C/A swim sets two new school records

By Nathaniel Underwood

A pair of new school records were set last Friday as four members of the Colby/Abbotsford swim team competed at the state meet in Waukesha in two different events. The relay team of Madisyn Schraufnagel, Jordan Jakel, Brezlyn Boyer and Chloe Cihlar took 15th in the 200-yard relay and Schraufnagel placed 12th in the 200-yard IM during Friday’s Division 2 competition, putting together the best performances in program history in the process.

Waukesha’s South Natatorium has become a familiar location for the Colby/ Abby swim club. The team has sent at least one athlete to the state meet the last three years, with Schraufnagel representing the co-op in the season’s final competition since her freshman season in 2022.

After an impressive performance at the sectional meet that earned them a spot in the state’s top-16, the 200-yard relay team had the program record in their sights heading into Friday’s meet. They shaved two seconds off their seed time during the Menomonie sectional, putting the team about a second off the record pace of 1:45.80 set by Morgan Huber, Cassandra Schilling, Sabrina Orth and Danica Kanneberg in 2010. Schraufnagel started the team off with a solid split of 26.18 seconds for the first 50 yards and Jakel kept them on pace with her time of 27.20 on the second leg of the race. Boyer pulled them closer with a time of 26.37 seconds and Cihlar secured the record with a time of 25.25 seconds as the team’s anchor. Cihlar’s performance for her final 50 yards of her high school career was so fast that it would have earned her 12th place in the individual state 50 yard freestyle held earlier in the meet.

The impressive final time of 1:45.00 was eight-tenths of a second faster than the prior school record and nine-hundredths of a second faster than the Seymour relay, which Cihlar was able to pass on the final leg of the race, earning the team 15th place. Stoughton’s relay team narrowly edged out Colby/Abby’s by less than three-tenths of a second for 14th place.

Schraufnagel also set a new personal best and broke the school record she set last year in the 200-IM. The junior took over two and a half seconds off her sectional time to finish 12th overall in the state with a time of 2:15.81. She finished one-tenth of a second ahead of Ashwaubenon’s Emma Kozloski and five-tenths of second behind Rhinelander’s Lily Thorsen.

Her record-setting time was also almost a second faster than her prior PR set last season of 2:16.72.

With two new records secured, the swim team’s 2024 campaign came to a close. The co-op finished third in the GNC with a 5-2 conference dual meet record and took third at the conference meet.

CELEBRATION IN WAUKESHA - The 200-yard relay team celebrates together following their record-setting performance during the state meet this past Friday. The team finished with a time of 1:45.00, eight-tenths of a second faster than the previous record.

SUBMITTED PHOTO

RECORD-SETTING PACE - Madisyn Schraufnagel takes off during the first leg of the 200-yard freestyle relay race in Waukesha. She and teammates Jordan Jakel, Brezlyn Boyer and Chloe Cihlar took 15th in the Division 2 state competition.

BRETT LABORE/THE LAKELAND TIMES