By Jed Buelow
Co-Editor, Sports, Nature Editor
It was anybody’s race heading into the final event of the night as Tomahawk clung to the narrowest lead going into the 400-yard freestyle against Colby Thursday.
The what-would- be photo finish was set up by some big swims by Megan Miles in the 100 butterfly and Molly Mott in the 100 breaststroke that gave Tomahawk the smallest of leads heading into the final race of the night. Miles and Colby’s Morgan Weber swam neck-and-neck in what was one of the more thrilling races of the evening the freshman Hatchet swimmer tapped finish line in 1:11.46 to win the race just ahead of Weber’s 1:11.51 as she finished in 2nd place.
Miles also scored a 1st place finish in the 100 backstroke and Mott scored a 1st in the 100 backstroke to pull Tomahawk by four heading into the final relay. The Lady Hatchets also got big swims from Stefan Brynnen, Ally Carstensen and Annie Begotka in both races to give Tomahawk a shot at winning the meet held at Hatchet Pool.
“Swimming without our senior captain and state medalist, Kylee Theiler, the Lady Hatchets really had to dig down deep,” Hatchet head coach Theresa L’Esperance said. “Wins by (Molly) Mott and (Megan) Miles and by the 200 and 400 free relays came up big.”
And dig down deep the Lady Hatchets did, as they fought back against Colby to get the 89-81 win. Coach L’Esperance said following the “team” victory that she was just as excited and proud of what they did as she was in other years when the Tomahawk girls’ swim team finished their season down in Madison.
Mott’s big night included a 1st place finish in the 200 IM to go along with winning the 100 breaststroke. She also scored a 1st as part of the 200 free relay team of M. Mott, Juliana Skubal, Dallas Dosch and Joanna Phillips as they won the race in a time of 1:51.74. Also capping off a big night, M. Miles scored another 1st as a member of the 400 free relay as J. Skubal, Savanah Ristau, M. Miles and D. Dosch won the race in 4:17.88 to secure the victory for Tomahawk.
In another thrilling race that would go the way of Colby, the Lady Hatchets’ 200 free relay team of M. Miles, M. Mott, S. Ristau and J. Phillips just missed out on a big win as they finished in 2:09.96 and Colby’s relay team got the win in 2:09.65 – just one-tenth faster than the 2nd place Hatchets.
Other scoring swimmers in the Hatchets’ big win over Colby included: 200 free – J. Skubal, 2nd, 2:25.11; Teegan Wenzel, 4th, 2:31.76; Taya Johnson, 5th, 2:32.84; 200 IM – D. Dosch, 3rd, 2:46.40; 50 free – J. Phillips, 2nd, 27.17; Karlie Woodall, 3rd, 29.10; S. Ristau, 4th, 30.02; 100 butterfly – S. Ristau, 4th, 1:20.71; 100 free – J. Skubal, 2nd, 1:04.02; J. Phillips, 3rd, 1:04.07; A. Carstensen, 4th, 1:05.20; 500 free – A. Begotka, 3rd, 6:37.92; Abby Jaecks, 4th, 6:55.99; Brynnen Stefan, 5th, 7:06.22; 200 free relay – A. Carstensen, T. Wenzel, T. Johnson, A. Jaecks, 3rd, 2:00.67; 100 backstroke – B. Steffan, 4th, 1:24.77; 100 breaststroke – A. Carstensen, 3rd, 1:28.35; A. Begotka, 4th, 1:35.42.
Over the weekend Tomahawk traveled to Ashwaubenon to take part in the 12-team Jaguar Invite where they finished in 9th place.
Tomahawk scored 14 personal bests (PBs) at Ashwaubenon and M. Mott made the medal stand as the Lady Hatchets’ lone medalist with a PB 6th place finish in the 100 free.
Woodall set a new school record for six dives and just missed her 11 dive record by one point.
“ It was really nice to see her in action after a whole year laid up with a knee injury,” coach L’Esperance said. “ She also had two personal bests in swimming the butterfly and leading off the 200 free relay.”
Freshmen, J. Phillips and B. Stefan had nice PRs as they continue to improve their performances.
Jaecks had two PBs at the Jaguar Invite, including a very nice 500 free. J. Skubal also had twp personals, swimming a nice backstroke leg of the Medley Relay and improving her open 100 free.
The Lady Hatchets will look to remain unbeaten in the GNC when they travel to T-bird Country Thursday, Sept. 9 to take on Lakeland at 5:30 p.m.