Colby-Abby swim falls in final dual of season
The Colby/Abby swim team made the journey north to Ladysmith for their final conference dual of the season. Heading into the meet, the two co-ops sat firmly in the middle of the Great Northern conference, with the home Trident team boasting a 4-2 conference dual record and the visitors even at 3-3. The Tridents used victories in several close events and a consistent string of third place finishes in those events to pull away from the Colby/Abby team, defeating them by a score of 104-64.
Colby/Abby won three of the 11 events on Thursday, though those results and the final team scores don’t exactly paint an accurate picture of the team’s outing. 15 personal bests were set at the meet and there were a number of races that were decided by mere tenths of a second.
As has been the case in several meets this season, the Colby/Abby squad started off the afternoon with a closely contested race in the 200-yard medley relay. The Tridents relay led for much of the event, but the visiting team of Madisyn Schraufnagel, Brezlyn Boyer, Jordan Jakel and Chloe Cihlar made things close with a furious comeback effort. The home team held off the challengers, finishing with a time of 2:04.23, with the Colby/Abby relay coming in just behind them with a time of 2:04.89.
The relay team of Schraufnagel, Boyer, Jakel and Cihlar would have another shot at the same Trident relay that they lost to in the 200-yard medley later on, as the two teams would collide again in the 200yard freestyle relay. This time, the Colby/Abby relay emerged victorious, putting in a time of 1:52.03, putting over a second between themselves and the Tridents’ top team. The second Colby/Abby relay of Olivia Krause, Hazel Flink, Hailey Meyer and Lilly Graun also beat out the Tridents’ second relay to take third in the event with a time of 2:06.57.
Schraufnagel and Cihlar had the other two wins for the co-op in Ladysmith. Schraufnagel won the 100-yard butterfly by nearly two seconds, finishing with a time of 1:05.43. Meanwhile, Cihlar crushed the field in the 100-yard freestyle. Her time of 58.75 seconds far outpaced the next closest swimmer, who came in with a time of 1:05.16.
Cihlar very nearly added a third victory two events earlier. She was narrowly defeated by Madeline Bunton of the home co-op in the 50-yard freestyle, where less than three-tenths of a second separated the two swimmers. Cihlar finished with a time of 26.39, just behind Bunton’s 26.13.
Jakel also found herself on the short end of a close finish in the 200-yard IM. She very nearly notched a victory for the visitors, but couldn’t hold off the Tridents’ Hannah Minton, finishing with a time of 2:38.35 to Minton’s 2:37.35.
Other second place performances included Jakel’s finish in the 500-yard freestyle, where she finished with a time of 6:44.57, and Schraufnagel’s effort in the 100-yard backstroke, in which she posted a time of 1:06.13.
Hailey Meyer had two third place finishes for the Colby/Abby co-op. She posted a time of 2:42.79 in the 200-yard freestyle and a time of 1:35.38 in the 100-yard breaststroke.
With the regular season concluded, the Colby/ Abby team ends with a 3-4 record in their conference duals. They will compete in the Great Northern conference meet next, which will be held in Tomahawk this Thursday, October 20. The start time for the competition is set for 5:00 p.m.
