Hodags deal co-op loss in final dual of season
By Nathaniel Underwood
In their final regular season dual meet of the season, the Colby/Abby swim team could not quite keep up with a highpowered Rhinelander squad on the road last week. The Hodags have dominated every conference opponent thus far this season and the co-op could not stop their push for another conference title, falling 130-40.
The Hodags demonstrated why they were not only undefeated in conference duals this season, but also had done so in a completely overpowering fashion. Rhinelander not only won every single event on Thursday, but they also took first and second in eight of the 11 varsity events. In three events, the home team took the top three spots, putting their depth on display as well.
Chloe Cihlar was the only individual to net Colby/Abby a second place finish on Thursday. The senior took second only behind Rhinelander’s Kyree McMahon in the 500-yard freestyle, putting up a time of 6:18.14 to grab the runner-up spot.
She was also part of the co-op’s 200-yard freestyle relay that took second place. Cihlar, along with Madisyn Schraufnagel, Brezlyn Boyer and Jordan Jakel, were perhaps the closest the co-op came to sniffing out a win on Thursday, putting up a time of 1:51.10 in the relay. The same team also took third in the 200-yard medley relay, posting a time of 2:02.31.
The relay team of Jakel, Hazel Flink, Bryleigh Boyer and Ella Baumann picked up the co-op’s third runner-up spot in the final event of the meet, posting a time of 4:32.23 in the 400-yard freestyle relay.
Schraufnagel had a pair of individual third place finishes for Colby/Abby against the Hodags. The junior put together a 2:23.08 performance in the 200-yard IM, holding off Rhinelander’s Ella Heck by the slimmest of margins. Schraufnagel also took third in the 100-yard backstroke, finishing with a time of 1:05.14.
Cihlar picked up another individual top-three finish after taking third in the 50-yard freestyle. She was three-tenths of a second off from another second-place finish, coming in just behind Rhinelander’s June Chiamulera with a time of 26.34 seconds.
With the final Great Northern conference dual in the books, Colby/Abby finished the regular season with a 5-2 record, earning themselves 10 conference points heading into the conference meet, which they host on Friday, Oct. 25. The coop they look to improve on their fourth place standing last season. The meet is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m.
