MEDFORD GIRLS SWIMMING - Seniors celebrated in style with easy final home swim win

MEDFORD GIRLS SWIMMING

With little doubt about the final outcome, the focus for the Medford Raiders was celebrating their seven seniors Thursday night, who all contributed strong swims in the team’s 121-43 win over Mosinee in their final home meet.

The win gave Medford a 6-1 record in the Great Northern Conference dual meets and put the Raiders in position to secure a second-place finish overall if they can continue to succeed at Friday’s GNC Championships that will be hosted by Antigo at 5 p.m. The Raiders finished 8-1 overall in dual meets.

“It was a really special night honoring our seniors in their last meet in Raider Pool,” Medford head coach Morgan Wilson said. “There were a lot of laughs and tears during the break as our juniors reminisced on memorable times throughout the seasons. All of the seniors came out and swam their tails off. We are going to miss all of them very much next year. They have shown great leadership and dedication.”

Two of the seniors earned individual victories. Colby Bergman reduced her time in the 500-yard freestyle to a personal- best 5:49.83 that won by a 2.28-second margin over Mosinee’s Haylie Kluz. Ady Dittrich was third in a personalbest 6:01.92 and Mackenzie Petersen was fourth, dropping her time to 6:27.76 in her second-ever 500.

Jordyn Johnson picked up a win in the 100-yard breaststroke with her time of 1:20.72 that was a fraction of a second shy of a season-best. Senior teammate Paige Wilkins was second in 1:34.25, her second-best time of the fall.

“Colby again dropped time in her 500, breaking below 5:50, and Jordyn dropped a good chunk of time in her 200,” Wilson said. “Both did it crying in their goggles too.”

Bergman added a second-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle, which was the only event Medford didn’t win. Kluz won in 2:09.47, but Bergman was second in 2:12.53, followed by Johnson in a personal- best 2:14.29 and senior Kassidy Janda in a season-best 2:35.16. Junior Sydney Sperl won two individual events. One was the 100-yard backstroke, which she swam for the first time this year. She won in 1:06.98 with seniors Breanna Kraemer (1:10.17) and Jackie Williams (1:16.06) combining for seven points right behind her. Sperl won the 100-yard freestyle in 59.22 seconds, while Raider Kodi Rappe was second in 1:04.41 and Janda took fifth at 1:09.59.

Rappe won the 200-yard individual medley in 2:34.03, just ahead of teammate Layla Petersen, who set her best time in that race at 2:37.22. Petersen later won the 100-yard butterfly in a personal-best 1:10.08, just ahead of Chelsea Gebauer (1:10.89). Just before the break, Gebauer won the 50-yard freestyle in 27.39 seconds, while Kraemer (29.08) and Cadance Haenel (29.92) completed a Medford sweep of the top three spots.

The all-senior team of Johnson, Kraemer, Williams and Bergman won the 200yard freestyle relay in 1:53.96, beating Mosinee’s top team by 4.26 seconds. Haenel, Janda, Jolie Steliga and Mackenzie Petersen got the two third-place points in 2:00.2 and Wilkins, Chloe Pipkorn, Jayda Fryklund and senior Lindsey Klapatauskas took fourth in 2:11.

Layla Petersen, Gebauer, Bergman and Sperl won the 400-yard freestyle in 4:09.14, while Williams, Dittrich, Rappe and Johnson got the four second-place points at 4:29.17. Haenel, Janda, Macken- zie Petersen and Kraemer were fourth at 4:51.86.

Layla Petersen, Gebauer, Sperl and Rappe started the meet by winning the 200-yard medley relay in 2:04.48, while Dittrich, Williams, Steliga and Haenel took second in 2:15.39. Pipkorn, Wilkins, Fryklund and Klapatauskas placed fourth in 2:27.25.

“Although not everyone had a personal best, overall our times are faster than last year during this time of the season which means we are in a good place heading into the conference meet,” Wilson said.