The Tomahawk swim girls couldn’t have faced a more scary start in Friday’s GNC Meet.
Their ‘A’ squad was disqualified and their ‘B’ team was down-graded by the computer from third place to fourth.
But the Hatchets dug deep and worked all the way back to the top spot, wrapping up their first championship season in 17 years of competition. It was pure justice that the final margin in the 55-point win was sealed with a first- and third-place finish in the 400 free relay.
“When the times became evident that our ‘B’ relay had accomplished the impossible, the team jumped for joy!” THS coach Theresa L’Esperance said. “We were not even thinking of our final score; instead, we had just placed eight swimmers on the All Conference team in one event!
“Tomahawk has just set a new precedent, all three lady sports teams have won GNC conference championships! We are proud to be a part of this great accomplishment!”
Lauren Hilt set two individual GNC records (200 free, 2:00.41/100 free, :54.37) and anchored two relays to new standards.Morgan Weber (:25.79) and Rachel Dallman (:26.15) pulled a 1st and 3rd in the 50 free.
Those events came shortly after the disastrous 200 medley relay where Maddy McPherson, Kirstin Marcks, Taylor Hansen and Jackie Elliott were downgraded to fourth at 2:04.40.
“I literally stopped the meet, fighting for my relay to get back the third place the touch pads had originally set,” L’Esperance said. “But after much discussion, it was decided the computer was correct. At the break, I shared with the team how hard I was fighting for each individual team point for them. I asked them if they could fight just as hard in the pool. We broke down with our standard ‘second half’ cheer and proceeded to chip away at the score.”
Tomahawk scored four of the top seven in the 100 free (Hilt/R. Dallman, 4th, :56.61/Weber, 5th, :57.44/Baylee Dallman, 7th, :58.79) to set up a challenge between matching top seeds in the 200 free relay.
“After the first swimmer, Weber had the lead,” L’Esperance said. “Then, Ladysmith took over the lead for the next two swimmers (past R. Dallman, Mikhayla Kleich). In the final leg, Jordan Fuse (a 2 time GNC record holder on the night) clearly entered the pool ahead of Hilt, also a 2x GNC record holder. Lauren is one of the top sprinters in the state, and she loves a good tight race. At the turn, Hilt came up ahead. I knew she would not lose.”
THS set a GNC record of 1:42.21 in the event, as well as a mark of 3:48.15 in the 400 free with Weber, R. Dallman and Kleich. The 9th-seeded 400 free ‘B’ squad of Karli Cecil, Hansen, Elliott and Katherine Russell was timed third in 4:04.50. The 200 ‘B’ group of Michaela Galganski, Hansen, Elliott and B. Dallman was 4th in 1:50.16.
In the 100 back, THS scored high with Russell (3rd, 1:06.62), Elliott (6th, 1:09.13) and B. Dallman 8th, 1:10.62). In the 100 brea, (Marcks (4th, 1:15.79) and Galganski (5th, 1:17.93) led the way. In the 200 IM, Marcks (7th, 2:37.13) and Cecil (8th, 2:38.82) competed. Kleich (7th, 200 free, 2:11.05) and Galganski (8th, 50 free, :28.06) swam well.
Team standings – Tomahawk 320, Ladysmith 265, Medford 245, Lakeland 232, Wittenberg 107, Antigo 77, Rhinelander 38, Colby/Abby 18.