FINISHING THE FALL TOGETHER Denzer, Sperl both advance in 200 IM
SWIMMERS HEADING TO STATE
After a year away, the Medford Raiders are back at the WIAA Division 2 girls swimming state championships.
Their 2022 representation comes in rare form. It’s not often when the Raiders go to state that a relay team is not involved. It’s even more unique that Aiden Denzer and Sydney Sperl are going individually in the same event –– something that hasn’t happened for Medford, at the very least, since the 2000s began.
Denzer and Sperl qualified with their third- and fourth-place finishes in the 200-yard individual medley at Saturday’s WIAA Division 2 Merrill sectional, earning the 13th and 14th seeds in the 16-swimmer state field.
Denzer also qualified in the 100-yard backstroke, where she got the last spot in the state field.
The state meet is set for Friday at 5:30 p.m. at Waukesha South High School’s natatorium.
“I’m glad I’m going with Aiden because we’ve been swimming together for literally since I first joined,” Sperl said Monday before the two practiced at the MASH pool. “It’s been us.”
“I thought about this (Sunday) night,” Denzer said. “I’m ending this season with somebody I started my swimming career with and that’s really all that I could ask for. So it’s really nice that we both stuck with it.”
“Kudos to them. They’ve been practicing really hard and competing against each other in practice and pushing each other, which is really good,” Medford’s first-year head coach Morgan Wilson said. “It shows that they’ve been putting in the work. It’s also really cool to have it happen in the IM, which is a trickier event. You have to swim all four of the strokes and do it well. It was really cool. They were side-by-side the whole time. They’ve been battling back and forth for who’s going to be ahead by a half-second in this race, so it will be interesting to see how Friday goes.
“Then for Aiden to make it in the backstroke too was a fun little surprise to top the day,” Wilson added. “It was awesome.”
The state qualifications were just some of the highlights on a day where the Raiders earned a strong fourth-place finish out of 14 teams represented at the sectional meet, including beating the host Blue Jays, who outscored them 9377 in an early-season dual meet back on Aug. 30.
“Everybody had good swims,” Denzer said. “Everybody kept a positive attitude the entire meet, which is the best thing you could ask for.”
“We had a lot of time drops,” Sperl said.
The individual medley was the third race of Saturday’s meet and was won by Merrill senior Amber Winter in a time of 2:14.17. Lakeland freshman Olivia Mickle took second in 2:19.33, followed by Denzer in 2:21.51 and Sperl in 2:22.36. Both set personal-best times. Denzer, a senior, broke her old mark of 2:24.6 set in last year’s sectional at Menomonie. Her best time this year was 2:26.15 set at the Oct. 21 Great Northern Conference meet at Tomahawk. Sperl, a sophomore, made big strides in the event this year. Her best time as a freshman was 2:35.04. This year, she had gotten down to 2:25.83 on Oct. 6 before the taper took hold and helped carry her to her drop of 3.47 seconds on Saturday.
“I did not think I was going to make it to state,” Sperl said.
“I was hoping I would just because it is my senior year and it would be really nice to end it with a bang,” Denzer said. “It’s nice to be able to say you’re ending it at the state meet. I’m excited.”
The thing about swimming is it’s the one WIAA sport where state qualifiers aren’t immediately known. Sectional champions in each race automatically qualify, but after that it’s the 12 best nonwinning times statewide that make it.
“I figured once the IM was over it was going to be close, but I felt that both of them had a good shot at it,” Wilson said.
“I was so worried that it was just going to be me going because I beat Syd and I felt like, ‘oh my God, what if I go and what if I just bumped her out?’” Denzer said. “That would suck. But I’m glad that we both got it because that makes me feel a lot better about the whole thing.”
No one knew for sure until the results were in from all four of the state’s Division 2 sectionals.
“We were driving home,” Sperl said. “I was with my mom and dad. We were waiting and I kept looking up this website where you could find all of the sectionals. I saw it was updated and I was like, ‘oh my God, it finally updated and the results are here.’ So I had to go through and look at every single sectional and count the number of people in front of me and I was like, ‘I’m like 14th!’ My parents just started freaking out and I called Aiden and I was like, ‘Aiden, we made it to state’ and she started freaking out.”
“I had just pulled into the Culver’s parking lot because some of us were going there after the meet like we usually do,” Denzer said. “I turned my car off, I was on my phone and suddenly Sydney’s calling. I thought, ‘this is odd, Sydney never calls me.’ So I answered it and she was like we made it to state. I said, ‘no we didn’t.’ Then I was waiting in line at Culvers and Morgan texted saying I think you both made it. It was crazy.”
In the 100-yard backstroke, Denzer finished second in Saturday’s meet at 1:04.15, a season-best by 4.46 seconds and a personal-best by 1.63 seconds Again, her previous best of 1:05.78 was set at last year’s sectional. Showing how tricky the qualifying process is, Denzer and champion Madisyn Schraufnagel of Colby-Abbotsford (1:03.77) were the only qualifiers out of the Merrill meet.
This will be the second state appearance for Denzer, who also went as a sophomore in 2020 and was part of the 200-yard medley relay team of Erin Bergman, Denzer, Morgan Ball and Kami Razink set a school record time of 1:53.41 while placing sixth and reaching the awards podium. The Raiders qualified in five events, including two relays in that Covid-shortened season. That was the first year the state meet was held at Waukesha South and Denzer hopes that experience will help Friday in some way.
“I was there for the first year it was in Waukesha so that was really cool for me,” she said. “It was cool to experience it with Erin and Morgan and all of them. It was cool. I had the seniors. They kind of knew what they were doing and I didn’t.”
“I’ve never been to a state meet for high school, but I have been to a state meet for club,” Sperl said. “I kinda know what to expect for a big meet because I’ve been to quite a few big meets. Once you get in the water it’s like you kind of forget everyone’s watching.”
“I remember it being so overwhelming. It’s huge,” Denzer said. “There are a lot of people and it just puts it in perspective how many people actually do swim and how many people do enjoy the sport. It’s weird to see everybody up in the stands. It’s like, ‘whoa. That’s a lot of people.’ It’s crazy.”
For both, the goals for Friday are simple –– just keep improving their times. Their places will fall where they fall. Denzer said she is hoping to continue swimming in college, but it is hitting her this week that as a Medford Raider, this is it.
“Right now, I’m kind of on cloud nine, but I know as soon as I step out on the pool, I’m going to be an emotional wreck the whole day,” she said. “I’ve tried other sports and I never really liked them. I tried swimming, fell in love with it and now it’s all just kind of ending for high school. I’m a little emotional. It’s weird.”
“Hopefully I’ll be back next year,” Sperl said. “(Friday) I just want to drop some more time.”
“I’m hoping some time gets dropped,” Denzer said. “I don’t care how much time. I just want to drop some time.”
Medford’s Sydney Sperl pushes through the butterfly leg of the 200-yard individual medley during Saturday’s sectional meet in Merrill. Sperl finished fourth and qualified for state.JEREMY MAYO/NORTHWOODS RIVER NEWS
Medford’s Aiden Denzer glides just under the surface of the water during her statequalifying effort in the 100-yard backstroke during Saturday’s sectional meet.JEREMY MAYO/NORTHWOODS RIVER NEWS
Raider Adalyn Dittrich finishes her first varsity season with a personal-best time of 6:13.46 in the 500-yard freestyle, good for 11th place in Saturday’s sectional.BRETT LaBORE/THE LAKELAND TIMES
Tana Rappe swims to a personal-best time of 2:12.92 and finishes 10th in Saturday’s 200-yard freestyle.BRETT LaBORE/THE LAKELAND TIMES
