MEDFORD BOYS SWIMMING - Raiders push Mustangs to last race; battle in two GNC double-duals

MEDFORD BOYS SWIMMING

A trip to Menomonie Tuesday gave Medford’s boys swim team a chance to get into a tightly-contested dual meet that went down to the last race, which the host Mustangs won to secure a 79-72 victory.

The Raiders earned wins in seven of the 11 events, but Menomonie’s slightly deeper roster gave the Mustangs just enough points to hold the lead from the fourth event on. The Raiders were without senior Cale Schulz who was out sick and lost Hunter Briggs to illness midway through the meet, forcing them to adjust two relay lineups.

Medford was within 71-68 going into the 400-yard freestyle relay and could’ve snuck out a 76-75 win by winning that race.

Menomonie’s team of Luke Ray, William McKnight, Ryan Rood and Thomas Seim, however, were the clear winners in 4:12.8, while Medford’s Reese Travis, Cullen Jones, Brandon Curtis and Logan Rouiller finished in 4:57.1.

Rouiller joined teammate Mason Reimann as winners of two individual events. Both also were part of winning relay teams. Medford won both of the meet’s other relays. Rouiller, Roger Mann, Reimann and Travis started the meet by taking the 200-yard medley relay in 2:06.31, beating Menomonie’s top team by 4.03 seconds. Travis, Mann, Anthony Seidel and Reimann won a close race in the 200-yard freestyle relay, finishing 0.59 seconds ahead of Menomonie in a time of 1:58.54.

Rouiller posted his best time of the season in the 500-yard freestyle, winning it in 5:57.41, easily beating Seim (6:10.47). Not long after that, he took the 100-yard backstroke too in a time of 1:09.24. That was his first open backstroke swim of the season. He easily beat Ray by 11.17 seconds. Jones was fourth for Medford in 1:42.85.

Reimann won another 100-yard butterfly with his time of 1:13.12, while he was 7.3 seconds ahead of McKnight’s time. He won the 200-yard individual medley in 2:31.25, while Seim was second for Menomonie at 2:40.93.

Mann got Medford within three at the end by winning the 100-yard breaststroke at 1:26.06. He edged Peyton Gregerson by 0.38 seconds in an exciting race. Mann also led Medford in the 100-yard freestyle by taking third in 1:08.95. Briggs was fourth at 1:11.14, Seidel got the fifth-place point at 1:19.59 and Curtis also swam it, finishing in 1:26.55.

Briggs added a second-place time of 2:40.68 in the 200-yard freestyle. Jones (2:56.87) and Curtis (3:11.09) were third and fourth. Seidel lowered his time to 32.46 seconds and took third in the 50yard freestyle, while Aidan Thao was fourth at 45.15 seconds.

Medford, now 2-8 in dual meets, has one more regular-season meet left. That will be a Great Northern Conference double-dual at Shawano-Seymour. Lakeland will be the third team.

Tomahawk double-dual

The Raiders didn’t heavily fill out the lineup sheet Thursday and were outscored by Antigo and Tomahawk in a Great Northern Conference double-dual.

Tomahawk outscored Medford 91-46 and Antigo, a team Medford beat 89-43 back on Dec. 17, was a 74-56 winner over the Raiders. Tomahawk beat Antigo 83-55.

Rouiller was second overall out of three swimmers in the 500-yard freestyle with a season-best time of 6:02.87. He was credited with first place against Tomahawk by beating Hatchet Brock Fischer (7:59.28). Antigo’s Dawson Behm was the overall winner in 5:50.01. Rouiller was first against Antigo in the 200-yard individual medley and finished second overall behind Tomahawk’s Dane DeKiep.

Reimann was credited with a win against Tomahawk in the 50-yard freestyle in a season-best 24.42 seconds. He beat Hatchet Sam Zastrow by 0.06 seconds and trailed Antigo’s Rutger Busse by 0.21 seconds. Reimann was third overall in the 100-yard butterfly, finishing in 1:06.25. He trailed DeKiep (1:00.34) and Antigo’s Ezra Santiago (1:01.59).

Briggs was fifth overall for Medford in the 50-yard freestyle at 28.89 seconds and Aiden Thao was ninth at 44.93 seconds.

Jones got the win against Antigo in the 100-yard backstroke. Finishing in 1:44.66, he beat Red Robin Ted Baginski by 0.44 seconds to take second overall behind Tomahawk’s Toby Scott (1:23.7). Jones added a fourth-place overall time of 2:56.47 in the 200-yard freestyle, lowering his time by 8.4 seconds from two days earlier.

Mann was second in both duals and third overall in the 100-yard backstroke with his time of 1:26.81. Tomahawk’s Zach Germano won in 1:07.79 and Santiago finished in 1:20.57. Mann was fifth overall in the 100-yard freestyle at 1:07.02, while Thao was eighth at 1:50.18 while swimming the event for the first time.

Rouiller, Mann, Reimann and Travis were second overall in the 200-yard medley relay at 2:06.1. Tomahawk had the first- (1:50.31) and third-place teams, (2:24.44), while Antigo was a distant fourth at 2:40.23. Jones, Mann, Thao and Reimann were fourth overall in the 200yard freestyle relay at 2:18.34, while Curtis, Thao, Jones and Rouiller were fourth overall in the 400-yard freestyle relay at 5:37.74.

Home double-dual

Returning to competition after nearly three weeks off, the Raiders nearly beat Shawano-Seymour, falling 80-71, and were defeated by Rhinelander 128-37 on Senior Night at the MASH pool.

Rhinelander took the top two spots overall in nine of the 11 events during the double-dual meet, but head-to-head against Shawano-Seymour, Medford was credited with seven wins. The Thunder Hawks were just able to outscore the Raiders with a little more depth and a key win in the 200-yard freestyle relay.

In his last home meet, Reimann was second overall and first against Shawano-Seymour in the 100-yard butterfly with his time of 1:06.25. He was third overall and first against the Thunder Hawks in the 50yard freestyle, lowering his time to 24.99 seconds.

Rouiller was third overall and first against Shawano-Seymour in the 200yard individual medley and 500-yard freestyle. His medley time was 2:38.07 and his 500-yard time was a season-best 6:03.26. Mann was third overall and first against Shawano-Seymour in the 100yard breaststroke with his improved time of 1:23.97. Curtis also improved significantly in his last MASH pool swim, taking sixth and third at 1:35.21.

The 200-yard medley relay team of Rouiller, Mann, Reimann and Travis was third and first in 2:05.66, just a shade off its season-best time. The 400-yard freestyle relay team of Travis, Briggs, Jones and Rouiller was third and first as well with its time of 4:38.64, just over a second off its season-best. Travis, Mann, Briggs and Reimann swam the 200-yard freestyle relay in 1:54.54, 0.12 seconds off their best time of the winter. They were 5.42 seconds behind Shawano-Seymour. Rhinelander had the top two teams at 1:44.69 and 1:47.65. The team of Schulz, Seidel, Curtis and Thao was sixth overall at 2:31.05.

Mann added a fourth-place overall time of 1:06.43 in the 100-yard freestyle. Schulz was seventh in 1:12.62 and Seidel was eighth in a much-improved time of 1:15.66. Schulz led Medford with a fifthplace overall time of 1:33.36 in the 100yard backstroke, while Jones cut more than 15 seconds while taking sixth in 1:40.43 and Seidel was seventh in 1:44.28. Jones (3:04.87) and Curtis (3:09.37) were seventh and eighth in the 200-yard freestyle while Travis (29.25) and Briggs (30.34) were seventh and ninth in the 50yard freestyle.