MEDFORD GIRLS SWIMMING - Swimmers sink Marshfield; pass their last non-conference test

MEDFORD GIRLS SWIMMING

There appeared to be no fatigue Thursday for the Medford swimmers, who capped a rare three-meet week with a 95-68 win over Marshfield in the home opener for 2024.

Chelsea Gebauer earned two of Medford’s six events wins individually and was part of two relay wins, while Sophie Sperl won a close race in the 100-yard breaststroke as Medford went to 2-0 in dual meets, two days after beating Merrill.

“We had another great showing by the entire team with lots of times dropped again,” assistant coach Mandy Haenel said. “The depth of the team came through to help the girls win some crucial events in this meet. We told them we needed everyone to have stellar races and they stepped it up when we needed it the most. It was nice to see so many smiling faces as they finished their races and saw their times.”

Medford led just 46-44 through six of the 11 races, but took over from there, winning four of the last five events and getting at least two of the top three spots in each.

Gebauer’s had both of Medford’s wins in the first half of the meet. First, the senior took the 200-yard freestyle convincingly in 2:15.9, while Sophie Sperl was second at 2:24.72. Gebauer lowered her time from Merrill by 0.68 seconds to 59.41 seconds while winning the 100-yard freestyle. Marshfield’s Shiloh Smith was 1.86 seconds behind. Cadance Haenel took third in 1:09.38, while freshman Aliyah Galan took a huge chunk out of her time from two nights earlier while taking sixth in 1:14.91.

The Raiders started to separate from Marshfield in the 500-yard freestyle, where Adalyn Dittrich won easily in 6:08.07 and Jayda Fryklund took third in 6:41.46. A 12-2 scoring advantage in the 200-yard freestyle relay followed. Tana Rappe, Kodi Rappe, Sydney Sperl and Gebauer won in 1:51.9, just ahead of teammates Tori Nicks, Layla Petersen, Haenel and Dittrich (1:54.97). Galan, Mata Decker, Elizabeth Bartnik and Autumn Venzke added a fourth-place time of 2:29.

Sophie Sperl finished the breaststroke in 1:14.55 to edge Tiger Brooke Begotka by 0.07 seconds. Kodi Rappe was third in 1:23.19 and Fryklund got the fifth-place point at 1:26.39.

Gebauer, Nicks, Petersen and Chiara D’Arienzo closed out the meet by winning the 400-yard freestyle relay in 4:11.1, 11.79 seconds ahead of Marshfield’s top team. Dittrich, Sophie Sperl, Haenel and Fryklund got the two third-place points in 4:28.56.

In the midst of that late run by Medford was the 100-yard backstroke where D’Arienzo took second in 1:07.63, Sydney Sperl was third in 1:10.13 and Tana Rappe was fifth in 1:14.27. Marshfield’s Terra Risa won in 1:04.74.

D’Arienzo also took second in the 200yard individual medley with a time of 2:32.68, just ahead of Kodi Rappe’s 2:36.24.

Tana Rappe was fifth in 2:44.88. Risa won in 2:25.99. Sydney Sperl swam the 100-yard butterfly in 1:08.68, good for second behind Begotka (1:05.19). Petersen was third at 1:12.06.

To start the dual meet, D’Arienzo, Sophie Sperl, Kodi Rappe and Sydney Sperl just missed a win in the 200-yard medley relay, finishing 0.13 seconds behind the Tigers’ top team in 2:01.11. Nicks, Fryklund, Petersen and Tana Rappe took third in 2:10.31.

Dittrich (28.22), Nicks (28.98) and Haenel (29.71) were third, fourth and fifth in the 50-yard freestyle.

Decker dropped her time to 1:29.33 to win the JV 100-yard freestyle while Bartnik (1:32.73) was second. Galan won the JV 100yard backstroke in 1:40.79 and Venzke won the JV 50-yard freestyle in 34.84 seconds, while Bartnik (38.33) was third and Decker (40.91) was fourth.

“We saw some more personal bests and that's pretty exciting since we were only in week three of the season,” Mandy Haenel said. “As a collective coaching team, we are very excited to see what these girls will do as the season progresses.”

Medford hosts Mosinee today, Thursday, at 5:30 p.m. to start Great Northern Conference competition. Antigo visits the MASH pool on Sept. 12.