Tridents show a lot of fight in whatever they take on

Sophomore Liv Repka worked on breathing in the 200-yard freestyle for the Lake Holcombe-Ladysmith- Flambeau-Bruce-Bloomer squad, as they were in their home pool Sept. 21, facing off with Antigo. Photo by Ginna Young

It’s been a busy few weeks for the Lake Holcombe-Ladysmith- Flambeau-Bruce-Bloomer Trident Swimmers, as they hosted two home conference dual meets, moving to 4-1 on the season.

Sept. 14 vs. Mosinee (W 110-51)

Against Mosinee, the Tridents took an early lead, with a first and third place finish in the 200-yard medley relay, with a time of 2:13.09. Next, in the 200-yard freestyle, junior Alyxandria Lunemann and sophomore Abbi Fye, claimed the first and third place victories, both girls swimming season best times.

Junior Hannah Minton, senior Madilyn Kempen and freshman Nayeli Schilling then took the top three spots in the 200-yard individual medley, with Minton hitting a new personal best time of 2:33.63. Kempen, Hanson and freshman Sidney Heath would combine later, in the 100yard breaststroke, to claim first, second and third, with Kempen hitting the wall with a time of 1:21.06.

Taking second and third, respectively, in the varsity heat, were junior Sarah Allard and sophomore Megan De-Witt.

“Our girls swam well tonight, and our freshmen swimmers – Brooklynn Adisek, Sidney Heath and Nayeli Schilling – continue to develop and have become an important part of this team’s success,” said coach, Matt Bunton.

Sept. 21 vs. Antigo (W 108-39)

The Tridents had similar success against the Antigo Red Robins, with first place finishes in the 200 relay, 200 freestyle and 200 individual. In the 100-yard freestyle, Hanson and sophomore Lyra Moffitt, claimed the first and third finishes.

In the 500-yard freestyle, Lunemann took first, with a personal best time of 6:23.91, dropping nearly 7 seconds. The 100-yard backstroke saw DeWitt take first and Adisek second, with DeWitt hitting the wall in 1:20.24. In the breaststroke, Kempen swam a season best time of 1:19.46, to take first, with teammate Hanson taking second.

Finally, the 400-yard freestyle relay team of Allard, Lunemann, Fye and Kempen took first, with a time of 4:20.51.

Sept. 23 E.C. North Meet

Just a few days later, nine girls from the Trident team swam at the Husky Invite, against a stacked field, including many Division 1 and Minnesota teams.

“This meet gave our girls a chance to swim against some great competition and they definitely rose to the challenge,” said Bunton.

The 200 medley team of Lunemann, Kempen, Allard and Fye, took sixth place, dropping over 5 seconds, from just a few days prior. Kempen would go on to claim a fourth place finish in the 100 breaststroke. The girls would then combine to take seventh place finishes in the 200 freestyle and 400 freestyle relays.

“I was very happy with how the girls swam today,” said Bunton. “This was a very big meet, with many very good teams. Our girls showed a lot of fight, clocking many season and personal best times.”