FINISHING STRONG


WIAA DIV. 2 GIRLS SWIMMING
After uncertain start, season ends on a high
Southern Wisconsinâs losses became northern Wisconsinâs gains in determining the field for the WIAA Division 2 girls state swim meet with the Medford Raiders being one of the teams benefiting from the unusual 2020 season.
Knocking on wood this week that everyone stays healthy, the Raiders are sending five entries to Fridayâs championship meet at Waukesha South High School, the programâs highest number in recent memory. Three of the five entries will swim in the second or âfastâ heat of their events, offering realistic belief that multiple top-six medals are within reach.
The Raiders and the rest of this yearâs qualifiers are taking advantage of the absence of several Division 2 powerhouse programs from this fallâs competition. Teams like five-time defending state champion Madison Edgewood, McFarland, Ashwaubenon and DeForest opted out of fall competition and wonât be there.
Fridayâs meet starts at 6 p.m. with limited fan attendance.
Those who are swimming Friday certainly arenât apologizing for making it as there was nothing easy about staying healthy and working around COVID issues.
âItâs not ideal, but hey we made it,â head coach Betsy Meinel said Monday. âWe just have to make it a couple more days and weâll get there. When the girls found out (about qualifying), they were all saying something good came out of COVID. This is a shining moment for us. Weâre going to have this memory and be able to say, âlook at what we were able to do with limited resources.â I mean, we had maybe two weeks where everyone was here.â
The qualifying crew features state veterans Erin Bergman, Morgan Ball and Kami Razink and first-timers Lacey Brandner and Aiden Denzer. Sophomore Kirsten Weix and freshman Colby Bergman will make the trip as relay alternates.
Erin Bergman is making her fourth state appearance in the 100-yard backstroke and her second in the 100-yard freestyle. Ball earned her first individual qualification in the 100-yard butterfly. Denzer joins the veterans in the 200-yard medley relay, while Brandner leads off for the statebound 400-yard freestyle relay. Medfordâs five entries were all among the top 12 non-winning times posted statewide during Saturdayâs four Division 2 sectionals.
The sectional meet took on a different look Saturday. Instead of all 13 schools packed into one facility, the WIAA split them into two sites ââ Medford and Rhinelander ââ and then combined the times. The Medford site turned into a five-team event when Mosinee pulled out that morning.
âWe definitely knew that we had to continue pushing ourselves at this sectional because of the other sectional that was going to be combined with us,â Bergman said. âWe knew that even if we were up ahead here, thereâs always going to be people faster than us in Rhinelander.â
That turned out to be the case as only two sectional champions came out from the Medford side. They were Faith Forsberg of Rice Lake in the 50-yard freestyle and Madeline Bunton of the Ladysmith Co-op in the 500-yard freestyle.
âIt was interesting,â Meinel said. âDo I want to do it again? No. If we have to, yeah. I missed that camaraderie. I missed seeing all those swimmers that you see all season and you donât get to see how they finish. We wonât even get to see them on Friday because weâll be ushered in for our events and ushered back out, unless theyâre in ours. But thatâs OK. We made it.â
Making it to state is certainly nothing new for Bergman. After her four events Friday, she will conclude her Medford swim career with 12 state swims, seven individually and five in relays. Most notably, sheâs shooting for a fourth medal in her signature event, the 100-yard backstroke. Sheâs finished sixth at state the past two years and was fourth as a freshman in 2017. The St. Cloud State-bound Bergman was third in the sectional with a season-best time of 59.6 seconds behind Rhinelanderâs Malia Francis (55.87) and Lisa Kennedy (59.51).
âHonestly Iâm just happy to be going to state this year,â Bergman said. âIf I wouldnât have been able to go because of COVID it wouldâve been really sad. I knew going into it my goal was to get a good seed so I could be in the last heat at state.â
Based on sectional times, Bergman is the fifth seed in the stateâs backstroke field. Francis is the favorite. On Friday, Bergman will get one last shot to lower her school record of 58.53, which she set at the state meet in Madison in 2018.
âI definitely need to work on my turns and my underwaters this week,â she said. âI know thatâs been some of the best things for the past couple of years with me are my turns and underwater, but this year theyâre just off. I havenât been able to fix it. Iâm really going to have to work on it this week.â
The 100-yard freestyle appearance will be Bergmanâs first at state. In previous years, sheâs swam in the 200-yard freestyle as a sophomore and the 200-yard individual medley as a freshman, finishing 10th in both. Her sectional time was 55.3 seconds, good for fifth place. The sectional sent nine swimmers to state in the event, led by Rhinelander freshman Abi Winnicki (53.43). Bergman is the eighth seed in the state race.
âLast year I missed out on the 100 free by one place,â Bergman said. âThis year, even though my time wasnât as fast as it was last year (a school-record 54.62), Iâm still in right now. I know I can drop time in that too, just based on my turns and underwaters.â
Ball, who plans to swim collegiately next year at the University of Minnesota-Morris, earned one of the teamâs surprise state berths, according to Meinel. But itâs a deserving one for the senior co-captain, who nearly hit her school record in the 100-yard butterfly with a sixth-place time of 1:02.72. Ball got the last state-qualifying spot and is seeded 15th in the state field of 16.
