Raiders win easily again; GNC meet is set for Friday

MEDFORD GIRLS SWIMMING

Taking advantage of yet another Great Northern Conference swim team that is down on numbers this fall, the Medford Raiders cruised to a 96-68 win over host Lakeland Thursday to finish league duals with a 6-1 record.

The Thunderbirds have quality in their program, but with just six swimmers available on Thursday, they didn’t have the quantity to threaten Medford, who solidified its hold on second place in the standings heading into Friday’s GNC Championships at Rhinelander.

“The girls have been putting in a lot of yards so we expected them to be a little tired but they put up some good times,” Medford head coach Betsy Meinel said. “We were able to adjust the lineup again with Lakeland only having six swimmers. We had three freshmen swim the 100 fly, two of which do not normally swim that event. I think they all surprised themselves with how well they did in that event. Each of our 500 swimmers cut time with Jordyn Johnson cutting over 20 seconds from the last time she swam the event. Our relay splits were not what we were hoping for, but definitely can be expected for early October.”

Medford won two of the meet’s three relays. Aiden Denzer, Chelsea Gebauer, Sydney Sperl and Kami Razink started the meet by winning an exciting 200-yard medley relay in 2:05.56. They clipped the T-Birds by just 0.09 seconds. Medford’s team of Colby Bergman, Jackie Williams, Erica Brandner and Maddie Williams was third in 2:17.51, while Madisyn Pilgrim, Kirsten Weix, Kassidy Koncel and Breanna Kraemer took fourth in 2:32.45.

Lacey Brandner, Tana Rappe, Sperl and Razink won the 400-yard freestyle in 4:18, beating the T-Birds’ team by 6.23 seconds. Cadence Haenel, Maddie Williams, Weix and Johnson were third in 4:36.69 and Koncel, Pilgrim, Shaniah Brandt and Mackenzie Petersen finished fourth in 5:08.61.

Lacey Brandner led Medford’s strong effort in the 500-yard freestyle, shaving off just over two seconds off her previous week’s time and winning in 6:03.06. Johnson was second in 6:27.63 and Weix took fourth in 6:41.94, cutting about five seconds. Brandner also was the runnerup in the 200-yard freestyle behind Lakeland’s Josie Wentland (2:06.95). Brandner finished in 2:20, while Haenel was third in 2:40.28 and Brandt was fourth in 2:46.67.

Denzer won two individual events. The junior captured the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:17.68, just ahead of Gebauer (1:19.18). Jackie Williams was fourth in 1:33.6, just 1.19 seconds behind Lakeland’s Sophia Gyuro. The 200-yard individual medley was a Raiders-only event, with Denzer (2:30.4), Sperl (2:37.87) and Jackie Williams (2:51.93) competing.

In the 100-yard butterfly Meinel spoke of, Sperl led Medford with a third-place time of 1:13.13, while Gebauer (1:19.15) and Rappe (1:26.14) were fourth and fifth in their first attempts of the fall in that event. Lakeland’s Naomi Hamerla won in 1:03.79.

Johnson finished second in the 50yard freestyle at 28.66 seconds, trailing Lakeland standout Rylee Ahlborn (25.99). Erica Brandner was fourth in 29.17 seconds and Petersen was fifth in 32.51 seconds. Koncel placed third in the 100-yard freestyle at 1:10.8 and Pilgrim was fourth at 1:15.69.

Bergman was third in the 100-yard backstroke at 1:12.25, followed by Kraemer (1:13.79) and Maddie Williams (1:22.1). Hamerla won in 1:08.74.

Lakeland’s team of Brie Wescott, Hamerla, Wentland and Ahlborn won the 200-yard freestyle relay in 1:46.91, while Medford’s Gebauer, Rappe, Maddie Williams and Razink were next at 1:57.57. Third went to Medford’s Bergman, Kraemer, Erica Brandner and Haenel (2:04.45), while Pilgrim, Koncel, Brandt and Petersen were fourth (2:18.36).

At Friday’s conference meet, individual first-team and second-team awards as well as honorable mention will be presented in each event. The team championship will be awarded based on points earned in both the dual-meet season and conference meet itself and will go to Rhinelander barring something drastic.

Medford, however, is hoping to at least make the Hodags work for it.

“This was our last dual meet of the season and I think it set us up well for conference next week,” Meinel said. “We are hoping our depth will keep us in second place.”