Tridents take conference meet, come in second at relay

The Lake Holcombe-Ladysmith-Flambeau-Bruce-Bloomer Trident Swim and Dive team traveled first to Lakeland Union High School in Minocqua, for a conference dual meet, then to Superior High School for the Annual Spartan Relays Invite. At the end of two long road trips, the girls claimed their first conference win and claimed second place at the very competitive Spartan Relays.

Sept. 8 vs. Lakeland Union conference (W 126-24)

At Lakeland, the Tridents swam to first place in all but two events, beating the Lakeland team, 126-24. Notable swims from the night, included a 28.95 50-yard freestyle by senior Michelle Gaddy.

“Michelle has been swimming very well this season, and had really dropped time in several events, including her breaststroke,” said coach Matt Bunton.

In the 100-yard freestyle, senior Macy Kennedy dropped 3.3 to swim a season best time, as well.

“Macy has been working hard in practice, on both her fitness and form, and she’s starting to see that benefit,” said Bunton.

Sept. 10 vs. Superior

Early Saturday morning, the team was then headed north to Superior. The Spartan Relays feature seven teams, competing in a series of relay events – Rice Lake, Superior, Proctor-Hermantown, Cloquet Esko Carlton, Two Harbors-Silver Bay, Duluth Denfield and the Tridents.

“This is always a great meet for us,” said Bunton. “The competition is fierce, the atmosphere is electric and we get to see some teams that we would never typically swim against. The girls had a hard week of practices, and a short turn-around from Thursday night, but I was very pleased with how well they swam.”

The meet opened with the 200-yard medley relay with senior Madeline Bunton, Gaddy, junior Madilyn Kempen and sophomore Hannah Minton, swimming a season best 2:02.77, to take second place, with Minton hitting a new personal best time of 27.05 in her 50-yard freestyle split.

Also in this event, the team of freshman Valerie Van de Voort, seniors Isabelle Mitchell, Alaina Meskill and Caitlyn Kolter, swam well and claimed 10th place. Next up, the relay team of freshman Lyra Moffitt, freshman Abbi Fye and Meskill, swam in the 3x200-yard freestyle, to claim fifth place and gain valuable team points.

The 3x100-yard individual medley team of sophomore Aly Lunemann, Gaddy and sophomore Sarah Allard, claimed fourth place, and in the 4x50-yard freestyle, senior Sadie Heath, sophomore Lauren Hanson, freshman Abbi Fye and Lunemann, took second place, with a time of 1:58.29. Also swimming in this event, was the team of Moffit, Mitchell, Van de Voort and Kolter, claiming ninth place, with a time of 2:24.05.

The Trident Flyers were in the pool next and the team of Kempen, Allard, Minton and Madeline, claimed first, with a time of 2:01.28, beating their nearest competitors by over 7 seconds. The Tridents also claimed first in the 900-yard freestyle relay, with Madeline swimming a 5:41.04 in the 500-yard freestyle, to win by over 26 seconds.

In the 3x100-yard backstroke relay, Moffit, Meskill and Van de Voort gained another 2 points for their team, and in the 3x100-yard breaststroke, Kempen, Heath and Gaddy took third place, with Kempen swimming a season best 1:19.16. and Gaddy and Heath hitting new personal bests of 1.22.70 and 1.27.90, respectively.

In the final relay, the Tridents needed to place in the top three, and Heath, Fye, Hanson and Lunemann delivered, taking third place and securing the second place overall, for the Tridents.

“I was very excited for the girls that they earned a second place finish tonight,” said Matt. “It was fun to watch one of our freshmen, Abbi Fye, start to really figure some things out today, swimming personal bests in her 50 and 100 freestyles. All the girls swam very well, and showed a lot of heart and spirit. Relays always bring out the best effort.”