Lechleitner and Bunton headed to State for Tridents

The Lake Holcombe-Ladysmith-Flambeau-Bruce-Bloomer Trident Swim team traveled to Menomonie High School, Nov. 6, to compete at the WIAA Division 2, Sectional meet.

The girls left the pool finishing in fourth place, in a 13team field, with Lake Holcombe senior Brooke Lechleitner and Ladysmith junior Madeline Bunton, moving on to the State meet.

Bunton, junior Michelle Gaddy, freshman Maddie Kempen and Lechleitner, were first in the pool in the 200-yard medley relay, where the girls finished in fourth place, with tremendous efforts by Gaddy and Kempen swimming personal best times, in the breaststroke and butterfly legs.

Bunton was next in the pool, with her freshman teammate Sarah Allard. Bunton finished in third place, with a season best swim of 2:01.82, while Allard hit the wall in 2:14.11, dropping over 7 seconds off her previous best time.

In the 200-yard individual medley, Gaddy and junior Sanaa Trott had good swims, with Trott shaving just over 3 seconds off her prior personal best time. The 50-yard freestyle again featured the local standout Lechleitner swimming to a second place finish, with a new personal best and team record, with a time of 24.34 seconds.

Her teammates, junior Sadie Heath and freshmen Lauren Hanson, both set new personal best times of 28.10 seconds and 31.13 seconds, respectively.

Kempen along with Allard and freshman Alyxandria Lunemann raced the 100-yard butterfly. Kempen raced a personal best time of 1:05.62, finishing in sixth place, earning a trip to the podium. Allard dropped nearly 3 seconds in the event, with Lunemann taking off nearly 7 seconds for best times.

Lechleitner was back in the pool for the 100-yard freestyle, this time, hitting the wall in third place, with a time of 54.51. Junior Sadie Heath took another 2 seconds off her 100 free time, hitting the wall in 1:01.81.

Bunton was next in the pool, with Hanson in the 500-yard freestyle. Both the girls had good swims, with Bunton finishing in first place, with a season best time of 5:27.62.

In the 4x50-yard freestyle relay, Gaddy, Allard, Trott and Heath teamed up, with each girl swimming personal best times in the event and hitting the wall in 1:53.01, to take ninth place and earn all important points for their team.

Lunemann and Trott were next in the pool, in the 100yard backstroke, with Lunemann dropping over 3 seconds and Tortt nearly 2 seconds, to hit new personal bests.

The 100-yard breaststroke featured Kempen and Gaddy, where each of the girls had excellent swims, with Kempen hitting the wall with a new best time of 1:16.79, to take 10th place.

The meet wrapped up with the 4x100-yard freestyle relay. Lechleitner hit the water first, swimming a blazing fast 54.60 second split. Next up, was Allard, swimming the fastest 100 freestyle of her life, hitting the wall in 59.67.

Kempen was in the water next, dropping nearly 7 seconds, to swim a 1:00.85. Finally, Bunton swam a 55.92 an- chor leg, for a 3:51.04 finish. As a team, the girls dropped over 15 seconds in the relay and finished in third place.

“I am certainly excited for Brooke and Maddy in qualifying for the State meet, in the 50, 100, 200 and 500 freestyle events,” said coach Matt Bunton. “In total, only 16 girls in the State, earn trips in each of these events, so this is really a great accomplishment that both girls have worked hard for throughout the season.

As a team, Matt says to finish in fourth place overall, in a very competitive Sectional, knocking out some strong teams from big schools like Wausau East and Menomonie, is tremendous.

“We really would’ve liked to see one of the relays make it through to earn a trip to State, too, but all that the girls can do, is their absolute best and I have every confidence that is exactly what they gave for each other today,” said Matt. “The time drops in the relays alone, really says the most about the talents and character of this incredible group of student-athletes. I truly could not be any prouder of these girls and this team.”

Lechleitner and Madeline will now travel to the State meet scheduled for Friday, Nov. 12, held at the Waukesha South Natatorium.