovec. Williams was third in 1:03.6 and Mackenzie Petersen got the fifth-place point at 1:09.71.

Chelsea Gebauer got a win in the 50-yard freestyle at 26.78 seconds, 0.3 seconds ahead of Merrill’s Baliee Sommer. Johnson (29.32) and Steliga (29.37) got the fourth- and fifth-place points for Medford. Gebauer came up just short against Miles (1:14.59) in the 100-yard breaststroke, finishing in 1:15.17. Johnson was fourth in 1:27.78 and Wilkins took sixth in 1:41.16.

Kraemer was second in the 100-yard backstroke in 1:11.15, while Dittrich was third in 1:13.34 and Haenel got the fifth-place point at 1:23.08.

“It was really, really exciting to have some good races and to have some really good competition,” Wilson said. “That’s one of the things we tell the girls. Don’t get sixth, be fifth. If you can’t get first, get second. If you can’t get second, get third. We’re making sure that they’re sticking with those girls at the front and having good finishes at the end.”

Medford’s team of Steliga, Layla Petersen, Gebauer and Sperl was second in the 200-yard freestyle relay at 1:49.35, 0.45 seconds off the lead. Johnson, Williams, Mackenzie Petersen and Bergman were third in 2:01.53 and Haenel, Fryklund, Wilkins and Janda were fifth at 2:09.6. Kraemer, Gebauer, Sperl and Kodi Rappe finished the 200-yard medley relay in 2:03.25, 1.46 seconds off the lead. Dittrich, Williams, Layla Petersen and Steliga took the third-place points at 2:13.19 and Pipkorn, Wilkins, Janda and Haenel took fifth at 2:26.74.

Fryklund won the JV 50-yard freestyle in 31.74 seconds, followed by Pipkorn (34.12) and Wilkins (34.91).

Medford ends a busy five-meet stretch to start the season tonight, Thursday, with the Great Northern Conference opener at the metered pool in Antigo. As Wilson said, GNC power Rhinelander is at the MASH pool Sept. 7 for a 5:30 p.m. dual.

“We did have some really good times (Tuesday) for the start of the season, but we definitely have some things we need to work on,” Wilson said. “Our turns were really tripping us up today, which is something we can keep working on. This is our home pool, so that’s something we want to get really comfortable with and know that’s not going to be an issue moving forward.”

Raiders top Tigers

On Thursday, the Raiders won nine of 11 events while earning their first dualmeet win of 2023, a 111-59 victory over the host Black River Falls Co-op.

Medford won all three relays and Gebauer took two of the team’s six individual wins in what Wilson called an improved performance over what the Raiders accomplished two days earlier at the Marshfield sprint meet.

“We had some really nice individual performances with awesome times to start the dual season,” she said. “A lot of the girls look stronger in their strokes than at the beginning of last season.

Gebauer won the 100-yard freestyle in 1:00.58, Tana Rappe was second in 1:06.51 and Janda was fourth in 1:11.05 for a 12-point event for the Raiders. Gebauer finished her night with a winning time of 1:13.82 in the 100-yard breaststroke that beat Tiger Hannah Tubbs by 0.31 seconds. Williams was fourth in 1:29.25 and Wilkins was sixth in 1:37.6.

Sperl won her first 100-yard butterfly of the season, finishing in 1:08.1 which gave her a 7.82-second margin over runner-up Lyndsi Laufenberg of Black River Falls. Layla Petersen was fourth in 1:20.22 and Kodi Rappe got the fifth-place point in 1:25.29. Sperl also took second in the 50-yard freestyle at 27.12 seconds, 1.87 seconds behind Tubbs. Steliga (29.31) and Mackenzie Petersen (32.27) were third and fourth for Medford.

Bergman won the 500-yard freestyle in 6:08.95 with Dittrich next in 6:20.75. Haenel got fifth in 7:19.25.

“Sydney and Chelsea had very solid races as well as Colby, who, of course, says she can ‘always go a little faster’ in her 500, which we are looking forward to seeing soon,” Wilson said.

Tana Rappe won the 200-yard freestyle in 2:21.24, pulling ahead of Laufenberg by 3.84 seconds. Kraemer was third in 2:26.81 and Janda got fifth in 2:36.24. Kraemer won the 100-yard backstroke in a solid season-opening time of 1:10.32, 1.12 seconds ahead of Tiger Greta Bakken. Dittrich placed third in 1:13.53 and Bergman was fourth at 1:14.23.

Bakken won the 200-yard individual medley in 2:38.17, but three Raiders were right behind her. Layla Petersen grabbed second place with her time of 2:43.23, followed by Kodi Rappe (2:45.44) and Williams (2:47.35).

Fryklund was credited with JV wins in the 50- (31.16) and 100-yard (1:14.69) and Pipkorn got the JV win in the 100-yard backstroke in 1:29.02.

Medford closed out Thursday’s meet with a 12-2 scoring advantage in the 400-yard freestyle relay. Kraemer, Dittrich, Tana Rappe and Bergman teamed up to win it in 4:27.94, while Mackenzie Petersen, Williams, Layla Petersen and Steliga were second in 4:32.35. Wilkins, Fryklund, Haenel and Janda were fourth in 5:10.3.

The 200-yard freestyle team of Steliga, Kodi Rappe, Gebauer and Sperl finished in 1:52.77 to beat the top Black River Falls team by 1.39 seconds. Mackenzie Petersen, Janda, Williams and Tana Rappe got the third-place points in 2:04.34, while Wilkins, Pipkorn, Fryklund and Haenel were fourth in 2:11.91.

The 200-yard medley relay team of Kraemer, Gebauer, Sperl and Bergman started the meet with a convincing win. They finished in 2:03.64, 5.45 seconds ahead of the Tigers’ top team. Dittrich, Layla Petersen, Kodi Rappe and Steliga took third in 2:12.5 and Pipkorn, Wilkins, Haenel and Mackenzie Petersen were fifth in 2:32.27.

“We were able to get a nice idea of certain spots we want different girls to try moving forward,” Wilson said. “The girls had a great positive mindset on Thursday and we want that to continue throughout the rest of the season.”

Medford’s Cadance Haenel is on her way to a fifth-place finish in the 100-yard backstroke Tuesday during the Raiders’ 89-80 win over Merrill. She finished in 1:23.08, while teammates Breanna Kraemer (1:11.15) and Adalyn Dittrich (1:13.34) were second and third.MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS