MEDFORD BOYS SWIM PREVIEW - Raiders return three from 5-6 team; start season year with only 7

MEDFORD BOYS SWIM PREVIEW

Low numbers are once again a theme this winter for Medford’s boys swim program, who opens the new season with just three returning swimmers from last year and seven team members overall.

The Raiders aren’t likely to be alone in playing the numbers game in a sport where most teams don’t carry deep rosters anymore. But, starting the year with seven isn’t what Medford and its secondyear head coach Terry Werner was hoping for after the team did reasonably well last winter with 11 swimmers in a reboot season after the 2021-22 season was canceled.

The Raiders got their first taste of competition on Nov. 21 taking part in the Menomonie Relays. After a few teams pulled out, the meet wound up having more of an informal feel with the Raiders, host Mustangs, Superior and River Falls being the only teams present. As the small fish in that big pond, Werner said the meet served as a valuable experience, especially for the new swimmers.

Now the Raiders will see how they match up against the rest of the Great Northern Conference, starting tonight, Thursday, with a 5:30 p.m. double-dual with five-team GNC champion Rhinelander and last year’s runner-up Tomahawk.

“It’s kinda tough with the numbers with seven total swimmers,” Werner said Monday. “It’s hard to swim relays. That part is kind of a bummer.

“Our goals are going to be cut times, like last year,” he added. “Last year was nice. We were able to win some meets. Overall this year it’s going to be kinda tough with the numbers. Some of the teams I know we’re going against, I feel like they’re going to have eight or more, which could seal the deal with most results.”

Medford went 5-6 in dual meets, including a 2-3 mark in official GNC duals, and finished fourth in the final conference standings ahead of Shawano and Lakeland. The Raiders were seventh out of 11 teams at the WIAA Division 2 Ashwaubenon sectional.

Lakeland canceled its 2023-24 season last week as the T-Birds were unable to find a coach and Shawano is now a co-op program with Seymour but remains a GNC member. Antigo finished third in last year’s standings.

Medford lost four seniors and four other members from last winter did not return, leaving junior Mason Reimann and sophomores Logan Rouiller and Roger Mann as the team’s most experienced members.

Reimann is the team’s top talent. He looks to follow up a strong sophomore season where he was a key piece to Medfords’ 200-yard medley and 200-yard freestyle relay teams and finished the year posting some solid times in the 200-yard individual medley and 100-yard butterfly. He took fourth in the GNC in the medley and finished the year at 2:32.86 at the sectional, good for 12th place, and he was sixth in the butterfly in the GNC and was 11th at the sectional in a final time of 1:09.15.

“We’re all looking for him to make it to state at some point,” Werner said of Reimann. “He’s got two more years.”

Rouiller and Mann were newcomers last season who improved significantly as the year progressed. Rouiller dropped 17 seconds from the start of the season to the end in the 100-yard backstroke, tak- ing 11th at the sectional in 1:17.72, plus he jumped into the 500-yard freestyle toward the end of the season and was a solid seventh at the sectional in 6:12.93.

Mann cut about 15 seconds in the backstroke as the year progressed and improved in the 50- and 100-yard freestyles too.

“Mason’s obviously a standout swimmer,” Werner said. “Logan, he’s already said he wants to go for the 500 and he has some pretty high goals. I do expect to see him perform really well. Roger I feel like he’s also improved. Almost right out of the gate I feel like they’re all showing me they’ve been practicing before the season started on their own in open swims. I feel like some of them are stepping up to show the new swimmers some pointers. Roger and Logan are both working on breaststroke. I feel like they’re picking up on new things.”

Additions to this year’s roster are junior Brandon Curtis, sophomore Reese Travis and freshmen Dawson Gasek and Rhys Buskerud. Curtis is trying swimming after he took a big step forward this fall for Medford in cross country.

Werner said this group is learning fast and it will be interesting to see where they fit in the lineup and what they might pick up beyond freestyle races.

In the relay meet at Menomonie last week, Medford scored its 142 points by placing fourth in the 200-yard backstroke relay in 3:46.32, fourth in the 200-yard breaststroke relay in 3:01.62, fifth in the 200-yard medley relay at 2:23.5, fifth in the 500-yard freestyle relay at 6:17.5 and sixth in the 100-yard freestyle relay at 1:20.44.

Superior won the meet with 530 points and won the backstroke relay in 2:58.47, the breaststroke relay in 2:19.42, the medley relay at 2:12.14, the 500-yard freestyle race in 6:13.24 and 100-yard freestyle event in 54.82 seconds. River Falls (416) and Menomonie (290) placed second and third in the final standings.

The GNC schedule is evolving as the league works around Lakeland’s departure. As of now, Medford will host Antigo on Dec. 12 and a GNC doubledual with Tomahawk and Antigo on Jan. 9. What was supposed to be a doubledual at Lakeland Jan. 16 is now just a dual meet at Shawano-Seymour.

Lakeland also was supposed to host the GNC championships on Feb. 2. Next on the alphabetical list, that meet now lands in Medford.

“That will be nice to have a big event like that here,” Werner said.

Medford also hosts Menomonie in a non-conference meet Dec. 21.

Ashwaubenon will again host the WIAA Division 2 sectional on Feb. 10.

“We’re going to chase times this year,” Werner said. “We kinda did that last year and it worked well. It will be the same story this year.”