MEDFORD GIRLS SWIMMING - Depth carries swimmers to easy win; big one with Hodags today

MEDFORD GIRLS SWIMMING

Medford’s girls swim team continued its winning ways Tuesday, diving outside the Great Northern Conference for a 112-56 win at the Black River Falls Co-op.

Now 5-0 in dual meets overall, the Raiders controlled things from the outset, winning the first three events and seven events by meet’s end, including all three relays.

In fact, Medford took the top two spots in the 400-yard freestyle relay. The team of Sydney Sperl, Tori Nicks, Tana Rappe and Layla Petersen won it in 4:20.79, while Adalyn Dittrich, Mackenzie Petersen, Sophie Sperl and Cadance Haenel posted a time of 4:35.95 that beat the Tigers’ team by 2.85 seconds. Medford’s young quartet of Aliyah Galan, Mata Decker, Autumn Venzke and Chloe Pipkorn was fourth in 4:55.

Chiara D’Arienzo, Chelsea Gebauer, Layla Petersen and Sydney Sperl started the meet by winning the 200-yard medley relay in 2:03.59, 2.98 seconds ahead of the Tigers’ top team. Dittrich, Sophie Sperl, Kodi Rappe and Nicks were third in 2:07.52.

D’Arienzo, Gebauer, Nicks and Kodi Rappe won a closer 200-yard freestyle relay in 1:52.41, 1.29 seconds ahead of the Tigers’ top squad. Tana Rappe, Mackenzie Petersen, Haenel and Sophie Sperl got the two thirdplace points in 1:58.04. Pipkorn, Venzke, Jayda Fryklund and Galan were fourth in 2:14.85.

Individually, four different Raiders were winners in Tuesday’s meet.

Tana Rappe was the first one, taking the 200-yard freestyle in 2:20.57, while Mackenzie Petersen took second in 2:25.69 and Haenel was fourth in 2:38.76. Sydney Sperl followed that up with a win in the 200yard individual medley at 2:32.22. She beat Greta Bakken by 0.18 seconds in a close finish. Kodi Rappe took third for Medford in 2:35.42 and Fryklund was fourth at 2:44.9.

D’Arienzo and Layla Petersen easily were the top two finishers in the 100-yard butterfly with times of 1:10.09 and 1:13.45. Gebauer won the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:17.86, 0.21 seconds ahead of Sophie Sperl. Fryklund got fourth in 1:25.07, 0.35 seconds behind Tiger Ariana Cernohous.

Dittrich nearly won the 500-yard freestyle. A half-second off her best time of the fall so far, she came in at 6:08.57, 0.9 seconds behind Lily Miller. Mackenzie Petersen was third in 6:31.54 and Aliyah Galan added a point by taking fifth at 7:57.97 in her first high school 500.

D’Arienzo swam the 100-yard backstroke in 1:10.02, falling 1.2 seconds behind Bakken. Dittrich (1:14.15) and Tana Rappe (1:20.62) were third and fourth. Dittrich’s time was her best of the season. Layla Petersen sprinted to a time of 27.52 seconds in the 50-yard freestyle, 2.51 seconds behind Tiger Hannah Tubbs. Kodi Rappe (28.29) and Nicks (29.84) were third and fourth. Tubbs easily won the 100-yard freestyle in 55.73 seconds, finishing ahead of Medford’s Gebauer (1:01.11), Sydney Sperl (1:04.23) and Haenel (1:07.62).

Galan (34.94) won the JV 50-yard freestyle ahead of Decker (40.31). Venzke (1:22.26) took the JV 100-yard freestyle ahead of Decker (1:30.99). Pipkorn (1:27.68) won the JV 100-yard backstroke ahead of Venzke (1:42.75).

The Raiders head to Rhinelander today, Thursday, for a big mid-season matchup between what appear to be, at this point, the top two teams in the Great Northern Conference. Rhinelander did lose some key swimmers from last year’s WIAA Division 2 state championship team, but the Hodags have remained dominant in dual meets so far this year. Medford came within two points of knocking them off in the season-opening Menomonie Relays and today’s meet will serve as a good measuring stick to see how they stack up at what has been the area’s premier program.

