Swimmers come up short at CF

The Raider boys’ swimming and diving team came up just short in its Big Rivers Conference regular season finale, dropping an 88-82 decision at Chippewa Falls last Thursday.

The Raiders trailed the Cardinals by just four points heading into the final event of the night—the 400 yard freestyle relay. A first- and third-place finish would have given the Raiders the win, but the “A” team of Luke Wusterbarth, Winter Jorgenson, London Walsh and Charlie Skinner finished less than a second behind Chippewa Falls to place second.

The Cardinals won with a time of 3 minutes, 29.44 seconds while the Raiders’ “A” team took second in 3:30.26.

Skinner began the anchor leg almost a half pool-length behind but couldn’t catch the Cardinal swimmer despite posting a season-best split of 49.27 seconds.

The Raiders’ “B” team of William Fisher, Jordan Mielke, Alexander Renn and Ty Davis took third with a time of 3:52.28.

Jorgenson posted a first-place time of 1:59.21 in the 200 yard freestyle and Skinner took first in the 100 butterfly in 55.33 seconds to account for Hudson’s only first-place finishes of the night. But they earned valuable points with a number of second- through fifth-place performances, including the 100 freestyle, 500 freestyle and 100 breaststroke, where they swept the second- through fourth-place spots.

In the 100 free, Wusterbarth was second in 52.34 seconds, Walsh took third in 52.34 and Fisher was fourth in 57.23. In the 500 free, Willie Skinner placed second with a time of 5:26.73, Nicholas Lundberg finished third in 5:39.46 and Mielke was fourth in 5:48.46.

Renn placed second in the 100 breaststroke in 1:11.24, Ross Wusterbarth was third in 1:11.25 and Davis placed fourth in 1:16.28.

Charlie Skinner added a second-place time of 2:05.66 in the 200 individual medley and Luke Wusterbarth took second in the 50 freestyle in 24.32 seconds.

In the 200 medley relay, Charlie Skinner, Renn, Willie Skinner and Luke Wusterbarth finished second with a time of 1:50.09, while in the 200 freestyle relay, Walsh, Mielke, Willie Skinner and Jorgenson placed second with a time of 1:36.81.

The Raiders will return to Chippewa Falls for the Big Rivers Conference Championship Meet this Saturday.

Swimmers honored

Coach Joe Smolinske and the Raider boys’ swimming and diving team received a 2011 Hotel Sportsmanship Award from the Comfort Inn of West Duluth for the team’s behavior during a stay at the hotel Jan. 14-15. The team was competing at a dual meet at Superior on Friday and the Superior Invitational on Saturday.

“The team members as a whole and individually showed courtesy and politeness to other hotel guests, the staff, security and management while on the hotel premises,” Comfort Inn general manager Amanda Kasie wrote. “They conducted themselves in a mature fashion and followed the group guidelines established by the hotel to ensure all guests have an enjoyable stay.”

Tags: sports, swim, prep