MEDFORD BOYS SWIMMING - Swimmers set their initial times in GNC double-dual won by Hodags

MEDFORD BOYS SWIMMING

Medford’s boys swimmers put their first times of the season on paper in a dual-meet situation Thursday and will see how much better they can get as the 2023-24 season progresses.

The Raiders were credited with one win in their home opener, a Great Northern Conference double-dual with Rhinelander and Tomahawk, the conference’s top two programs of a year ago. Rhinelander defeated Medford 97-36 and Tomahawk was an 81-46 winner over the Raiders. Rhinelander completed its sweep with a 92-42 win over Tomahawk.

The Raiders won the 200-yard freestyle relay against the Hatchets due to a disqualification against Tomahawk. Brandon Curtis, Rhys Buskerud, Reese Travis and Logan Rouiller finished in 2:43.72 to get the win against the Hatchets. Rhinelander’s team won the event overall in 1:36.03.

Medford, unfortunately, DQ’ed in the meet’s other two relays, the 200-yard medley and 400-yard freestyle.

Individually, Mason Reimann was third overall in two events. The junior swam the 200-yard individual medley in 2:36.72 to trail Rhinelander’s Samson Shinners (2:09.61) and Tomahawk’s Bruce Peetz (2:32.56). In the 100-yard butterfly, Reimann’s first time of the season was 1:16.15. He trailed Rhinelander’s Mathias Fugle (58.62) and Tomahawk’s Dane Dekiep (1:07.15).

Sophomore Logan Rouiller placed third overall in the 200-yard freestyle at 2:19.52, while Buskerud was fourth in 3:30.94. Rhinelander’s Shawn Denis won in 2:02.5, while Tomahawk’s Samuel Zastrow was second in 2:08.03.

Rouiller was fourth overall in the 500yard freestyle at 6:29.25. Rhinelander had the top two finishers in that race in Brock Arrowood (5:23.13) and Dolan O’Malley (5:41.08). Peetz was third for Tomahawk in 6:14.88.

Roger Mann led Medford in the 100yard breaststroke by placing fourth overall in 1:34.83, while Buskerud was fifth in 1:55.47. Fugle (1:07.6), Shinners (1:09.92) and Tomahawk’s Zachary Germano (1:11.35) were the top three. Right before that, Mann was seventh in the 100yard backstroke at 1:33.74 and Curtis was eighth in 2:17.65.

Medford’s newcomers filled the spots in the freestyle sprints. Travis was sixth in the 50-yard freestyle at 36.01 seconds and sixth in the 100-yard freestyle at 1:27.67. Dawson Gasek was seventh in the 100 at 1:54.62 and eighth in the 50 at 42.59 seconds. Curtis placed ninth in the 50 at 49.9 seconds.

Medford travels to Shawano today, Thursday, for a 5:30 p.m. dual meet with the new Shawano-Seymour co-op. Medford hosts the Antigo Red Robins on Tuesday, also at 5:30 p.m.