Raiders pushing through the yardage as season’s end nears

MEDFORD GIRLS SWIMMING

Swim meet wins don’t get any easier than the one the Medford Raiders got Thursday when they faced a Lakeland team that brought just two girls, but they made the best of it as they push through the toughest part of their season.

Officially, the Raiders won 78-24, though the last four events were conducted as exhibition events and, on two occasions, there were mixed relay teams of Raiders and Thunderbirds to add to the competition.

“We said all week we were going to try to make as normal of a meet as we could,” Medford head coach Morgan Wilson said. “Those two Lakeland girls (Saylor Timmerman and Olivia Mickle) are super talented. They won their events, they’re very good. It stinks for them there’s only two of them on their team. So we tried to keep it as normal as possible. We did put some girls in some events that they’ve never swam before to kind of try to change it up a little bit. We’re in the hardest part of our season right now, so we wanted to break that up a little bit. I think despite everything the girls did well. We told them to race against the clock and race against themselves and I think a lot of them took that to heart and did well because of that.”

Medford improved to 5-1 in Great Northern Conference duals.

One of the new-look parts of Thursday’s lineup was the 200-yard individual medley. Mickle, a freshman, won it for Lakeland in 2:23.04. She was followed by Medford sophomore Sydney Sperl, who posted a season-best time of 2:25.83 and then junior Jordyn Johnson, who hadn’t swam an IM since her freshman year. She finished in a solid time of 2:41.01. Freshman Layla Petersen was fourth in a personal-best 2:45.97.

Johnson then swam her first 100-yard freestyle of the year and won it in 1:02.73, followed by teammates Erica Brandner (1:04.02) and Jolie Steliga (1:10.15). Brandner also swam the 100 for the first time this year, while Steliga lowered her time by a half-second.

Mickle won the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:14.91, which was a new event for Sperl. She was next in 1:17.97, Kirsten Weix came in at 1:36.31, freshman Adalyn Dittrich swam it for the first time and finished in 1:45.48 and Paige Wilkins finished in a season-best 1:46.29.

Timmerman won the 100-yard butterfly in 1:10.06, just ahead of Medford’s Chelsea Gebauer, who swam it for the second time this fall. She finished in 1:13.29, a 0.32-second improvement. Layla Petersen was just off her season-best at 1:20.11 and Kassidy Koncel swam the event for the first time and came in at 1:27.46. Timmerman also won the 50-yard freestyle in 26.61 seconds, while Medford’s Breanna Kraemer was second at 29.91 seconds in her first open 50 of the fall, Mackenzie Petersen improved to 30.46 seconds, Cadance Haenel improved to 32.92 seconds and Paige Wilkins improved to 41.51 seconds.

Senior Aiden Denzer was the winner in her first 200-yard freestyle of the year at 2:16.31, followed by Kraemer (2:28.76) and Dittrich (2:29.7). Denzer took the 100yard backstroke in 1:09.51, followed by Gebauer (1:20.93) in her first backstroke of the fall and Steliga (1:26.25).

Colby Bergman had one of Medford’s individual highlights of the meet by cracking the six-minute barrier in the 500-yard freestyle. She had to push for it in the final laps, but she got it at 5:59.47. Tana Rappe (6:15.56) and Haenel (7:10) also had significant time drops.

Johnson, Bergman, Kraemer and Rappe were credited with a win in the 200-yard medley relay at 2:17.1. Brandner, Layla Petersen, Koncel and Steliga took second in 2:22.9 and Dittrich, Wilkins, Haenel and Mackenzie Petersen finished in 2:31.78.

Denzer and Weix joined Timmerman and Mickle and they finished in 2:09.95. Those four also had the fastest time in the 200-yard freestyle relay at 1:53.16.

“I think that was the first time this year the Lakeland girls have swam in a relay, so it was nice for them to do some,” Wilson said. “Our two seniors, they totally offered and jumped right in and said, ‘heck yes, we’ll swim with them.’” Sperl, Johnson, Bergman and Gebauer finished the race right behind the mixed team at 1:53.32 and Brandner, Koncel, Mackenzie Petersen and Rappe came in at 2:03.49.

In the exhibition 400-yard freestyle relay, Gebauer, Bergman, Rappe and Sperl took first in 4:18.28, while Kraemer, Dittrich, Layla Petersen and Steliga were timed at 4:41.26 and Weix, Haenel, Mackenzie Petersen and Koncel finished in 4:48.19.

Now in the midst of two-a-day practices as they build up strength ahead of their post-season taper process, the Raiders will host their final GNC dual meet today, Thursday, welcoming 1-5 Mosinee to the pool for a 5:30 p.m. start. The GNC championships are quickly approaching as they’ve been moved up to Oct. 21 and will be held in Tomahawk.

“We’re in double days, so we have morning and afternoon practices,” Wilson said. “We’re upping the yardage, but the girls are doing pretty well with it. We have a lot of extra drag on too. They’re tired but working through it and still staying focused, which is nice to see. We’re hoping they’ll see the light at the end of the tunnel and see all this hard work pay off in the next couple of weeks.”