Lechleitner sets pool record in 50 freestyle
Senior Brooke Lechleitner set a home pool record for her Lake Holcombe-Ladysmith-Flambeau-Bruce-Bloomer swim team Oct. 26, as the Tridents hosted Rice Lake. Lechleitner captured the feat in 24.70, during the 50-yard freestyle event, coming in first.
Hosting their final home meet of the season, the Lake Holcombe- Ladysmith-Flambeau-Bruce-Bloomer Trident Swim and Dive team hosted the Rice Lake Warriors Oct. 26. The Tridents came out fighting and took many first place finishes over the course of the night, but in the end, the Warriors won out, 107-73.
The 200-yard medley relay featured junior Maddy Bunton, sophomore Madi Kempen, freshman Sarah Allard and junior Brooke Lechleitner, taking first place, with a time of 2:02.27. Bunton was right back in the pool with the 200-yard freestyle, taking another first, with a time of 2:04.52, followed by teammates freshman Lauren Hanson and junior Caitlyn Kolter taking the fifth and sixth places, respectively.
The 200-yard individual medley featured Kempen taking another 2 seconds off her previous best time, to hit the wall in 2:32.41, in second place, with junior Sanaa Trott and freshman Kayleen Powell taking the fourth and sixth places. The JV 50-yard freestyle featured junior Macy Kennedy swimming a personal best time of 33.43. Junior Izzy Mitchell and Kolter also had strong swims in this event.
The varsity 50 freestyle featured Lechleitner in her last home meet. With Lechleitner in Lane 3 and senior Rice Lake sprinter Faith Forsberg in Lane 4, the race started and the girls were off. “Brooke and Faith are two of the strongest sprinters in the state, with Faith taking first and Brooke third at the 2020 State meet,” said coach Matt Bunton. “The girls have a tremendous amount of respect for one another and you couldn’t ask for a better set-up for a very fast race.”
In the end, Lechleitner reached the wall in first place, with a new pool record of 24.70. She also set a team record at last year’s WIAA State meet, with a time of 24.58.
“We were all very excited for Brooke,” said Matt. “She has worked very hard over the past year, on the court, weight room and pool, so it’s great to see her hit a major goal, and capture both the team and pool records in this event!”
After the break, Lechleitner was back in the pool, to swim a personal best 100-yard butterfly time of 1:01.62. Junior Michelle Gaddy also hit a personal best in the event, taking fourth place, with freshman teammate Aly Lunemann touching the pad in fifth place.
The 100-yard freestyle had junior Sadie Heath and freshman Alaina Meskill each swimming personal bests, to take the third and sixth place finishes, with Allard taking fourth. In the 500-yard freestyle, Trott, Lauren and Mitchell swam strong races, to finish third, fifth and sixth, respectively.
The 200-yard freestyle relay featured Lechleitner, Allard, Kempen and Maddy taking another first place finish, with a time of 1:48.01. Their teammates, Powell, Mitchell, Kolter and Meskill, took fourth, with a season best time of 2:30.72.
The meet wrapped up with Maddy, Lunemann and Powell taking the first, fourth and sixth place finishes in the 100yard backstroke. Next in the pool, were Kempen and Gaddy, each swimming season best breaststroke races of 1:18.34 and 1:22.28, to take the first and fourth place finishes, with Allard taking fifth.
Finally, the relay team of Lunemann, Gaddy, Trott and Heath, combined, to take the third place finish in the 400-yard freestyle relay.
“I was very happy with how our girls raced tonight,” said Matt. “They showed a lot of fight and we had some great races.”
Matt says he is impressed with how far the freshmen swimmers have come this year, with Powell, Hanson, Luneman and Allard all having good swims. Matt also mentioned that Kempen had nice swims in the individual medley and breaststroke.
He was also happy to see Kennedy, Mitchell, Meskill, Kolter and Gaddy all post great times, including several season and personal best swims.
“And, of course, it was great seeing Brooke get four, first place finishes tonight, and claiming the new 50 freestyle pool record,” said Matt. “I’m very proud of all of the girls tonight!”
The Tridents will now race Nov. 6, at the WIAA Division 2 Sectional at Menomonie High School.
