Buchan’s time was 5:48.23, while ….

Buchan’s time was 5:48.23, while Dittrich came in at 6:10.64, well ahead of Busse (6:47.75). Antigo won the 200-meter freestyle relay in 2:01.13, but Damm, Kesan, Mitchell and Sislo were second in 2:21.37 and Mueller, Di Benedetto, Dittrich and Buchan placed third in 2:37.17 to keep the Raiders ahead by 10.

Dylan Kraemer took second (1:44.77) and Kesan (1:47) placed fourth in the 100-meter backstroke, but Antigo closed the gap by three points with Karl winning in 1:29.08 and Ben Tincher taking third in 1:44.99. Beaber (1:33.23) and Farrar (1:35.71) took the top two spots in the 100-yard breaststroke ahead of Sislo (1:43.37) and Di Benedetto (1:57.79) to make it 67-65 going into the last event.

Farmer, Busse, Farrar and Karl won the 400-meter freestyle relay in 4:58.52 to give Antigo eight points. Buchan, Kesan, Dittrich and Damm took second in 5:46.26 and Di Benedetto, Kraemer, Mueller and Sislo took third in 6:29.76 to give Medford six points in the race and secure the tie.

Antigo (0-2-1 in the GNC) and Medford (0-3-1) will meet again in Medford on Jan. 23.

Medford hosts a strong Tomahawk squad today, Thursday, at 5:30 p.m. at the MASH pool. The Hatchets come in a 3-1 in league duals are coming off a big 85-83 win over Lakeland Tuesday.

Lakeland 108, Medford 54

With a week between meets, the Raiders had a chance regroup before their Thursday dual with Lakeland the results were pretty positive in a 108-54 home loss to the T-Birds.

“Everybody can go back to basics on certain things,” Medford head coach Shari Bergman said. “Our flip turns have gotten a lot better. We went back to basics on flip turns on Monday and it’s helped. They’re happy with where they’re at. When the guys were seeing they were cutting so much time, seven seconds here, 11 seconds there, I’m just as excited as they are to see that. That’s truly fun.”

The season’s third meet was highlighted by big drops in times by veterans Buchan and Dittrich in the 500-yard freestyle. Buchan won it in 6:32.79 and Dittrich cut 19 seconds from a week earlier and took second in 6:44.53.

“Those two still have a lot to cut,” Bergman said. “Isaac was at a 7:02 with Shawano (Dec. 3) and then with Rhinelander (Dec. 5) he was at a 7:03. He wants it. He’s working hard.”

Dittrich earlier took third in the 200yard freestyle at a season-best 2:30.77, which was about three seconds off his personal-best time from last year. Buchan lost his goggles at the start of race, resulting in contact lens troubles but managed to take fourth in 2:35.56.

Ethan Kraemer’s move to the 100-yard butterfly appears permanent after the junior took second in 1:17.12, cutting 7.25 seconds from his first-ever fly a week earlier. Griesbach took third in 1:28.24.

“Ethan has really shown in the last couple of weeks that he’s actually quite strong in the butterfly,” Bergman said. “He was really happy. This is his new favorite event. So he doesn’t want to do freestyle anymore. He wants to continue to get better at the butterfly and he absolutely can.”

Ethan Kraemer added a personal-best time of 1:17.65 in the 100-yard backstroke, good for third place, while Dylan Kraemer cut his time to 1:41.62, good for fifth.

The Raiders also had a big night in the 100-yard breaststroke, where all three first-year swimmers set new personal bests. Mitchell, a freshman, was second in 1:23.76, Sislo, a junior, was fifth in 1:35.51 and Di Benedetto was sixth in 1:39.85.

“We’ve just been trying to work with their breaststroke pullouts,” Bergman said, “They’re not perfect, they’re not spot on, but they are substantially better than what they were.”

Griesbach took third in the 200-yard individual medley in a season-best 2:50. Damm was third in both sprint freestyles. He swam the 50-yard race in 28.85 seconds, while Mitchell was fifth in 31.35 seconds and Kesan was sixth in 32.23 seconds. Damm’s 100-yard time was 1:06.28, while Di Benedetto lowered his time to 1:14.48 and Sislo dropped to 1:19.35. They were fifth and sixth.

Newcomer Tayler Mueller, who joined the team at the start of the week, debuted with a second-place time of 34.05 seconds in the JV 50-yard freestyle, while Dylan Kraemer was third in 34.91 seconds.

Damm, Buchan, Kesan and Griesbach gave Lakeland a run in the 200-yard freestyle relay, finishing 2.79 seconds behind the T-Birds’ top team in 1:59.57. Dylan Kraemer, Sislo, Di Benedetto and Dittrich were fourth in 2:14.78. Buchan, Griesbach, Ethan Kraemer and Damm earned second in the 400-yard freestyle relay at 4:30.76, 11.29 seconds behind Lakeland. Dittrich, Kesan, Mitchell and Sislo got the third-place points in 5:21.42.

Ethan Kraemer, Di Benedetto, Mitchell and Kesan finished third in the 200yard medley relay at 2:17.23.