MEDFORD GIRLS SWIM - Swimmers win 8 events to tame Tigers

Kodi Rappe and Sophie Sperl enjoyed wins in all four of their events, all three relays were victorious and the Medford Raiders took eight of 11 events in all during Tuesday’s 11155 girls swim win at Marshfield.

Medford had at least two of the top three finishers in all of the varsity races, including top-three sweeps of the 100-yard and 50-yard freestyles, during the non-conference dual meet. The Raiders improved to 3-2 overall in duals with the win.

Rappe led both of those sprint sweeps. She posted a winning time of 1:02.35 in the 100yard freestyle, just ahead of teammates Tori Nicks (1:03.19) and Olivia Emmerich, who improved to a time of 1:05.59. Not long before that, Rappe won the 50-yard freestyle in 27.86 seconds, ahead of Nicks (29.09) and Raider senior Layla Petersen (29.79).

Petersen was the winner of the 200-yard freestyle, which she swam for the first time this fall. Her time was 2:19.38, just ahead of fellow senior Adalyn Dittrich, who came in at 2:21.88. Raider Emily Leao was fifth in 2:37.88.

The first of Sperl’s two individual wins came in the 200-yard individual medley. She shaved 1.75 seconds to finish in 2:33, well ahead of her freshman teammate Eva Strebig, who was second in 2:49.01. Sperl swam her first 100-yard butterfly of the season and won that in 1:14.18, edging past Marshfield’s Kedren Klumb by 0.11 seconds. Mylah Hamland was third for Medford in 1:16.92 and Saige Fettes was fourth at 1:33.74.

Not long after that race, Hamland (6:29.67) and Fettes (6:57.08) were second and third in the 500-yard freestyle behind Marshfield’s Ireland Moran (5:48.82).

Hamland, Sperl, Rappe and Nicks started the meet by winning the 200-yard medley relay in 2:05.21, easily beating Marshfield’s top team by 13.69 seconds. Medford’s team of Dittrich, Strebig, Leao and Fettes got the third-place points in 2:22.62 while Elizabeth Bartnik, Autumn Venzke, Savannah Hebert and Aliyah Galan were fourth in 2:54.31.

Nicks, Petersen, Sperl and Dittrich easily won the 200-yard freestyle relay in 1:56.46, 9.01 seconds ahead of the Tigers’ A team. Emmerich, Hebert, Strebig and Galan were third for Medford in 2:08.53. In the last race, Emmerich, Hamland, Petersen and Rappe won the 400-yard freestyle relay in 4:19.24, 20.58 seconds ahead of Marshfield’s runner-up squad. Leao, Fettes, Galan and Hebert got the two third-place points at 4:58.06.

Dittrich added a second-place finish in the 100-yard backstroke at 1:16.35, while Leao was third in 1:18.3 and Autumn Venzke was fifth in a much-improved 1:28.27. Moran won in 1:05.08. Strebig fell just short in the 100-yard breaststroke, finishing in 1:23.05, 0.94 seconds behind Klumb. Emmerich was third in 1:26.02 and Venzke was fifth in 1:44.56.

There were two JV races held. Hebert won the 50-yard freestyle in 32.27 seconds. Mata Decker (37.23) and Bartnik (40.56) were third and fourth. Decker won the 100-yard freestyle in 1:23.77, while Bartnik (1:26.64) was second.

Medford returns to Great Northern Conference competition today, Thursday, with a dual meet at Mosinee. The Raiders will host the Black River Falls Co-op Tuesday in a non-conference meet before going to Colby-Abbotsford on Sept. 25. All three meets start at 5:30 p.m.