For the Tomahawk Leader
MEDFORD – Coming off a full-team two-week quarantine due to COVID-19, the Tomahawk boys’ swim team traveled to Medford on Thursday, Dec. 17 for their first meet of the season, where the Raiders took down the Hatchets 60 to 45.
“How much can change in a year? If 2020 has taught us anything, it’s that change is now the norm,” head coach Marion Kohl said.
Each team only fielded five swimmers. The Hatchets were missing three swimmers due to quarantine and grade suspensions, while Medford had two athletes in quarantine, Kohl noted.
“Last season, each of our teams had 14 swimmers, and we even took time out to run some holiday fun 4×50 freestyle relays made up of mixtures of swimmers from both teams,” she stated.
Kohl pointed out that the “scoring tables were turned dramatically” from the two schools’ matchup in 2019, when Tomahawk defeated Medford by a score of 103 to 49.
In 2019’s meet against the Raiders, Tomahawk placed first in each scored event and swam a full schedule of 11 events. Last week, due to the limited number of swimmers available, the Hatchets only competed in eight of the meet’s 11 events, with the only first-place finishes coming from senior captain Adam Hall in the 50-yard freestyle and the 100-yard breaststroke.
“Also, due to our rocky season start, we’ve actually only been able to be in the water for eight practices since we began on Nov. 23,” Kohl said. “We had three practices, were quarantined for two weeks and have only been back in the water since last Thursday (Dec. 10); consequently, the boys’ times were pretty flat overall. All in all, the loss to Medford, which is our first loss to the Raiders in several years, was pretty hard to take, but we are thankful to finally be back in the water and hope to be able to make some in-roads with regards to strength and endurance going forward.”
The Tomahawk swimmers were set to get back in the water yesterday (Tuesday, Dec. 22) for a rescheduled GNC dual meet in Rhinelander. After winter break, the Hatchets will host the Hodags at Hatchet Pool on Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2021, at 5:30 p.m.