WIAA DIV. 2 BOYS SWIM - Most swimmers end their seasons with best times

WIAA DIV. 2 BOYS SWIM

The 200-yard medley relay team earned a top-six spot on the awards podium, leading the efforts of the Medford Raiders, who closed their 2024-25 boys swim season Saturday with a ninth-place finish at the WIAA Division 2 Ashwaubenon sectional.

For the most part, the Raiders set their best times of the season. They improved by 18 points and one place over last year’s sectional meet. They earned six top-10 finishes in the meet, which was won for the seventh straight year by the Rhinelander Hodags, who edged Ashwaubenon 387-364 to win the championship plaque.

Rhinelander qualified 15 entries for the WIAA Division 2 state meet Friday at Waukesha South while Great Northern Conference runner-up Tomahawk qualified six entries while placing fifth in the team standings.

“Overall most of the entries cut time to season-best times,” Medford head coach Terry Werner said. “It took work last week to get ready. Our conditioning was very off this season, so we practiced things more than usual going into both the GNC meet and sectionals. The hard work paid off in ending our season with two meets that had personal bests and bests with our relays. I believe the boys enjoyed both of these final meets.”

The team of Logan Rouiller, Roger Mann, Mason Reimann and Reese Travis tied Menomonie for its sixth-place finish in the 200-yard medley relay, the first event of Saturday’s meet. Both team finished in 2:03.58, which was a season best for the Raiders’ crew. They were 5.88 seconds behind fifth-place Antigo. The top four teams earned state-qualifying times, led by Rhinelander’s 1:39.58.

Reimann, a senior, posted his best-ever time in the 100-yard butterfly while taking eighth out of 14 swimmers. His time was 1:03.07, which was 2.56 seconds faster than the previous week at the GNC meet. Tomahawk’s Dane Dekiep was third at 57.22 seconds and got the last state spot in the race, which was won by Rhinelander’s Charlie Antonuk in 55.37 seconds.

Reimann also placed 13th in the 50yard freestyle in 24.41 seconds, while Travis was 21st in 29.52 seconds and Aiden Thao was 31st in 45.97 seconds.

Rouiller, a junior, placed ninth the 100yard backstroke, shattering his previous best time from a week earlier. In a relatively new event for him, Rouiller finished in 1:06.65, lowering his time by 2.59 seconds. Five swimmers qualified for state in the event with Green Bay Notre Dame’s Quinn Collison taking the last spot at 58.28 seconds. Rhinelander’s Judson (55.48) and Dolan O’Malley (56.05) were the top two, followed by Dekiep (56.65).

Rouiller, Mann, Hudson Briggs and Reimann teamed up for a ninth-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle relay with a time of 1:47.9. That group was 2.4 seconds faster than it was at the GNC meet to easily earn the best time a Medford crew has had this season. Rouiller, Travis, Mann and Brandon Curtis were ninth in the 400-yard freestyle relay in 4:44.5.

Mann, a junior, got the last top-10 spot out of 21 finishers in the 100-yard breaststroke. His time of 1:20.06 beat Pulaski’s Oscar Delmarcelle by 0.67 seconds and beat his previous best time by 3.04 seconds. Curtis, a senior, also lowered his time significantly in his final individual race. He was 20th in 1:32.71, lowering his time by 7.07 seconds.

Briggs, another senior, set a new best time in the 100-yard freestyle while placing 16th in 1:04.42. He lowered his time 1.01 seconds from his previous season best.