MEDFORD BOYS SWIMMING - Swimmers earn double-dual split at Shawano in final pre-GNC tuneup

MEDFORD BOYS SWIMMING

In its final tune-up before the Great Northern Conference championship meet, Medford’s boys swim team outscored undermanned Lakeland 79-49 and hung with host Shawano-Seymour but lost 8362 in Monday’s double-dual.

In a meet that was pushed back six days due to last week’s extreme cold, Medford secured four overall victories, including two from Hudson Briggs, who took the 50yard and 100-yard freestyles. The Raiders were credited with seven event wins against the Thunderbirds, who have just four swimmers this year, and five in the scoring against the Thunder Hawks, who beat Lakeland 86-51.

Briggs swam the 50-yard freestyle in a season-best 27.84 seconds, which beat overall runner-up Brendon Riehl of Shawano-Seymour by 0.46 seconds. Raider Reese Travis was second against Lakeland and fourth against the Thunder Hawks at 30.47 seconds and Aiden Thao was fourth against Lakeland and sixth against the home team at 45.67 seconds.

In the 100-yard freestyle, Briggs lowered his time by 5.71 seconds to 1:05.43 to edge Lakeland’s Silas Fetrow by 0.03 seconds for the overall win and James Lange of Shawano-Seymour by 0.66 seconds to get the win in that dual as well. Raider Roger Mann was third against Lakeland and fourth against Shawano-Seymour with his time of 1:08.91 and Anthony Seidel was fourth and sixth at 1:13.07, his best time of the season.

The 200-yard medley relay team of Logan Rouiller, Mann, Mason Reimann and Travis was the overall winner in 2:07.98, 4.1 seconds ahead of Lakeland and well ahead of the Thunder Hawks (2:23.45). Reimann won the 100-yard butterfly in 1:08.9, beating Lakeland’s Garrison Jacques (1:20.61) and swimming unopposed against the hosts. He also was a winner against Lakeland in the 200-yard individual medley in 2:30.11, well ahead of Silas Fetrow (2:43.05). Shawano-Seymour’s Jonah Kuba was the overall winner in 2:22.83.

Rouiller was second overall in the 500yard freestyle in 6:03.08. He took first in the Lakeland meet, beating Braelen Hesch (6:29.89). Kuba easily was the overall winner in 5:30.76. Medford’s Brandon Curtis swam the 500 for the first time this season and finished in 8:43.46, good for third-place points against Lakeland and fourth-place points against Shawano-Seymour.

Mann earned a win against Shawano-Seymour in the 100-yard breaststroke with his season-best time of 1:23.77. He was just 0.08 seconds behind Hesch and 5.85 seconds ahead of Shawano-Seymour’s Dawson Maass. Curtis placed third against Lakeland and fourth against the Thunder Hawks in a time of 1:40.72.

The 200-yard freestyle relay team of Reimann, Mann, Travis and Briggs came in at 1:59.29 to trail Shawano-Seymour’s team by 8.39 seconds. Lakeland did not enter the event, giving the Raiders a win there. The 400-yard freestyle relay team of Travis, Briggs, Cullen Jones and Rouiller was third overall at 4:41.88 and got second-place points in the meets against Shawano-Seymour (4:22.2) and Lakeland (4:27.05).

A time of 3:01.11 for Jones in the 200yard freestyle put him second in the Lakeland meet behind Jacques (2:22.69) and third against the meet hosts. Jones was second behind Lakeland’s Hunter Guckenberg (1:17.83) and third behind Shawano-Seymour’s Nicholas Auchue (1:14.29) and Riehl (1:20.69) in the 100yard backstroke with his time of 1:44.91.

Monday’s results gave Medford a final dual-meet record of 3-9, which includes a 2-3 mark in official GNC duals from December.

The conference championships are set for Friday, Feb. 7 at Rhinelander and start at 5 p.m.