GNC BOYS SWIM MEET - Medley relay 4th, Reimann gets two 5ths at GNC swim meet

GNC BOYS SWIM MEET

While nobody was challenging the host Rhinelander Hodags in Friday’s Great Northern Conference Championships, Medford’s boys swim team ended GNC competition with some solid times and seven top-six finishes to take some momentum into this weekend’s WIAA Division 2 sectional competition.

The Raiders scored 111 points to place fifth in the six-team meet. They outscored the Lakeland Thunderbirds (82) and were 20 points behind fourth-place Antigo, who they tied for fourth place in the final overall standings for the season. Both teams finished with eight points, well ahead of Lakeland (2).

To no one’s surprise, Rhinelander crushed the competition Friday with 463 points and won the overall season championship with 22 points. The Hodags won every race in the meet and had at least the top two finishers in five of them. Tomahawk finished second with 235 points in the meet and 18 points in the overall standings. Shawano-Seymour was third with 168 points in the meet and 14 points in the standings.

Medford’s top finish in Friday’s meet came right away in the first event when Logan Rouiller, Roger Mann, Mason Reimann and Hudson Briggs teamed up to take fourth in the 200-yard medley relay at 2:04.28. They were one spot short of earning an All-GNC honorable mention award as Antigo took third in 2:01.32. Rhinelander (1:40.15) and Tomahawk (1:47.61) took the top two spots with Rhinelander’s time being the first of five conference meet records it would set in Friday’s meet.

Medford’s time in the relay was the fastest a Raiders combination has posted this winter.

To end the meet, the 400-yard freestyle relay team of Rouiller, Briggs, Mann and Brandon Curtis took fifth in 4:39.01. Rhinelander won in another GNC record time of 3:18.3. In between, Medford’s 200yard freestyle relay team of Reimann, Mann, Briggs and Rouiller was sixth in 1:50.3, easily the fastest time of the season for a Raider team. Rhinelander won that race in a GNC record time of 1:29.53.

Reimann placed fifth in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 24.46, just 0.04 seconds off his season best, while Briggs came in seventh at a season-best 27.21 seconds to combine for 17 points. Aiden Thao was 21st in a personal-best 42.31 seconds. Hodag Mathias Fugle set the GNC record while winning in 21.89 seconds.

Reimann added a fifth-place time in the 100-yard butterfly, lowering his time to 1:05.63. Rhinelander had the top three finishers, all in less than 58 seconds.

Rouiller, who got honorable mention last year in the 500-yard freestyle, settled for fifth place this year with his time of 6:01.92. Freshmen took three of the top four spots in that race, led by Rhinelander’s Dean Gillingham in 5:15.96. Curtis placed ninth for Medford in 8:28.61. In just his second 500 of the season, the senior lowered his time by almost 15 seconds.

Mann placed sixth in the 100-yard breaststroke, tying his season-best time of 1:23.77. Curtis took 12th in 1:39.54 in an event won by Rhinelander’s Shawn Denis in a GNC-record time of 1:01.32.

Anthony Seidel was 17th for Medford in the 100-yard freestyle at 1:20.94 and Thao was 19th in 1:37.79.

Next up for head coach Terry Werner’s crew is the WIAA Division 2 Ashwaubenon sectional, which is set for Saturday at noon. Each event champion at this meet is guaranteed a spot in the Feb. 21 state championships at Waukesha South. The top 12 non-winning times statewide amongst the four Division 2 sectionals will also qualify swimmers for state.