WIAA DIV. 2 GIRLS SWIMMING STATE GOALS ARE MET - Raiders break 200 record, 14th in 400

WIAA DIV. 2 GIRLS SWIMMING

STATE GOALS ARE MET

Goals that were set earlier in the week were met by the Medford Raiders’ relay representatives at Friday’s WIAA Division 2 girls swimming state championships held at the Waukesha South natatorium.

After coming up 0.54 seconds shy of it at the Nov. 9 Menomonie sectional, Medford’s 200-yard freestyle relay team of Layla Petersen, Sydney Sperl, Chiara D’Arienzo and Kodi Rappe set the new school record in their race while placing 11th out of 16 teams Friday.

The team’s time of 1:43.46 beat the 2014 school record of 1:44.13 that had been held by Alyssa Loertscher, Mara Schumacher, Paige Olson and Abbie Bergman. Peterson, a junior, swam a split of 26.69 seconds, followed by Sperl, a senior, in 25.55 seconds, D’Arienzo, a junior foreign exchange student, in 25.67 seconds and Rappe, a sophomore, in 25.55 seconds.

Medford was fourth out of eight teams in the first heat, beating Whitnall, who was 12th overall in 1:44.28; Stoughton, who was 14th overall in 1:44.72; Colby-Abbotsford, who was 15th overall in 1:45, and Seymour, who was 16th overall in 1:45.09. Shorewood was 13th at 1:44.38.

Medford’s Great Northern Conference rival Antigo won the heat in 1:42.45 with the Red Robins’ team consisting of Chloe Tainter, Allyssa Jansen, Eleanor Tassler and Holland Tainter. The Robins placed eighth overall. The Sturgeon Bay Co-op was second in the heat and ninth overall at 1:43.06, tying Sauk Prairie.

Whitefish Bay’s team won the relay’s state championship at 1:37.04, while Madison Edgewood (1:38.25) and the GNC’s Rhinelander team of Ella Heck, Millie Gruett, Lily Thorsen and Vivian Lamers (1:38.57) were second and third.

In the state meet’s last race, the 400yard freestyle relay, Medford’s team of D’Arienzo, senior Chelsea Gebauer, Sperl and Rappe took 14th out of 16 teams in 3:50.45. Their goals were to improve significantly upon their sectional time of 3:56.17, which they did, and to not finish 16th, where they were seeded. They accomplished that as well with McFarland disqualifying and Seymour finishing 15th in 3:54.35.

D’Arienzo’s 100-yard split was 56.39 seconds, followed by Gebauer (59.48), Sperl (57.2) and Rappe (57.38).

In the first heat, Shorewood won easily in 3:42.05 and wound up fifth overall. Grafton was second in the heat and 10th overall in 3:46.33, followed by Sauk Prairie (3:47.98), Antigo (3:48.06) and Lakeland’s team of Avalon Collins, Daryn Smolinski, Kasey Wise and Olivia Mickle (3:49.61).

Whitefish Bay capped its team state championship by winning its third relay of the meet. The Blue Dukes finished in 3:29.66, just ahead of Rhinelander’s team of Celia Francis, June Chiamulera, Ellyse Younker and Lamers (3:35.16). Edgewood was third in 3:38.25.

Rhinelander, the defending state champions, placed third this year with 251 points. Whitefish Bay scored 360 and Edgewood finished with 270. The Kohler Co-op was a distant fourth at 148 points.

From the GNC, Antigo was 15th with 49 points, Lakeland was 17th with 43, Medford was 24th with 18 points and Colby-Abbotsford was 28th with nine.

Francis, a sophomore for Rhinelander, repeated as state champion in the 200yard individual medley with a time of 2:05.34, 2.01 seconds ahead of Stoughton’s Cheyenne Borroughs. Francis was second in the 100-yard backstroke at 55.39 seconds, 2.11 seconds behind Whitefish Bay freshman Maggie Dickinson, who set a new state meet record at 53.28 seconds.

Rhinelander placed second in the 200yard medley relay at 1:47.16, 0.41 seconds behind Whitefish Bay.

Rhinelander also got a fourth-place finish in the 100-yard freestyle and fifthplace finish in the 50-yard freestyle from Lamers, a fourth-place finish and fifthplace finish from Younker and Rylee Mickevicius in the 100-yard butterfly and a fifth-place finish from Heck in the 100yard breaststroke.

Mickle, a junior for Lakeland, brought home two individual medals. She took fifth in the 200-yard individual medley at 2:11.37 and sixth in the 100-yard backstroke at 58.82 seconds.

In Saturday’s Division 1 state meet, Middleton successfully defended its state championship, compiling 334 points to easily outscore Verona (211) and Hartland Arrowhead (200.5).

Medford senior Chelsea Gebauer ends a strong four-year run with the Raiders’ girls swim program with her leg in the 400-yard freestyle relay Friday at the WIAA Division 2 state championships at Waukesha South. Gebauer’s leg of 59.48 seconds helped Medford earn 14th place in the event. This was Gebauer’s first state appearance. PHOTOS BY JEREMY MAYO/NORTHWOODS RIVER NEWS

Chiara D’Arienzo (l.) and Kodi Rappe take their turns swimming in the WIAA Division 2 state championship race in the 400yard freestyle relay Friday. D’Arienzo swam her 100-yard leg in 56.39 seconds, while Rappe swam hers in 57.38 seconds. The team’s time of 3:50.45 was 5.72 seconds faster that its sectional time from Nov. 9.

Above: Layla Petersen makes sure her goggles are in just the right spot before she leads off Medford’s school recordsetting swim in the 200-yard freestyle relay. Left: Senior Sydney Sperl dives in for her leg of the 200-yard freestyle relay. Petersen, Sperl, Chiara D’Arienzo finished in 1:43.46. Sperl qualified for state for the third straight year. In the last two, she competed in the 200-yard individual medley.