MEDFORD BOYS SWIMMING - Raiders dive in to new season at Rhinelander, Menomonie meets

MEDFORD BOYS SWIMMING

The schedule couldn’t have given Medford’s boys swim team a tougher start to Great Northern Conference competition Tuesday when the Raiders were handled easily 134-31 by host Rhinelander, owner of the last six GNC championships.

The Hodags, coming off a second-place finish in last February’s WIAA Division 2 state meet, swept the top three scoring spots in four individual events and the top two scoring spots in two of three relays.

Medford made its biggest dent in the opening 200-yard medley relay. Logan Rouiller, Roger Mann, Mason Reimann and Reese Travis teamed up to place second in 2:08.36, beating the Hodags’ B team by 10.12 seconds. Rhinelander’s top team won the race in 1:43.4.

Rouiller and Reimann both earned two third-place finishes individually. Rouiller swam the 200-yard freestyle in 2:12.12 and teammate Brandon Curtis was fifth in 3:25.47. Samson Shinners won for the Hodags in 1:51.96. Rouiller swam the 500yard freestyle in 6:05.33, finishing behind Rhinelander’s Shinners (5:14.73) and Dean Gillingham (5:28.46).

Reimann got third in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:34.77. Rhinelander’s Judson O’Malley (2:18.16) and Charles Antonuk (2:18.39) had a close race for first. In the 100-yard butterfly, Reimann finished in 1:09.91 to trail Hodags Shawn Denis (56.4) and Mathias Fugle (59.09).

Curtis, Cullen Jones, Roger Mann and Reimann were third for Medford in the 200-yard freestyle relay at 2:16.67. Rhinelander’s teams had times of 1:34.56 and 1:59.93. Curtis, Cale Schulz, Travis and Rouiller swam the 400-yard freestyle relay in 5:15.95 to trail the two Rhinelander teams that finished in 3:30.91 and 4:00.4.

Mann (1:12.17), Travis (1:15.09) and Schulz (1:16.06) were fourth through sixth in the 100-yard freestyle. Travis was fourth in the 50-yard freestyle at 30.09 seconds while Jones got the fifth-place point at 42.42 seconds. Curtis was fourth in the 100-yard backstroke at 1:43.33 and Mann was fourth in the 100-yard breaststroke at 1:31.38.

Medford is at defending GNC runnerup Tomahawk today, Thursday, before its home opener, set for Dec. 12 against Antigo. Both GNC meets start at 5:30 p.m.

6th at Menomonie

Newcomers Jones and Schulz joined Medford’s five veteran swimmers while working out some of the early-season kinks at the season-opening Menomonie Relays on Nov. 26.

The Raiders finished a distant sixth with 88 points behind larger schools Superior (550), Chippewa Falls (274), Rice Lake (266), River Falls (232) and Menomonie (230).

The Raiders got 30 points each with two fourth-place finishes. The 200-yard freestyle team just got in under the 2:00 mark at 1:59.79 to place fourth behind River Falls (1:42.87), Superior (1:50.58) and Rice Lake (1:50.98). The Raiders beat Chippewa Falls (2:14.41), Superior B (2:22.98) and Menomonie (2:30.92).

The 100-yard freestyle relay group finished fourth in 1:02.33, falling behind Chippewa Falls (49.96), Rice Lake (56.88) and River Falls (1:00.46). The team beat Superior (1:03.93), Menomonie (1:05.74) and Superior B (1:09.12).

The last 28 points came with a fifthplace time of 2:58.45 in the 200-yard backstroke relay. The Raiders beat Superior B (3:04.53) and Menomonie (3:11.44). Superior A won the race in 2:02.88, followed by Rice Lake (2:22.67), River Falls (2:23.6) and Chippewa Falls (2:57.88).

Medford Raider junior Roger Mann works on his kicking at the start of the team’s Nov. 22 practice at the MASH pool.