Valley paces Bluejays

The young Bluejay swim team faced a daunting task at Saturday’s WVC Meet in the UW-SP pool.
They girls ended up 7th against the larger, more experienced Valley teams, paced by Wausau East.
“At the conference meet we had several great swims” MHS coach Allie Thut said. “The girls stepped up and competed well with the competition of the other schools.
“It was a great day for some and a so-so day for others. This week we’ll begin gearing up and resting for the final sectional meet (this) weekend.”
The 200 free team of Jennica Jahnke, Miranda Jahnke, Robin Opsahl and Kendyl Pettit placed 7th in 1:52.32).
J. Jahnke swam 10th in the 100 brea (1:18.15), 12th in the 200 IM (2:36.51). Pettit ranked 11th (500 free, 6:03.58) and 12th (50 free, :27.71). M. Jahnke was 15th in the 100 free (1:04.33) and 16th in the 100 brea (1:23.14), Taylor LaBorde rated 16th in the 200 free (2:25.97) and 17th in the 100 back (1:15.30), and Opsahl was 16th in the 100 fly (1:16.06).
In the 400 free, the team of LaBorde, Liv Wilmink, Emily Gessler and Pettit was 11th in 4:21.81) and the squad of Madison Dillinger, Courtney Grieser, Morgan Norton and Holli Halfman was 17th in 4:41.25).
The 200 medley group of LaBorde, J. Jahnke, Opsahl and M. Jahnke placed 12th in 2:12.57.
Team scores–Wausau E. 488, Wausau W. 417, D.C.E. 371, SPASH 333, Marshfield 226, Wis. Rapids 215, Merrill 96.
The JV squad and varsity members that don’t fit in the limited sectional entries competed in last Tuesday’s Pink Panther Invite in the same pool.
“The Pink Panther is a fun meet that the team really gets into dressing up for and swims fun events,” Thut said. “This was the last meet of the season for a couple of girls on the team and they swam very well. We had several girls swim best times at this meet. It was a good prelude meet into the varsity conference meet on Thursday.”