Swim co-op small, but mighty
The Abbotsford/Colby swim co-op is ready to make a splash, with the start of the 2021 season already underway after the swimmers first tournament in Marshfield on Tuesday, Aug. 24.
That’s already a vast difference from 2020, when COVID-19 resulted in dual meets only and a virtual Great Northern Conference meet.
“We’re going to Marshfield, and that we weren’t allowed to have last year. We’re allowed to have the pentathlon, middle school are back to having their meets, which are all triangular and quads. So, I think we are getting back to normal,” says head coach Monica Tesmer.
The biggest challenge on Tesmer’s plate is now numbers with only ten swimmers out for the team.
“We’ve lost five seniors from last year, and I only have ten on the team,” Tesmer says. “But I’m excited about having ten on the team because it could be less.”
On the bright side, the co-op will be represented in the dive portion of competitions with the addition of Riley Bellendorf, a transfer to the team from Minnesota. Tesmer hopes Bellendorf can be a factor in final team scores.
Tesmer will know more about what her team’s strengths and weaknesses are once the first week is over, especially the swimmers favorite meet of the year, the home pentathlon on Wednesday, Aug. 25.
“The pentathlon is really going to help coaches figure out what we should be swimming. So what’s happening now is we’re working the kids to see what they can do that’s going to best help us as a team. They might not be swimming all the events they want, but ideally, I’d like to put one person in every event.”
The co-op returns Lexi White, Hailey Meyer, Chase Klemetson, Zanza Haemer, Ivee Conley and Olivia Krause.
White, now a senior, missed last year’s virtual Great Northern Conference Championships due to COVID-19 quarantines, and Tesmer has high hopes for White in the sprints.
After White, Tesmer has her work cut out for her as she attempts to find the race most suited for each swimmer. With Brooklyn Filtzkowski and Lanie Hediger having graduated this spring, there are holes to fill in the 500 and 200-yard freestyle races, along with spots for backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly.
Theco-opdoesaddtwoswimmers,with the addition of Chloe Cihlar and Olivia Johnson, but all in all, the co-op has it’s work cut out. In addition to Filtzkowski and Hediger, the co-op lost Morgan Weber, Thea Fellenz and Josie Hoppe to graduation. Paige Klement is also gone, after her family moved to Tomahawk.
“Relays are going to be hard. How many can we fill with eight girls? We can’t fill many, and they can still only max out with their four events.”
Tesmer says the challenges extend beyond numbers, with the middle school swim team forced to hold practices in Colby as the Abbotsford school district works to repair its damaged pool.
“Practices are a little challenging because all the middle school is here. . . the middle school has 23 kids in here during our practice time. It’s hard to work one on one with such a small team when there are 30 kids in the pool.”
With four seniors and two juniors, to go with the two sophomores and two freshmen, everyone knows what is expected of them.
“My goal is for them, number one, is to improve on time,” Tesmer explains. “I want everyone to improve on their swimming and above all, to have a good time. Yes, we understand the numbers are low and we’re not able to win a lot of meets, or win conference or win sectionals. But, once we hit sectionals there is that taper down, and there’s always the goal of having someone make it down to state. I think those goals are for everyone.”
Rhinelander is the favorite to win the Great Northern Conference this year, with Medford, Antigo, Ladysmith and Lakeland all in the mix. Like the Abby/ Colby co-op, numbers will be the biggest indicator of success.
“Maybe everybody’s numbers will be down? Numbers always seem to go up and down. I am excited that we have someone who wants to dive, and that we have as many as we do coming out,” Tesmer says.
“Hopefully we can fill events and grow the program. Like I said, my two goals are them having a fun year and improve on their times.”