âJust getting in individually in my senior year is a big thing,â Ball said. âIâve always wanted to go to state individually, especially in the 100 fly. Iâm just really excited and really pumped.â
Francis won Saturdayâs sectional title in 56.58 seconds, followed by Wausau Eastâs Emma Clifford (58.75), Rhinelanderâs Karis Francis (1:01.51), Lakelandâs Naomi Hamerla (1:01.85) and Rice Lakeâs Clara Stinson (1:02.49).
âIt felt really good,â Ball said of Saturdayâs race. âMy stroke felt good. I just felt really good in the pool. Having Clara Stinson next to me I just felt really fast.â
Ball said sheâs excited to get one last shot at lowering her school record of 1:02.15 set at last yearâs sectional at Wisconsin Rapids.
âThe goal is to break the record and to get under 1:02 is a big goal as well,â Ball said.
Meinel knew it would be a good day at the sectional when the 200-yard medley team opened the meet with a seasonbest 1:54.07, a time thatâs just behind last yearâs school record of 1:53.66, set at the sectional. Last year, Bergman, Faith Piller, Ball and Razink placed 16th at state. This year, with Bergman swimming the backstroke leg, Denzer taking over the breaststroke spot, Ball swimming the butterfly and Razink in the freestyle spot, the Raiders are seeded sixth in the fast heat.
âEven last year, we knew weâd be set this year with Aiden for our breaststroke,â Bergman said. âWe knew it was going to be close, getting the same time too as last year. I think at state we have a decent chance of dropping more time in that.â
Denzer, a sophomore, said it was a smooth transition slipping into the teamâs breaststroke spot.
âIâve been going after Erin in a medley for awhile now,â she said. âSo it wasnât really that hard to get her down. Itâs been interesting I would say. I get along with them all pretty well.â
âI think that we each have something we can improve on Friday at state,â Bergman said. âI know my turn was off (Saturday) on my backstroke.â
âI know all season I was just counting on being able to go to state with Erin and Morgan again just because itâs their senior year,â said Razink, a junior. âWe werenât really sure how our season was going to end, if we were even going to be able to have a sectional. So that was just really awesome.â
Brandner, a junior, didnât fully take over Pillerâs spot in the 400-yard freestyle until October. Then she missed the Oct. 22 virtual Great Northern Conference meet while being quarantined.
âIt felt pretty good, then I was pretty sad that I couldnât swim at conference,â she said. âI was sad for that because I knew I wanted to get my time down before sectionals. But I didnât have that chance again. It ended up working out though I guess.â
Brandner, Razink, Ball and Bergman finished fifth in the sectional in 3:54.46. Seven sectional teams made it, led by Rhinelanderâs time of 3:43.33. The Raiders admit their time probably wouldnât have made the cut in a normal year, but they think they can do some damage at state, where they are seeded 12th.
âI think weâll really bring our A-game on Friday to try to drop that time,â Razink said.
One of the strangest things about the 2020 season was the uncertainty about how it would end. The WIAA didnât announce there would be sectional and state meets until early October, so teams were unsure of how to approach their workouts and taper regimen. The Raiders believe they took the right plan and their taper will hold Friday.
âI think when they decided that we were going to have a conference meet was when we thought, OK, sectionals and state is definitely on the table right now for us,â Bergman said.
âI didnât even think we were going to have a conference meet honestly,â Denzer said.
âEvery day we got to practice, it was like, well we made it another day,â Brandner said. âWe have to stay healthy this week.â
âNo one really knew,â Meinel said. âWe all kind of gambled. We all talked as a team and we asked, âwhat do you want to gamble on?â It was sectionals. Had it ended at conference, we wouldâve been bummed. But, it worked out well.â
Grateful for the season they wound up having, the girls are ready to give it their all one last time.
âThis year has been a whole lot of fun with everybody,â Bergman said. âThereâs definitely been a lot of talking at practice, but itâs definitely been super fun too. Thereâs been a lot of laughing and just dumb jokes.â
âI think itâs going to be pretty nerve wracking because itâs in a different pool and just being the last meet of our high school career,â Ball said. âItâs sad, but I think it will be pretty enjoyable. We get to show our stuff off, swim our fastest in our last meet.â
âIâm pretty excited for state,â Bergman said. âIâm stoked. I am so ready. Iâm definitely going to miss the team a lot. We definitely have some good memories with them. Iâm swimming at St. Cloud State University and I know basically the only reason I got there was because of my teammates and Betsy and (coach) Morgan (Wilson) and (former coach) Sally Nazer.â

Kami Razink cracks the one-minute barrier during Saturdayâs 100-yard freestyle. She finished in 58.84 seconds.ROSS PATTERMANN/TRIBUNE PHONOGRAPH
