Swimmers come up short in Eau Claire

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The Raider boys’ swimming and diving team picked up plenty of second through fourth place finishes in its season opener at Eau Claire North/Memorial last Thursday, but it couldn’t get enough first place finishes to overtake the perennial Big Rivers Conference co-op.

Charlie Skinner won the 100 yard butterfly with a time of 55.95 seconds, but that was the only first place the Raiders could get in a 110-75 loss to last year’s third place team at state.

Hudson will host its first home meet of the season this Thursday, Dec. 15, at 6:30 p.m. against Menomonie at the middle school pool.

Last Thursday in Eau Claire, the Raiders had three of the top five finishers in four different events, and two of the top five in four others but couldn’t put enough points on the scoreboard.

Hudson’s relay teams took second and third in both the 200 medley and 400 freestyle relays.

In the 200 medley, Miles Townsend, Ross Wusterbarth, Skinner and Lucas Rukavina combined for a second place time of 1 minute, 51.39 seconds, while Evan Groehler, Jack Boylan, Ty Davis and Nick Lundberg were third in 1:59.45.

In the 400 freestyle relay, Charlie Skinner, Willie Skinner, Sawyer Arndt and Wusterbarth were second in 3:39.91, and Justin Aherns, Davis, Lundberg and Groehler were third in 4:02.77.

The Raiders’ 200 freestyle relay team of Willie Skinner, Rukavina, Arndt and Boylan combined for a second place time of 1:15.88.

Rukavina took second in the 500 freestyle in 5:27.69, while Willie Skinner was third in 5:36.98 and Arndt fourth in 5:38.62. Rukavina was also second in the 200 freestyle with a time of 2:01.76. Arndt was third in 2:03.05 while Aherns finished fifth in 2:21.06.

In the 100 backstroke, Townsend finished second in 1:05.59, Groehler was third in 1:06.36 and August Jorgenson finished fourth in 1:09.85, while in the 50 freestyle, Lundberg placed third in 25.04 seconds, Wusterbarth was fourth in 26.02 and Groehler was fifth in 26.06.

In the 200 individual medley, Charlie Skinner took second with a time of 2:05.58 and Willie Skinner was third in 2:17.58, while in the 100 freestyle, Townsend finished second in 54.34 seconds while Davis was fourth in 1:02.38.

Wusterbarth was the Raiders’ highest finisher in the 100 backstroke, placing fourth in 1:12.12, while Louis Hoffman was fifth in 1:20.31.

The Raiders’ lone diver, Hunter Frey, finished fourth with a score of 119.7.

Tags: sports, swimming, raiders, prep