Next Thursday, Medford heads to Tomahawk for a 5:30 p.m. GNC meet.

Medford 109, Antigo 56

The Antigo Red Robins are led by a talented sister swimming duo of Chloe and Holland Taintor, but Medford’s superior team depth was too much for Antigo to stay close Thursday in a 109-56 GNC final at the MASH pool.

The Raiders continued to mix and match with their lineup while getting some pieces back into that lineup. Medford won seven of the 11 varsity races, including both freestyle relays, with five different swimmers earning the team’s five individual wins.

The 200-yard individual medley was Medford’s highest-scoring event as a sweep of the top three spots earned 13 points. Sydney Sperl won in 2:32.97, followed by Gebauer in a season-best 2:38.18 and Mackenzie Petersen in 2:51.68 in her first race of the fall.

The Raiders got 12 points in the 50-yard freestyle, led by D’Arienzo’s winning time of 26.88, which was 0.06 seconds ahead of Layla Petersen. Sydney Sperl was fourth in 29.41 seconds. They got 12 more in the 100yard breaststroke with Gebauer winning in a season-best 1:17.16, while Sophie Sperl wasn’t far behind at 1:18.02 and Fryklund took fourth in 1:28.17.

The 400-yard freestyle relay was a 12point event too for Medford. D’Arienzo, Kodi Rappe, Layla Petersen and Sydney Sperl finished the meet with a winning time of 4:09.81, the fastest time of the fall so far for a Raider team in that event. Tana Rappe, Galan, Mackenzie Petersen and Nicks were second in 4:39.29, 2.78 seconds ahead of Antigo’s team. Pipkorn, Decker, Elizabeth Bartnik and Venzke were fourth in 5:56.92.

Kodi Rappe, Tana Rappe, Nicks and Gebauer won the 200-yard freestyle relay in 1:51.75, the second-fastest time a Raider team has had thus far. They beat the Robins’ team by 0.8 seconds. Sophie Sperl, Haenel, Mackenzie Petersen and Fryklund got the two third-place points at 2:00.38 and Galan, Venzke, Bartnik and Pipkorn were fourth at 2:26.91.

Kodi Rappe won the 100-yard freestyle in an improved time of 1:01.11, 0.76 seconds ahead of Chloe Tainter. Sophie Sperl (1:05.48) and Haenel (1:08.54) were third and fourth. Kodi Rappe added a second-place time of 2:15.48 in the 200-yard freestyle, while Tana Rappe was third in a season-best 2:17.19 and Galan was fifth in a season-best 2:48.3. Holland Tainter won in 2:09.3.

Mackenzie Petersen had a successful return to the 500-yard freestyle, winning that in 6:26.93, which was slightly better than her best time from 2023. She beat Antigo’s Avery Federman by 5.32 seconds. Fryklund was third in 6:40.1.

Holland Tainter, a freshman, won the 100yard backstroke in 1:03.25, but Tana Rappe (1:18.71), Nicks (1:20.24) and Haenel (1:24.7) were second through fourth. D’Arienzo was second at 1:09.34 and Layla Petersen was third at 1:11.37 in the 100-yard butterfly. Chloe Tainter won that in 1:01.62.

Sydney Sperl, Gebauer, D’Arienzo and Sophie Sperl swam the 200-yard medley relay in 2:03.88 to fall 2.21 seconds behind Antigo’s top team. Nicks, Fryklund, Layla Petersen and Haenel were third in 2:13.86.

Medford filled three JV events as well. Venzke (35.29), Bartnik (39.56) and Decker (39.72) swam the 50-yard freestyle. Pipkorn (1:13.46), Galan (1:16.91) and Decker (1:30.22) swam the 100-yard freestyle. Pipkorn also won the 100-yard backstroke in 1:26.64 over Venzke (1:42.56) and Bartnik (1:47.98).

Mackenzie Petersen gets a breath during the breaststroke leg of the 200-yard individual medley, where she finished third Thursday. TERRY WERNER PHOTO