Tridents finish third in conference before post-season
The Lake Holcombe-Ladysmth-Flambeau-Bruce-Bloomer Trident Swimmers wrapped up their conference season over the past few weeks, to finish with a winning record of 6 wins and 3 losses.
At their final home meet, the Tridents opened with first and third place finishes in the medley relay, to jump out to an early lead. Sophomore Alyxandria Lunemann, and seniors Michelle Gaddy and Caitlyn Kolter, then took first, second and fourth places in the 200-yard freestyle, to further the Tridents’ lead.
Sophomores Hannah Minton and Sarah Allard, and senior Izzy Mitchell claimed first, third and fifth in the 200-yard individual medley. In the 50-yard freestyle, senior Alaina Meskill and freshman Lyra Moffitt grabbed first and third in the JV heat, while seniors Madeline Bunton and Sadie Heath, and sophomore Lauren Hanson claimed first, third and fifth places.
Allard, and freshmen Abbi Fye and Liv Repka also claimed first, third and fifth in the 500 freestyle. Bunton, Fye and Meskill then swam to first, third and fourth place finishes in the 100-yard backstroke, while junior Madilyn Kempen, Gaddy and senior Macy Kennedy claimed first, second and fifth place in the 100-yard breaststroke.
At the end of the night, the Tridents outscored the Colby-Abby team, 104 to 64, and recognized senior swimmers and their parents.
“We have an incredible group of parents that support our team in so many ways and help at every home meet,” said coach Matt Bunton. “We literally couldn’t function without their help! And our seniors have done such a great job this year, leading our team. We’ve got some big shoes to fill next year, but I know their younger teammates are up to the challenge.”
Oct. 18 vs. Rice Lake conference (L)
The next week, the Tridents were at Rice Lake, but couldn’t pull out the win.
Oct. 21 Tomahawk
It was then off to the Conference championship meet, hosted by Tomahawk, and featuring all eight teams in the Great Northern Conference.
The 200-yard medley relay opened with Madeline, Gaddy, Kempen and Minton claiming third place, with a time of 2:02.53. The second relay team of Fye, Allard, Lunemann and Heath claimed 10 points with their ninth place finish, and a time of 2:14.58.
In the 200 freestyle, Heath swam a personal best of 2:19.93, for a fourth place finish and 11 points. In the 100yard butterfly, Kempen swam to a fifth place finish, with a season best time of 1:06.47. Madeline earned second place finishes in the 500 freestyle, with a time of 5:38.69, and the 100 backstroke, with a time of 1:04.83.
In the 4x50-yard freestyle relay, the team of Heath, Fye, Lunemann and Gaddy made the podium, with a sixth place finish and a time of 1:55.87. Kempen swam a personal best time of 1:16.60 in the 100-yard breaststroke to claim fifth place.
Finally, the 4x100-yard freestyle relay team of Minton, Allard, Kempen and Madeline took second place, with a time of 4:06.93, with their teammates Meskill, Hanson, Moffitt and Repka taking eighth place, earning 14 more points.
At the end of the meet, the Trident girls racked up 203 points and secured third place overall, in a very competitive conference.
“I was very happy with how our girls swam tonight,” said Matt. “I saw a lot of fight, good walls, great finishes and team that totally supported one another throughout the entire meet.”
The Tridents will next swim at the WIAA Division 2 championship meet, hosted by Merrill School District, Saturday, Nov. 5, with the goal of sending some athletes to State.
