MEDFORD GIRLS SWIMMING - Rhinelander remains dominant, but swimmers find positives in loss

MEDFORD GIRLS SWIMMING

An 80-point deficit surely wasn’t what the Medford Raiders wanted to see, but there were encouraging signs in the 12545 Great Northern Conference loss Thursday at defending WIAA Division 2 state champion Rhinelander.

Medford expected to get Rhinelander’s best shot in what the Hodags likely viewed as their only test of the GNC season and they got it. Rhinelander earned the maximum points possible in six of the 11 events, including the first four.

As dominant as the results seemed, it was an improvement for Medford over last year’s dual, which Rhinelander won 13436.

“Our goal was to do better than last year and we did,” Medford assistant coach Mandy Haenel said. “We had quite a few personal-best and season-best times tonight. The girls showed up to swim and did just that. We have some things to fine tune as we head into the last portion of the season, but the team is heading in the right direction.”

The 100-yard breaststroke was Medford’s highest-scoring event with the Raiders breaking even with the Hodags at eight points each. Freshman Sophie Sperl earned Medford’s lone individual secondplace finish of the meet with a time of 1:16.16 that was her second-best of the fall so far. Senior Chelsea Gebaur was third in 1:18.13, 0.33 seconds ahead of Hodag Emma Houg, and Jayda Fryklund got the fifth-place point in a personal-best 1:23.01. Lily Thorsen won for Rhinelander in 1:12.15.

The 500-yard freestyle was a strong event for Medford as well. Adalyn Dittrich was third in 6:07.13, which is her best time of 2024. She was 2.61 seconds behind runner-up Kiley Pooch. Fryklund was fourth in a personal-best 6:26.99 and Mackenzie Petersen was fifth at 6:37.58. Celia Francis won in 5:57.43. Medford also got six points in the 100-yard butterfly, led by Chiara D’Arienzo’s season-best time of 1:08.05 that was good for third. Sydney Sperl and Layla Petersen were right behind her in 1:09.16 and a personal-best 1:10.05. Rylee Mickevicius won for Rhinelander in 1:02.51.

D’Arienzo added a fourth-place time of 26.43 seconds in the 50-yard freestyle, which was followed by Kodi Rappe (27.5) and Mackenzie Petersen (29.25).

Fryklund, Mackenzie Petersen, Cadance Haenel and Chloe Pipkorn got second place in the 200-yard freestyle relay at 2:00.52. Medford’s top team unfortunately DQ’d. Gebauer, Kodi Rappe, Layla Petersen and D’Arienzo took second in the 400-yard freestyle relay at 4:08.45, the fastest time of the season for a Medford team. Tori Nicks, Mackenzie Petersen, Dittrich and Tana Rappe were fourth at 4:31.9 and Fryklund, Autumn Venzke, Aliyah Galan and Pipkorn took fifth at 5:01.95. Rhinelander won in 3:48.53.

D’Arienzo, Sophie Sperl, Layla Petersen and Sydney Sperl were third in the 200yard medley relay at 2:01.84, not too far behind Rhinelander’s A and B teams, which finished in 1:55.25 and 1:56.67. Dittrich, Gebauer, Kodi Rappe and Haenel were fourth in 2:06.23.

Sydney Sperl and Sophie Sperl were fourth and fifth in the 200-yard individual medley at 2:31.13 and 2:36.19 with Sophie’s time being her best of the fall. Kodi Rappe (2:15.26), Tana Rappe (2:18.71) and Nicks (2:25.77) were fourth through sixth in the 200-yard freestyle with Nicks improving by 2.68 seconds over her previous best.

Gebauer (1:00.57), Layla Petersen (1:02.12) and Haenel (1:05.8) were fourth through sixth in the 100-yard freestyle. Haenel’s time was a personal best. Dittrich was fourth in the 100-yard backstroke at 1:15, followed by Tana Rappe (1:15.69) and Nicks with her improved time of 1:16.84.

“There were some close races and the meet was closer than the score reflects,” Mandy Haenel said. “As coaches we have a lot to be proud of watching these girls give it their all.”

Galan won the JV 50-yard freestyle in 32.34 seconds. Venzke (34.83) was second and Mata Decker (38.01) was fourth. Galan also took second in the JV 100-yard freestyle at 1:12.14, a second behind Hodag Kyleigh Kennedy, while Pipkorn (1:14.76) and Decker (1:31.53) were third and fourth. Haenel had the top time in the JV 100-yard backstroke at 1:23.22, Pipkorn was second at 1:29.16 and Venzke was fourth at 1:36.26.

Medford is at Tomahawk tonight, Thursday, and returns home Oct. 3 for a dual meet with Colby-Abbotsford, who is currently 3-0 in GNC meets.