By Jed Buelow
Tomahawk Leader Co-Editor, Sports, Nature Editor
The Lady Hatchets managed wins in three individual events and a relay but it was enough as Medford snuck out of Tomahawk with the 92-78 win at Hatchet Pool Thursday.
The back-and-forth Great Northern Conference tilt saw Tomahawk ahead heading into the final few races of the night. Freshman Megan Miles and Savanah Ristau kept the Hatchets in the mix scoring 2nd and 3rd place finishes in the 100-yard butterfly before freshman Joanna Phillips tapped the finish line in 2nd in the 100 free and Taya Johnson and Annie Begotka scored points finishing 4th and 5th, respectively.
It looked as though Tomahawk was set to drop the hatchet on the Raiders as senior Kylee Theiler cruised to victory in the 500 and the 200 free relay team of Molly Mott, Dallas Dosch, J. Phillips and K. Theiler followed it up with a win in a time of 1:48.74.
Medford would flip the script heading into the final three events of the night. They outscored Tomahawk 10-6 in the 100 backstroke and 11-5 in the breaststroke before pulling ahead to victory winning the 400 free relay by a narrow-thin margin by a time of 4:06.20 to Tomahawk’s 4:07.33.
Hatchet head coach Theresa L’Esperance said the team took the loss hard as they are not used to losing (it was the first time Tomahawk lost to Medford in the last decade).
Regardless, the coach added it was a awesome night for Annie Begotka as she finished with four personal bests. Joanna (Phillips) recovered from a false start in the 200 and almost won the 100 with a personal best and Molly Mott continues to shine by winning the IM.
Along with wins in the 500 free and as part of the 200 free relay, K. Theiler scored a 1st in the 200 free in a time of 1:58.20. M. Mott also scored a 1st place finish in the 200 IM winning in a time of 2:32.27.
Also scoring for Tomahawk against Medford: 200 Medley relay – Megan Miles, M. Mott, S. Ristau, Ally Carstensen, 2nd, 2:11.45; Juliana Skubal, D. Dosch, Karlie Woodall, Taya Johnson, 3rd, 2:20.74; 200 free – Brynnen Stefan, 5th, 2:36.15; 200 IM – A. Carstensen, 3rd, 2:58.42; 50 free – D. Dosch, 2nd, 25.87; K. Woodall, 3rd, 29.14; Abby Jaecks, 4th, 30.37; 100 butterfly – M. Miles, 2nd, 1:12.13; S. Ristau, 3rd, 1:15.84; 100 free – J. Phillips, 2nd, 1:02.22; T. Johnson, 4th, 1:07.26; A. Begotka, 5th, 1:07.47; 500 free – J. Skubal, 4th, 6:48,09; 200 free relay – K. Woodall, A. Carstensen, A. Begotka, J. Skubal, 3rd, 2:01.24; 100 backstroke – M. Miles, 2nd, 1:09.63; T. Johnson, 4th, 1:19.79; 100 breaststroke – M. Mott, 3rd, 1:23.71; A. Carstensen, 4th, 1:32.02.
The loss dropped Tomahawk’s record to 2-2 on the year and Medford improved to 3-1 in the GNC. Rhinelander leads the conference with a perfect 4-0 record and Lakeland, the Hatchets other loss on the season, sits atop the Great Northern with a 3-1 record.
The Lady Hatchets will be eager to put the loss behind them as they travel to Ladysmith tomorrow (Thursday) to take on the 2-2 Lady Lumberjacks in a GNC showdown that begins at 5:30 p.m.