MEDFORD BOYS SWIMMING - More improvements for Raiders as GNC meet quickly nears

MEDFORD BOYS SWIMMING

Logan Rouiller got his breakthrough time while winning the 500-yard freestyle, and he won the 200-yard freestyle as well to highlight Medford’s efforts Tuesday in a 96-54 boys swim loss at Shawano-Seymour.

Rouiller had been threatening to break the six-minute barrier in the 500 for several weeks and he finally got there Tuesday, winning in 5:55.59. He won the race easily over the Hawks’ James Lange (6:56.87) and Aidan Court (8:16.54).

In the 200-yard freestyle, Rouiller won in a personal-best time of 2:15.53. He again won easily, this time by a 29.85-second margin over Garret Young. Court was third in 2:46.15 and Medford’s Rhys Buskerud was just off his personal-best time, finishing fourth in 2:56.52.

Mason Reimann was Medford’s other winner in the dual, taking the 200-yard individual medley in 2:33.42. He beat Sha-wano-Seymour’s Jeelat Rongroatpunyakul (2:44.95). Reimann hit a personal-best too in the meet, finishing the 100-yard butterfly in 1:07.13. He finished second in that race behind Ben Langlois (1:02.02).

Roger Mann finished second in two events for Medford. First, he swam the 100-yard freestyle in 1:07.64 to fall just behind Shawano-Seymour’s Baelyan Putz (1:05.05). Raider Reese Travis was fourth in 1:14.41, while Court was third in 1:11.42. Mann set a new personal-best time of 1:23.99 in the 100-yard breaststroke, which put him just 0.63 seconds behind Rongroatpunyakul. He was 7.67 seconds ahead of third-place swimmer Logan Zahn.

Dawson Gasek was second for Medford in the 100-yard backstroke in 1:31.5, trailing the home team’s Conner Patz (1:22.09). Raider Brandon Curtis set a new best time while taking fourth in 1:36.8. He cut nearly four seconds.

Travis was third in the 50-yard freestyle at 31.21 seconds, which is his new best time. Gasek was fifth at 36.57 seconds and Curtis was sixth in 38.71 seconds in a race won by Putz in 27.17 seconds. Rouiller, Mann, Reimann and Buskerud swam the 200-yard medley relay in 2:17.33 to place second behind the Hawks’ top team (2:00.52) and ahead of their B team (2:21.54).

Reimann, Buskerud, Mann and Travis gave Medford a new combination in the 200-yard freestyle relay. They took second in 2:06.65, while Shawano-Seymour’s teams had times of 1:48.68 and 2:24.62. Curtis, Travis, Gasek and Rouiller took third in the 400-yard freestyle relay at 5:26.06. The hosts’ two teams finished in 4:31.85 and 4:58.46.

Medford has added a double-dual meet for today, Thursday, at Tomahawk, which will also include Rhinelander. The meet starts at 5:30 p.m.

Then it’s on to the Great Northern Conference’s championship meet, which Medford will host on Friday, Feb. 2 starting at 5 p.m.