MEDFORD GIRLS SWIM PREVIEW - Swimmers add young depth, expect to maintain winning ways

With depth replenished by a solid freshman class of seven and strong swimmers in each class above them, the Medford Raiders are confident they’ll be able to maintain their recent success in the 2025 girls swim season. The Raiders have compiled a 17-2 overall record in dual meets the past two seasons with both losses coming to Great Northern Conference and WIAA Division 2 powerhouse Rhinelander, who Medford will see Saturday at the season-opening Menomonie Relays. Medford has been 6-1 the past four seasons in the GNC, again with the losses only coming to Rhinelander. Sitting at 19 swimmers deep, the Raiders are in good shape to be the GNC’s top challenger to the Hodags yet again. “We have an exceptionally-gifted team this year,” second-year head coach Sam Klinner said Tuesday during the team’s practice at the MASH pool. “Almost all of the freshmen are pretty adequate swimmers, which is a nice surprise, so we don’t have to do a ton of reinventing the wheel. They’re coming in pretty strong and a couple of them are showing good promise. That’s really nice. “The sophomores and juniors are looking pretty good too, a little better than last year,” he added. “We did some time trials (Monday) and the girls may not feel like their times are good, but for this point in the season, they were pretty decent. We’re excited for this weekend. It’s a fun meet. Last year we were neck and neck with Rhinelander the whole time to the point that they were sweating a little bit.” “Last year Rhinelander only won by two points, so we’re coming for them,” said Layla Petersen, one of three seniors on this fall’s roster. “I think everybody is doing so well,” senior Adalyn Dittrich said. “I’m excited for our meet on Saturday to see how everybody is doing. All the different relays are so fun because you don’t do them all the time.” In between the three seniors and seven freshmen, the 2025 roster features four juniors, all of whom contributed last year and five sophomores. Again, they also are all back after becoming acclimated to varsity competition last year. The 2024 season ended with Medford qualifying for WIAA Division 2 state competition in two events, the 200-yard and 400-yard freestyle relays. Two swimmers return from the 200-yard team, which set a school record during its 11thplace finish at 1:43.46. Petersen and junior Kodi Rappe are those returning swimmers. Rappe also was part of the 400 team that took 14th in 3:50.45, easily Medford’s best time of the season in that event. Before that, Medford placed third at the Division 2 Menomonie sectional, the highest a Medford team has placed in the sectional in at least the last 25 years, surpassing several fourths in that span. Petersen, Dittrich and Jolie Steliga take over the roles of senior co-captains this year, which they said they are enjoying so far. Unfortunately, Steliga is still recovering from an ankle injury suffered while playing softball in July. She is hoping to return to the water within a few weeks. Dittrich is a Raider to watch as she aims to take down the school’s 500-yard freestyle record of 5:39.03 held by Mara Schumacher since 2014. Dittrich’s best time last year was 5:45.52 set at the sectional. “I was really close,” Dittrich said. “We’re looking at definitely trying to break it this year. I’ve always done long distance. I did the 1,000 in club, so I’m used to it. I’m definitely not a sprinter. It’s about endurance and being consistent with your stroke. I’m trying to keep my arms long and not cutting short. You have to listen to the person counting your laps and how they move the board in the water and listen to their commands.” Dittrich was one of Medford’s top 100yard backstroke swimmers as well last year, getting as fast at 1:08.98 at the conference meet. Petersen looks to do big things this year in the 100-yard butterfly, where she turned in Medford’s top time of last season at 1:07.38 in the sectional meet. A year ago, Petersen was a frequent entrant in the 50-yard freestyle and the 200yard medley and freestyle relays. The state experience of a year ago is a motivator for her this year. “It was really scary honestly,” she said. “I was just so scared that I was going to mess up and false start. Then I got done and saw my time and was super happy because I swam like a 26 (seconds). I don’t think I’ve ever done that before. All of a sudden we broke the record and it was just crazy. It didn’t feel real. It was really fun. I’d love to do it again.” So would Rappe, who figures to be one of Medford’s top scorers again. Along with being one of Medford’s fastest freestylers, she put in quality work last fall in the breaststroke and the 200-yard individual medley. Klinner said Jayda Fryklund seems poised for a big junior season as well as she posted some of the team’s fastest times in time trials held Monday. “She’s always been a real strong swimmer, but that last 10% was always what kind of held her back,” Klinner said. “Now I think this is going to be her year.” Chloe Pipkorn and Autumn Venzke, who is in her second year in the varsity program, round out the junior class. Sophie Sperl and Tori Nicks lead the sophomore class and Aliyah Galan was a key contributor as well. Klinner said he could see Sperl threatening the school’s 100-yard breaststroke record of 1:08.55. Nicks gave Medford some backstroke points last year, while Galan did the same in the breaststroke while serving as key entrants. Lizzy Bartnik and Mata Decker are also back looking to improve their times. The freshmen the coaches and teammates are eager to see where they fit include Olivia Emmerich, Saige Fettes, Mylah Hamland, Savannah Hebert, Emily Leao, Graecyn Meseberg and Eva Strebig. “Everybody is doing really well, especially the freshmen,” Steliga said. “I think they’re all fast.” Klinner said the versatility the team possesses makes it hard to predict what events will be Medford’s strongest, but it will be fun to see how the lineup evolves over the course of the three-month season. “Because the girls are so well diversified it’s almost hard to make that call because we don’t know where anybody is at right now,” Klinner said. “(Monday) there were a couple of surprises as to who was fast in what. It’s going to be real interesting but it’s a completely different dynamic from last year. A lot of these freshmen can do three or four strokes pretty proficiently, which is unusual. We’re going to be using them in a few things, which is going to be nice. There is definitely strength in numbers as far as swimming goes. If we can plug those gaps in the lineup and all of a sudden you get points here and there you wouldn’t normally get, it adds up.” In building toward what Medford hopes to be another strong finish, Klinner said he and his assistant coach OraLee Dittrich will follow a similar practice approach to last year. Technique is the early focus, then endurance and eventually speed. “We did try last year to really streamline the workouts and cut out some of the fluff and focus on speed versus yardage because most of everything they do is sprint-based,” Klinner said. “That really seemed to work. We really started to notice it with the taper at the end. I think we’re going to do something similar this year and then individually focus on those bad techniques that cause problems. Everyone has a little flaw here and there. If you can make a difference here and there, those seconds add up in the end.” Will it add up to challenging Rhinelander in the conference meet that will be hosted by the Ladysmith Co-op in Rice Lake Oct. 24 or sending more swimmers to state out of the Rice Lake sectional Nov. 8? That remains to be seen. But the Raiders like their chances. “Our goal is just going to be to put some fear into Rhinelander, at least a little bit,” Klinner said. “If we can make them sweat just a little that’s good because they have a phenomenal program. I think (we can get swimmers to state). I don’t know in what yet, but I think we have some talent.”